Here comes the Dublin double. In a one-year cameo, the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village Golf Club will take over for the John Deere Classic, which will return in 2021. Chalk it up to the pandemic, and yep, the Workday will be at the very same Muirfield Village that will host next week’s Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. But don’t be fooled: The Workday is no warm-up act, with five of the top 10 in the world, including Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Patrick Cantlay, who won the Memorial last year. Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day will also tee it up this week on a Muirfield Village course that will have somewhat slower greens and shorter rough. RELATED: Featured Groups, tee times | Power Rankings | Expert Picks THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER THE FLYOVER The ideal tee shot at the 529-yard, arrow-straight par-5 15th hole is straight and long enough to crest the hill. A creek runs the length of the hole on the left, and sweeps around to bisect the hole in front of the green. Long hitters who go for the green in two will also be thwarted by the steep hill in front of the putting surface, making it difficult to chase the ball onto the elevated green. Be that as it may, the hole presents one of the best birdie chances in the closing stretch – players racked up 146 birdies and six eagles there at the Memorial last year. LANDING ZONE The par-4, 483-yard 18th hole, to which 40 yards were added in 2013, is no pushover. The sharp dogleg right ranked as the toughest hole (4.276) at the Memorial last year, and while it may play differently for the Workday, it’s still a bear. Three right bunkers lurk at the corner of the dogleg. Left of the fairway a creek threads through the tree line. Players who go too far through the fairway could be blocked out by a cluster of black walnut trees in front of the huge, heavily contoured, two-tiered green surrounded by bunkers. The hole yielded only 47 birdies compared to 87 bogeys, 27 double-bogeys, and four “others” at the Memorial last year. WEATHER CHECK From meteorologist Wade Stettner: “Hot and humid conditions are expected on Thursday with just a slight chance for an afternoon shower or thunderstorm. Thursday will be the hottest day of the week with heat indices near 100 degrees. Thunderstorm chances increase for Friday as a low pressure system approaches Ohio. Thunderstorms will remain possible through the weekend with slightly cooler temperatures expected.” For the latest weather news from Muirfield Village, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK It seems to be a top-10 or a missed cut. It is great to actually stay in the same place for two weeks and play a tournament. My grandpa basically put my hands on the club. BY THE NUMBERS 1 – Players in their 40s to win this season: Tiger Woods at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. Meanwhile 11 players in their 20s have won 12 tournaments this season, and 11 players in their 30s have won 13 times this season. 23 – Number of weeks in the FedExCup top 10 by Sebastián Muñoz, most on TOUR. He fell out of the top 10 for the first time this season after missing the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. -19 – Patrick Cantlay’s winning score at the Memorial last year. The course is expected to play easier for the Workday. SCATTERSHOTS Wolff ready to bounce back: Matthew Wolff is back at it after a runner-up finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, where he was the 54-hole leader but lost to Bryson DeChambeau. “I just didn’t get off to the best start,” Wolff said from Muirfield Village on Wednesday. “My mental game probably wasn’t as strong as I thought it was at the beginning of the week.” Be that as it may he birdied four of the last seven holes at the Rocket Mortgage, so he’s coming in hot. He stalled after his breakthrough at the 3M Open last year, trying to fix what wasn’t broken; his solo second at Detroit Golf Club was his first top-10 finish since the 3M. The keys to his comeback, he said, have been to stick to his strengths, tune out the noise, and not care as much. “It’s not that I actually don’t,” he said. “It’s just getting myself in the right frame of mind to not put that extra pressure on myself. … I know that I haven’t been the most consistent player out here, but I’m looking to change that and I feel like I’m working on the right things mentally and physically.”
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