Memorial Tournament field dropping from 120 to 80 players as event moves later into June
Memorial Tournament galleries and the wallet of the 2024 winner both will feel fuller when the PGA Tour event returns to Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin next year.
And that return will be later than ever, as previously reported by the Dispatch. The Memorial will be held June 6-9, tournament director Dan Sullivan confirmed Monday, making it the latest start date in the event’s 49-year history, not counting 2020 when COVID-19 forced its move into July. Sullivan’s comments coincided with the tour’s release of its full 2024 schedule.
As a designated “signature” event, The Memorial also will see its field reduced from 120 players to between 70 and 80, a subtraction that means all players will begin their rounds at the No. 1 tee, likely in twosomes, instead of the field playing in threesomes and split between the No. 1 and No. 10 tees, as has been the case for decades. With players spread across fewer holes, more fans will pack around those holes, especially as bigger names play them.
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“Because of the clustering there will be larger crowds focusing on certain groups,” Sullivan said. “In the past, it happened with Jack and Arnold Palmer or Tiger, of course. There were huge groups and everyone else spreading out.”
Sullivan pointed out the Memorial had smaller fields back in the day.
“From a history standpoint, the field size began at 90 in 1976 and has grown to 105 and then 120,” he said. “So part of this is somewhat of a return to the original format of the tournament, which was to have a field size that showcases the best in the game.”
And the best of the Memorial Tournament's field will walk away richer than winners of most tournaments. One of the perks for winning any of the 16 signature events in 2024 is a bigger payday, as those tournaments offer larger purses. The Memorial will have a purse of $20 million, as it did this year, but the winner’s share increases to $4 million, which is 20% of the total. Winners of the other two player-hosted signature events – Tiger Woods’ Genesis Open and the Arnold Palmer Invitational – also will collect 20% of the purse, compared to 18% at other signatures.
“We feel good about some of the uniqueness we will have,” Sullivan said.
Besides having a smaller field and bigger purse that pays a higher percentage to the winner, the Memorial also will keep its 36-hole cut, meaning if players are not within the top 50 and ties, or within 10 shots of the leader after the second round they do not get paid.
“We definitely thought having a cut was beneficial to our tournament,” Sullivan said. “A nice way to differentiate us.”
Only three of the eight non-major, non-playoff signature events – the Memorial, Genesis Open and Arnold Palmer Invitational – will send underperforming players home for the weekend.
Score one for tournament founder and host Jack Nicklaus, who leans toward labeling tournaments with cuts as real golf.
But the Golden Bear did not get his way on everything.
The Memorial date change initially concerned Nicklaus two months ago when it was still being discussed as a possibility. The Upper Arlington native did not want his tournament seen as an opening act for the U.S. Open, which will follow the 2024 Memorial by one week.
“I would prefer to stay where we are,” Nicklaus said in May. “I don’t like being the week before the Open, but if it’s for the betterment of the tour and what they’re trying to do then I would understand that, too.”
As a player, Nicklaus preferred taking off the week before major championships, and he conceded some of today’s top players might do the same.
Sullivan is not worried, stressing how he expects the Memorial field to be strong as ever, in part because tour players are the ones who pushed for the schedule change.
“Although we have concerns with the date, within the proximity of a major championship, we have confidence coming from the tour and players that they will be here, because of the way it was communicated,” Sullivan said. “They asked for this.”
The players’ requested schedule change – the Memorial is switching places on the calendar with the Canadian Open – was not specific to the Memorial but fits within the tour’s strategy of bunching signature events to create more continuity for the top players in how they build their travel schedule. They pushed for signature events being held over consecutive weeks, not one-on, one-off. The Memorial is the first of three straight signature events, followed by the U.S. Open and Travelers Championship.
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Another Memorial perk that might entice players to visit Dublin the week before the U.S. Open: The winner receives 700 FedEx Cup points, used for qualifying into the FedEx Cup playoff, compared to 500 for non-signature events.
“Combine the fact of the Memorial history with the smaller field and higher percentage of the purse going to the winner, and we feel we will continue to be one of the strongest golf tournaments in the game,” Sullivan said.
The Memorial also will benefit financially and logistically from having a smaller field. Fewer players means fewer mouths to feed and fewer players to keep track of, plus golf course conditions should benefit from having fewer players mark up the greens.
One other change mandated by the tour is that four of five tournament sponsor exemptions must be members of the tour. The Memorial will offer the fifth “special exemption” to the Division I recipient of the Jack Nicklaus award, given each spring to the winners of the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA championships.
Ticket prices are not expected to increase with the schedule change, and neither is the date of the U.S. Open qualifier; but instead of being held the Monday after the Memorial it is expected to be the Monday of tournament week.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jack Nicklaus Memorial Tournament gets later date on PGA Tour schedule
