Grudgingly, Nicklaus softens Muirfield
Last year when tournament host Jack Nicklaus kicked Muirfield Village Golf Club up a notch with furrowed bunkers, thick rough and rock-hard greens in an attempt to replicate major-championship conditions, he might have gone overboard.
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Playing to a stroke average of 74.6, the Memorial was the most difficult tournament on the PGA Tour.
But this year, with an elite field returning to Dublin, Ohio, Nicklaus has softened his course and quieted his critics. Getting Nicklaus to admit that he did so under pressure, however, is another matter.
According to Nicklaus, the PGA asked him to tone down some of the more penal aspects of Muirfield Village.
“They were concerned the greens were getting a little too fast,” said Nicklaus. “I said, guys, they’re the same height as they’ve been for the last 15 years. I don’t think that really that’s a big deal. We just had a dry year. Every time we have a dry year, the greens get a little faster.”
On the subject of the furrowed bunkers, Nicklaus gave in, grudgingly.
“We went back through the statistics on the bunkers. It really wasn’t that much difference,” said Nicklaus. “Rather than fighting an issue, it’s really not that big a deal. It’s too much controversy. So I just said, ‘Forget it.’ I’m getting old, I guess.”
One player who has always loved the course is Kenny Perry. He won his third Memorial last year.
“They’ve had some really tough conditions here in the past,” said Perry. “I talked to the superintendent. He said the rough is a half inch shorter than last year, but yet it plays like it’s a lot shorter in my opinion. You’re going to see guys moving it very well out of the rough this week.”
