Jack wants his Memorial date back
Nicklaus isn't keen on bumping into U.S. Open week; Scheffler speaks at Murray memorial service and to his own recent issues
Jack Nicklaus, 84, speaks before his Memorial Tournament (Tracy Wilcox/PGA Tour via Getty Images)
Jack Nicklaus isn’t happy with his new time slot on the schedule. His personal signature event doesn’t really jibe with the PGA Tour’s “signature event” model, putting his tournament “in a week that I would never play” — smack dab in front of a major championship.
The Golden Bear designed and built his own golf course and launched his own PGA Tour event nearly 50 years ago. Muirfield Village and the Memorial Tournament are his pride and joy, a labor of love that has meant as much to him as family and all the trophies that adorn his office.
Nicklaus was just 36 years old when the Memorial kicked off for the first time in 1976, a remarkable occurrence if you think about it. Nicklaus had not only designed his own venue, but he got a PGA Tour event, too. Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill event would not begin for three more years.
So it makes sense that, even at age 84, Nicklaus takes great interest in the tournament. He’s no longer hands on, but he remains a big presence. He still speaks to the media every year.
On Tuesday, Nicklaus was asked about the date change this year. For the better part of five decades — not all, but most years — the Memorial fell weeks prior to the U.S. Open and started the Monday following the Memorial Day holiday.
This year, it was moved a week later to accommodate the PGA Tour’s new “signature event” scheduling with blocks of big events clumped together during the meat of the season. The Memorial is now a $20 million limited-field signature tournament, and it falls directly before the U.S. Open.
“We would prefer the other week,” Nicklaus said during his annual news conference in advance of the tournament. “However, we are here this week because the tour asked us to help them out. They said they had a thing they wanted to do and that the players had asked for and that would we help it out, and we said yes, that we would do that this week.
“But we said we would review it after this tournament and we’ll figure out how we’re going to settle the schedule after that. And I said that discussion is under way.’’