Rory: Tiger’s ‘mellow’ approach paying off

Eight of the top nine players in the world are set to play the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, starting with reigning FedExCup champion Justin Thomas and including Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose, who round out the top three. Rose might be the hottest player on the planet after his bravura performance at the Fort Worth Invitational, which also moved him up to second in the FedExCup. He dominated from tee to green in picking up his ninth PGA TOUR victory, and now heads to the site of his first TOUR win in 2010, Muirfield Village. He might be just hitting his stride at 37. There’s also five-time Memorial champ Tiger Woods, playing the Memorial for the first time since 2015. He’s one of six players who have won it more than once, and the only one not in the World Golf Hall of Fame. (Yeah, we think he’ll get there, too.) Ten of the 11 Memorial winners in the FedExCup era have qualified for the season-ending TOUR Championship. Woods posted a T11 in his last start, at THE PLAYERS Championship. That was of a piece with his other starts in Florida, where he finished 12th at The Honda Classic, T2 at the Valspar Championship, and T5 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. He is still seeking his 80th TOUR win. PGA TOUR LIVE Thursday-Friday broadcasts will begin at 7:30 a.m. ET and end at 3 p.m. We will move to Featured Holes Coverage at 3 p.m., ending at 6:30 p.m. Here are the Featured Groups: (Note: Tee times TBA; FedExCup ranking in parentheses.) Jason Day (3), Dustin Johnson (9), Rory McIlroy (36) Three players who have tasted No. 1 in the world, three players who have already won this season. Of course, Johnson wins every year like clockwork, but Day and McIlroy broke through after failing to lift a trophy last season. McIlroy is the only one of the three to have won the FedExCup (2016), and also has the best record at Muirfield Village, albeit without having won: T10 in 2010, 5th in ’11, T15 in ’14, and T4 in ’16. (He didn’t play the tournament two of the last three years.) Day, who lives in Columbus, has lamented his poor record at the Memorial, but seems to be getting closer to winning after a T15 last year, his best result so far. Bubba Watson (7), Phil Mickelson (4), Jordan Spieth (30) Two lefties (Watson, Mickelson) join up with a young star who plays right-handed but is actually left-handed (Spieth). Watson, who has won twice this season, has come close to winning the Memorial with a T6 last year (final-round 73) and a third-place finish in 2014. Spieth opened with a 66 at Muirfield Village last year before fading with a final-round 73 for a T13 finish. He’s looking for his first win since The Open Championship last July. Mickelson broke a winless drought dating to 2013 at the WGC-Mexico Championship earlier this season, and while he has 43 PGA TOUR victories, none has come at the Memorial, where he has authored few highlights other than top-10s in 2002 (T9), ’06 (T4) and ’10 (T5). Tiger Woods (54), Justin Rose (2), Jason Dufner (62) Three players who have won a combined seven Memorial titles, with Woods accounting for five of them. Rose, the 2010 champion here, is coming off a convincing victory at the Fort Worth Invitational in which he had total command from tee to green and moved from 11th to second in the FedExCup. Dufner looked like he had shot himself out of the tournament with a third-round 77 last year, but rallied in the final round for the victory. Two of the three players represented the winning U.S. Presidents Cup team at Muirfield Village in 2013, and Rose is a shoe-in to make this year’s European Ryder Cup Team. Justin Thomas (1), Patrick Reed (6), Rickie Fowler (21) Thomas is making a strong bid to become the first player to successfully defend as FedExCup champion, and he and Reed are both winners already this season. Thomas, of course, is a two-time winner—one of five so far this season along with Jason Day, Patton Kizzire, Bubba Watson and Rose—and was in the mix to win the Memorial last year before finishing T4. Fowler is looking to break through for the first time this season after runner-up finishes at the Masters and OHL Classic at Mayakoba. He has flirted with winning the Memorial with a runner-up in his 2010 debut (final round 73), and a T2 finish last year, when the final round featured two rain delays and was completed near darkness.

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Masters champion Patrick Reed tees it up for the first time since slipping his arms into the green jacket, teaming with Patrick Cantlay as the PGA TOUR’s only two-man format returns to New Orleans for a second year. FedExCup leader Justin Thomas (with Bud Cauley) and Jordan Spieth (with Ryan Palmer) also begin their post-Masters schedule, each retaining their partners from a year ago. The format calls for best-ball play Thursday and Saturday, alternate-shot Friday and Sunday. FIELD WATCH: U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, idled by a wrist injury since the Sentry Tournament of Champions, starts his return at Zurich. Facing a shortage of potential partners, Koepka drafted Mark Turnesa, a winner 10 years ago and fellow South Florida resident. … Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson reprise their Olympic gold/silver pairing for a second year, one of three duos featuring both players among the world’s top 25. The others: Sergio Garcia/Rafael Cabrera Bello and Bubba Watson/Matt Kuchar. … In all, 18 of the rankings’ current top 30 are entered. … Wisconsin natives Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly, now 1-2 in Charles Schwab Cup points on the PGA TOUR Champions, return for a second year. They tied for 14th a year ago. … David Duval steps down from the Golf Channel booth to tee it up alongside U.S. Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk. … John Daly is another recent entry, bringing Rory Sabbatini as his partner. FEDEXCUP: Winning partners receive 400 points apiece. STORYLINES: Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith defend their title against a deeper field than in Year 1 of the two-man format. Garcia, Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood are among those who added Zurich to their schedules this year. … FedExCup points are distributed as though partners tied. As an example, the champions split the 500 points usually given to a tournament winner and 300 for second place – coming out to 400 points each. … Weekend rounds will feature walkup music for each duo on the first tee, becoming the first PGA TOUR stop to employ that twist. … Stricker, Kelly and Daly come to New Orleans fresh from the Legends of Golf, giving them a head start on the team dynamic. … Five of the past six editions have crowned a first-time winner, including Smith last year. … It’s the last week for players to secure a berth in THE PLAYERS Championship by cracking the top 10 in FedExCup points or top 50 of the world rankings. That said, the rankings system does not award points for tandem events. COURSE: TPC Louisiana, 7,425 yards, par 72. Tucked amid some 250 acres of wetlands, the Pete Dye creation winds through cypress and oak trees that create a secluded setting just 15 minutes from downtown New Orleans. Though water looms throughout the layout, TPC Louisiana ranked among the PGA TOUR’s top third to go low even before the team format was introduced. Dye, with consultants Steve Elkington and Kelly Gibson, added more than 100 bunkers and five ponds to increase the difficulty, and several large waste bunkers also are featured early in the back nine. The Zurich Classic first played there in 2005 and has made it its permanent home since 2007. 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Cameron Smith/Jonas Blixt (2017), Kevin Kisner/Scott Brown (2017). Individual record: 262, Chip Beck (1988 at Lakewood CC). ALTERNATE SHOT RECORD: 66, Jordan Spieth/Ryan Palmer (1st round, 2017), Kyle Stanley/Ryan Ruffels (1st round, 2017). BEST BALL RECORD: 60, Retief Goosen/Tyrone van Aswegen (2nd round, 2017), Kevin Kisner/Scott Brown (4th round, 2017). LAST YEAR: The Zurich’s first team edition needed an extra day to settle a playoff, before Smith’s best-ball birdie on the fourth extra hole locked up the trophy alongside Blixt. The duo appeared set to win in regulation before Kevin Kisner/Scott Brown pulled even in Sunday’s fading light with a Kisner holeout from 30 yards away. Thunderstorms had delayed play earlier in the afternoon, leaving no light for a playoff. Returning in the morning, the first three playoff holes saw nothing but pars before Smith stuck his wedge at the par-5 18th inside three feet for the decider. Smith notched his first PGA TOUR triumph at the age of 23, while Blixt recorded his third victory. The playoff loss was all too familiar for Kisner, who dropped to 0-4 in extra holes. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2:30-6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). Friday, 9:15 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-6:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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