The Masters is even more exclusive than ever

AKRON, Ohio – It was almost a year ago that Justin Thomas won his first major. After shooting a 67 in the third round of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone South, he takes a three-shot lead into Sunday in a tournament that’s starting to take on a major championship hue. “I just think this golf course in general kind of has a major championship feel,â€� said Thomas, who hit 9 of 14 fairways, 13 of 18 greens and a tidy 28 putts. “This place could host a major in a heartbeat if it all worked out.â€� With sun baking fairways and greens, the field averaged 70.197 on Firestone on Saturday, the first time players have averaged over par this week. And the big names right behind Thomas only added to the major-worthy vibe: Rory McIlroy (67) and Ian Poulter (70) are three back. Jason Day (69) is just four behind. “The course is drying up a lot,â€� said Poulter, 42, who admitted he was surprised by the transformation. Thomas, 25, and McIlroy, 29, who have 22 PGA TOUR victories between them, have each won the FedExCup and held the No. 1 world ranking. Day is also a former world No. 1. Day and Thomas will be going for their third win this season; McIlroy is aiming for his second. “I finished second way too many times this year—and third, whatever,â€� said McIlroy, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard in March. “… I’ll need a good round, I’m still a few behind, but yeah, I’m getting a little sick of the second places.â€� Day has unfinished business here. He had the lead with three holes to play but bogeyed 15 and double-bogeyed 16 to open the door for winner Dustin Johnson in ’16. The Australian’s 69 on Saturday was in spite of some erratic play off the tee, as he hit just four fairways. “I’ll just tidy that up for tomorrow,â€� Day said. “I think I know what I need to do. I’m going to go to the range and kind of work on it a little bit.â€� How far back is too far? At last year’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Hideki Matsuyama went into the final round two shots behind Zach Johnson and Thomas Pieters but shot 61 to win by five. In light of that, it might be wise to keep an eye on Marc Leishman (67) and Kyle Stanley (70), each 9 under and five back, and even Rickie Fowler (65, low round of the day) or Jon Rahm (68), six off the lead. “I don’t think I’m too far back,â€� Leishman said.   Thomas is five for seven at converting a 54-hole lead or co-lead into a victory. After capturing the FedExCup in 2017, he is still adjusting to new expectations and up-and-down results. No one has gone back-to-back since the inception of the FedExCup in 2007, and he got off to a strong start in his title defense. He won THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in his second start of the season, and The Honda Classic in February. He is second only to Dustin Johnson in the FedExCup. This summer, though, has been up and down. Thomas missed the cut at The Open Championship (69-77), finished T25 at the U.S. Open, and was T56 at the Travelers Championship.    “It feels like I haven’t won in forever,â€� he said earlier this week. After winning the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow a year ago, he is used to playing well this time of year, and used to tough courses. Firestone, which yielded a first-round 62 to Poulter, showed its teeth Saturday, when drier, harder greens prompted a mid-round confab between Thomas and his caddie, Jimmy Johnson, as they walked toward the fifth tee. “It was like, ‘Hey, we can’t just kind of, ‘See pin, hit pin’ anymore,â€� Thomas said. “‘We need to focus where we’re landing it, we need to be a lot more cognizant of that.’â€� With more hot, sunny weather in the forecast, there may be more of the same Sunday. As for playing with McIlroy, Thomas said he was looking forward to it. The two practiced together some back home in Jupiter, Fla., last week, but this will be different. “I’m sure we’ll chat here and there between shots,â€� Thomas said, “but he’s out there doing his thing and I’m out here doing mine.â€� Thomas is second in the FedExCup, McIlroy 24th, Poulter 34th. With so much of the focus on the young superstars, Poulter, who will join Day in the penultimate twosome, could sneak in and take his second TOUR title this year. Two of his three TOUR wins came at WGCs, at the 2010 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and the 2012 WGC-HSBC Champions. “Three out of four would be amazing,â€� Poulter said. “I’m going to need some inspiration from Thursday, going clean (bogey-free), not making any mistakes and just having fun. I’m in a great position; I’m enjoying my golf.â€� With a leaderboard topped by Thomas, McIlroy, Poulter and Day; Fowler and Rahm lurking not far behind; and Firestone keeping them on their toes, we’re certainly enjoying watching it.

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DUBLIN, Ohio – Muirfield Village Golf Club, home of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, officially announced Tuesday a two-phase course renovation project that will be overseen by the club’s founder and course designer, Jack Nicklaus. The renovations will take place over the next two years and will include three new teeing grounds, rebuilt greens and bunkers, and a redesigned fifth hole.  RELATED: How Nicklaus brought Muirfield Village to life | Nicklaus became golf’s biggest star – but never forgot his Ohio roots Phase One will begin this fall and include new back teeing grounds for the par-3 eighth, par-5 11th and par-5 15th, as well as new rough area for the par-5 fifth. The work will be completed by this May and used during the 2020 Memorial Tournament, June 1-7. Each new tee box will add yardage to its respective hole, with No. 8 increasing by 25 yards, No. 11 by 15 yards and No. 15 by 30 yards. The changes will increase the total course yardage from the tips to 7,462 yards. Nicklaus’ ground-breaking and innovative design — done originally with input from the late Desmond Muirhead and officially dedicated on May 27, 1974 — first played at 6,978 yards. To begin Phase Two of the renovation, Muirfield Village Golf Club will close the course July 6, 2020, at which time all 18 greens will be rebuilt, including new sub-surface heating and cooling equipment. Bunkers will be re-built, tees leveled, and the irrigation system upgraded. As fairways are regrassed, Nicklaus said he will create new fairway widths, but keep them “fairly generous off the tee,â€� which has been a trait at Muirfield Village. All greens will be laser-scanned prior to the beginning of Phase Two in order to retain the general slopes of the original design, with any modifications taking place in the field by Nicklaus. “Once we decided to redo the greens, I realized I wanted to make some minor changes to the contours,â€� Nicklaus said. Phase Two will also include a redesign of Hole No. 5. The new layout will include an expanded landing area and convert Muirfield Village’s first par 5 on the outward nine to a par 4 during Tournament play, making the layout a par 71 for the 2021 Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. “It’s the easiest hole on the golf course,â€� Nicklaus said. “They play a 3-wood or iron off the tee not to reach the creek, and then play a 5- or 6-iron into the green. I just want to create more landing area on the tee shot, so that quite often they will play driver off the tee, and then play 5 or 6 iron into the green as a true par 4.â€� “This will probably be my last bite at the apple,â€� Nicklaus said. “I’ve done little tweaks on the golf course throughout the years, and some significant changes, like the par-3 16th. This time, we are going through the golf course, A to Z, and making sure we do everything at one time.â€� “My director of grounds operations, Chad Mark, is a good man, and he helped talk me into it. He said Jack, ‘Once we’re in there, let’s just do this thing right!’ Once we decided to redo the greens, improve the irrigation system, redo bunkers and regrass fairways, the collective group — one that included Chad, General Manager Nicholas LaRocca, Head Professional Larry Dornisch and Memorial Tournament Executive Director Dan Sullivan — basically said, ‘Jack, if you are going back in there and do all this work, and the course is going to be down, you don’t want to go back to the membership and redo it again five years later for irrigation or three years later for bunkers. Let’s get the whole thing done!’ So that’s what we are doing.â€� Mark has already developed a detailed timeline for the project and is excited about the work ahead. “Working closely with Mr. Nicklaus, and with support from Nicklaus Design Associate Chris Cochran and our team at Muirfield Village, we envision the fairway bunkers and irrigation getting started after the 2020 Memorial and jumping into greens as soon as we can in July,â€� Mark said. “Once greens are completed in late August, and fairways and approaches are re-seeded to bentgrass, we will then finish the bunkering and push juvenile turfgrass toward maturity. Work in spring 2021 will include punch-work items with irrigation, compacting bunker sand, mending sod seams, and plugging any thin turf.â€� “We are very excited to carry out the vision of Mr. Nicklaus, and I think the end result will only further elevate an already spectacular golf course!â€� Nicklaus emphasized that while many of the enhancements will make Muirfield Village Golf Club a better tournament venue, the renovation is also being done with the membership always front of mind. “From what I have heard thus far, the membership is really excited about bringing the golf course back to state of the art, which they felt it was a few years ago,â€� Nicklaus said. “I want to make sure I do the best I can for the membership and for the Memorial Tournament. I’m putting in as many forward member tees as I can at Muirfield Village and The Bear’s Club. I will put in some forward tees at Muirfield Village while I am doing this. I have to make the golf course playable for its membership.â€� “But my belief is that tournament golf should be a test to find out who is the best golfer that week. Far too many tournaments have eliminated the rough and firmness of greens, and that is just not my idea of what the game of golf should be. So I am going to stick with my old-fashioned beliefs about how the game of golf should be played and the way golf courses should be set up. How the USGA’s Joe Dey used to set up courses is how I learned and how I thought golf should be played. It’s the guy who drives the ball the straightest; the guy who plays the best iron game; the guy who is best around the greens and is sometimes challenged when he doesn’t play a good shot to the green; and the guy who putts well. The whole gamut of all shots is what the game of golf is all about. The game should challenge every facet of every club in the bag.â€� Muirfield Village has been the host course of the Memorial Tournament since 1976 as one of the premier stops on the PGA TOUR. In 2014, the tournament was elevated in status (as was the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard), with the winner receiving a three-year exemption. The list of winners is an esteemed one where along with Nicklaus (twice) the likes of Tom Watson (twice), Hale Irwin (twice), Greg Norman (twice) and Tiger Woods (five times) are amongst those to have hoisted the Muirfield crystal.

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