Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will be grouped at the Memorial. Woods will be making his first appearance since February when Woods and other players went into lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic. The 15-time major champion will have yet another opportunity to win a record-breaking 83rd PGA TOUR title.
The 44-year-old legend will be featured against Rory Mcllroy for the first time apart from the Japan Skin contest and the Zozo Championship where the. It was also only at the WGC-Dell Technologies match their both appeared in the same group in Match 2019.
McIlroy seems to have lost his touch
Looking down at Mcllroy’s prospect, it can be said that he has lost quite a momentum since the game restart. Before the pandemic, Mcllroy was in perfect game shape, coming up with an astonishing result, but now he seems to be struggling to be at the top of his game as the World No.1
The Northern Irishman who has bagged seven consecutive top-five worldwide finishes alongside a victory at the WGC-HSBC Champions before the coronavirus stoppage has failed to be at least in the 10 top in three of the events held since the PGA TOUR restarted in June.
Woods & McIlroy coupling may lead to stiff competition
Lack of practice and access to pro golf are a couple of reasons that might attribute to McIlroy’s latest performances on the green. Mcllroy is known to be competitive, especially on big occasions, even though he is currently not delivering. However, since Tiger Woods and Rory Mcilroy will be grouped at the Memorial together McIlroy might step up his performance. Perhaps with Woods in the greens this week, it might rekindle the completive edge.
However, Woods has won five times at Muirfield Village, three of which were back-to-back and further victories in 2009 and 2012. Rory Mcllroy’s experience at the Muirfield Village has not always been blazing, even though he has come out as top-10s in four events; he has never reached the winner’s circle.
There is also Koepka on the group who bagged a victory at Ohio in the first two rounds. Koepka missed out of the Workday Charity Open even though he amazing birdied seven holes in his second round.
Brooks Koepka will also be joining the greats
Koepka completes the star-studded three-ball for the first two rounds in Ohio, having missed the cut at last week’s Workday Charity Open at the same venue despite birdieing five of his last seven holes of his second round.
Since the game restart, Muirfield Village will feature the world’s top five, being the sixth PGA TOUR event. Justin Thomas, the new FedExCup Winner, is also tiered up with Dustin Johnson and Xander Schauffele.
Bryson DeChambeau winner of the Rocket Mortgage Classic in his last game is grouped with the previous week’s champion Collin Morikawa along with Patrick Cantlay. Cantlay was also a defending champion with respect to his two-shot victory last year.
The rising star DeChambeau can be said to be a bit of an outsider considering his personality, not just as a golfer, but when compared with other top names in the game. But to the surprise of everyone, he has been in the spotlight since the restart of the game, hitting amazing hits from long distances.
DeChambau has been showing out with distance
While DeChambeau is having quite an attention regarding how far he is hitting the ball, I’m sure stars like Rory Mcllroy and Brooks Koepka beg to differ about the hype surrounding DeChambeau. These two have been the hitmen when it comes to big hits with long distance in recent years.
The golf community has all gone down the road with heated debates about Rory, Woods, and Brooks in recent years, whereas DeChambeau is now in the frontline and now the fox in the house. Well, we’ll see what other players come up with.
With the lineup, fans and experts alike will be looking to Memorial to see the competitive fire burn for the top players, especially when Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will be grouped at the Memorial. However, whatever the result may be, it will surely be exciting.
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