The 50th playing of the Memorial Tournament means a memory check is in order. By its very name, the Memorial is all about remembering, so let’s take a look back before looking ahead to the 2025 event at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Jack Nicklaus created the PGA Tour stop in 1976 not only to bless Columbus with world-class golf, but also to recognize history.
Nicklaus realized his legacy would be tied to those who came before him, including Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones. But also after, including Hale Irwin, Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler.
The Golden Bear’s vision has come to fruition on both ends, delivering the goods by bringing an annual golf present to Columbus but also preserving for posterity special moments in time.
What follows are 10 of those moments.
1. Paul Azinger’s holy hole-out from greenside bunker
Paul Azinger stood in the waist-deep crater of sand guarding the 18th green, trailing best friend Payne Stewart by one stroke and tied with Corey Pavin, who was already in the clubhouse at 13 under. Moments later he dropped to his knees and brought the gallery to its feet on Sunday of the 1993 Memorial.
The shot came out perfect and Azinger raised both arms as the ball rolled toward the hole. When it dropped into the cup, he ripped off his visor and went to his knees like a kid playing in a sandbox.
When Stewart followed by missing an 8-foot par putt, Azinger had won the Memorial.
“I spent several hours in the bunker at the far left side of the range that week, working the short bunker shots mainly,” Azinger said. “I must have hit at least a few hundred shots the same distance as (the winner). It’s rarely a fluke when stuff like that happens.”
2. Roger Maltbie hits the stake and shake
In the inaugural Memorial in 1976, Roger Maltbie’s second shot hit an iron stake supporting a gallery rope and ricocheted onto the 17th green, allowing him to salvage par and prolong a playoff against Hale Irwin, which he won with a birdie on the next hole.
“I don’t lose very well,” Irwin said. “I’m not bitter, but I am upset. I’ll never forget that shot on 17.”
Maltbie won’t, either.
“However lucky Hale said I was, I was twice that lucky,” he said.
3. Tom Watson shoots 69 in wintry weather
The wind chill at Muirfield Village was 13 degrees. Gusts reached 30 mph. Golf balls might as well have been snowballs. Yet Tom Watson, wearing a winter toboggan, made the second round of the 1979 Memorial look like a walk on the beach, carding a 3-under 69 that remains among the most impressive rounds in tournament history.
“I got out to a good start … and held on for dear life,” said Watson, who joined Terry Diehl (71) as the only players to break par. The field averaged a record 78.7 strokes and 42 of the 105 starters shot 80 or worse. Watson went on to win two days later, his fourth victory of the season, by finishing as the only player below par for 72 holes.
4. Tiger Woods does Tiger Woods things
By 2012, golf fans had come to expect Tiger Woods to pull off incredible shots at key moments, but even this one caught Woods by surprise.
Trailing Rory Sabbatini by one stroke with three holes to play, Woods holed a spectacular flop shot from the rough behind the No. 16 green to tie for the lead. The shot was especially treacherous because of water behind the green that sat ready to rinse Woods’ Titleist.
Woods took the lead for good when Sabbatini bogeyed No. 16 from a bunker, and sealed the deal with a birdie at No. 18, giving him his fifth Memorial title and 73rd win on tour, tying Nicklaus.
“It’s one of the hardest ones I’ve pulled off,” Woods said of the hole-out.
Nicklaus took it further, gushing, “I don’t think, under the circumstances, I’ve ever seen a better shot.”
5. Jack Nicklaus visits porch, makes putt on way to second victory
Fans hanging out along the right side of the 17th fairway received a surprise during the final round of the 1984 Memorial when Nicklaus pushed his drive out of bounds and onto the deck of a home.
Tied with Andy Bean after 16 holes, Nicklaus took a one-stroke penalty at 17 and had to re-tee. After finally reaching the green in four, the Golden Bear made a curling 25-foot putt for bogey. Bean parred to take a one-shot lead, but missed a 4-footer for par at 18 that would have won it. Nicklaus parred the hole to force a playoff, where he won in sudden death when Bean missed a 3-footer for par.
Nicklaus ended a two-year victory drought, during which he had considered retiring.
“If I had a brain in my head, I’d say, right now, ‘OK, folks, it’s been fun playing for you over the years, but that’s it. I’m through. Goodbye.’
“That’s what I would say if I was smart, but I’m not that smart. I happen to think I’ll win some more majors. And that’s why I keep playing.”
Two years later, the Nicklaus won his sixth Masters at age 46.
6. Tiger Woods’ three-peat in 1999-2000-2001
Woods began his unofficial ownership of the Memorial in 1999 with a memorable 25-foot chip-in for par from the rough behind the green at No. 14, after chunking his third shot, to maintain a one-stroke lead over Vijay Singh that he never relinquished.
Woods won again in 2000, by five shots over Ernie Els, to become the Memorial’s first back-to-back winner, then won by seven strokes over Sergio Garcia in 2001.
No player since Watson in 1980 (Byron Nelson Classic) had won the same tournament three years in a row. Bonus: Woods became the first four-time champion in 2009 when, less than a year removed from reconstructive knee surgery, he secured a one-stroke victory over Jim Furyk.
7. Emotional Jack Nicklaus wins in childhood backyard
“I’m never nervous before a golf tournament, but I was pretty nervous this morning. I really wanted to win very badly,” Nicklaus said in 1977 after winning the tournament he founded.
Needing a Monday finish – a weather suspension in the fourth round was the first of many rain delays to occur through the years – Nicklaus parred the last three holes to complete a 71 and defeat Hubert Green by two strokes in the Memorial’s second year as a PGA Tour event.
At age 37 and winner of 14 majors, Nicklaus said winning close to home was “my biggest thrill in golf.” He had spent a decade trying to finance and build Muirfield Village Golf Club on the outskirts of his hometown, Upper Arlington.
“After we’ve worked so hard with this course and this tournament, I think it’s my greatest accomplishment,” he said of winning the first of his two Memorial titles.
8. John Huston flirts with shooting 59
One day before turning 35, the streaky John Huston shot an 11-under 61 to lower the course record by two strokes during the second round of the 1996 Memorial.
Huston, known for shooting either really low or relatively mediocre scores, lit up Muirfield Village early by birdieing his first five holes and making eagle at No. 7. He turned in 29, a record for the front nine, and had another run of five consecutive birdies on Nos. 11-15 to give himself a chance at carding a magical 59, which at the time was the tour record. But his quest hit the brakes at No. 17 when his 3-foot par putt lipped out, and his 15-footer for birdie at 18 burned the cup.
“It was kind of like playing with the bank’s money in Vegas,” Huston said. “You just don’t feel like you can lose. You’ve got the big ‘cush.’ If you don’t birdie this hole, you birdie the next.”
Huston began the round tied for 63rd and ended it with a two-shot lead. His next two rounds were not as exemplary as he shot 71-73 to finish fifth.
9. Vijay Singh’s 3-wood heard ’round the world of golf
Stormy weather is as much a part of the Memorial’s history as Nicklaus tinkering with course changes and Woods winning every year (so it seemed). The 1997 tournament ranks among the wettest ever, with liquid weather suspending play twice during the third round and soggy conditions delaying the restart until Sunday afternoon. The stopping and starting resulted in the third round not being completed until Monday morning, which is when Vijay Singh made Memorial history.
Singh and Scott Hoch were tied at 12 under when play resumed for the last time at 9:33 a.m. Monday. Singh took the lead with an eagle at the par-5 11th hole, his first shot of the day resulting in a towering 3-wood from 246 yards that stopped 1½ feet from the pin. He never trailed again, winning by two strokes over Greg Norman and Jim Furyk.
10. David Graham outduels Tom Watson to become first winner from outside U.S.
David Graham, a 34-year-old Australian, won a final-round free-for-all by draining a 30-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to defeat defending champion Watson by one stroke in 1980.
At one time or another during the round, a dozen golfers were within one shot of the lead. Graham holed a 20-foot eagle putt at 15 to get into contention, then watched Watson 3-putt No. 17 to fall into a tie before missing a 25-footer for birdie at 18 that gave Graham the win.
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at@rollerCD. Read his columns from the Buckeyes’ national championship season in “Scarlet Reign,” a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Dispatch. Details at OhioState.Champs.com
