Memorial Golf Tournament Trivia

With the 47th Memorial Golf Tournament coming up this weekend, we thought it would be fun to list some interesting facts about the tournament. Here they are in no particular order:

• There has never been a golfer win wire to wire, meaning in the lead from round 1 to round 4.

• Over 29 tournaments and 44 of 178 rounds have been delayed, suspended or canceled by inclement weather
• Tom Lehman owns the lowest final score for a winner, 20 under par
• Tiger Woods has won the tournament five times…by far the most. But second place is the pride of Kentucky…Kenny Perry with three wins

• Only two times has a winner NOT been under par. Greg Norman in 1990 at even par, and during the inaugural event, 1976, won by Roger Maltbie in a playoff, who was also even par
• Jack won his event twice, 1977 and 1984
• Kenny Perry also holds the record for the oldest winner at 47 years, nine months and 22 days. Hideki Masuyama was the youngest at 22 years three months and seven days.  The youngest golfer to tee it up at Muirfield was Tianlang Guan (2013) at 14 years, 7 months and 8 days. Guess he just finished his ninth grade tests and quickly threw his clubs in the back of dad’s car to get to his practice rounds in!
• Seven pros can brag that the Memorial was their first PGA Tour victory. Keith Fergus (1981), Kenny Perry (1991), Tom Lehman (1994), Justin Rose (2010), Matsuyama (2014), David Lingmerth (2015) and William McGirt (2016).
• John Huston (1996) holds the record for the lowest round at Muirfield. He shot an -11 61
• 1994 was a magical year for Bob Tway. He recorded not one but two holes in one on the weekend. The first was in round one hole #8. The second was in round three hole #12.
• Talk about on fire, Mark Wilson in 2007 had seven consecutive birdies in a round. The round was #3 and he accomplished this feat on holes 3 through 9
• There has not been a left-handed golfer to win this event

• Calvin Peete was considered one of the most consistent golfers.  He holds the record for most fairways hit for the entire four days. He completed this not once (1986) but also in 1987
• Imagine this: John Huston in round four of 2003 averaged one putt per hole. More specifically he holed 19 putts in 18 holes.
• In 1976 Roger Maltbie won $40,000 for his victory. Patrick Cantaly pocketed a cool $1.7 million.
• Finally, Muirfield is the only course in the world that has hosted the Ryder Cup (1987), the Solheim Cup (1998), and the Presidents Cup (2013). These are the only three team competitions featuring Team USA.
• Hole #15 is considered the easiest and #18 as the most difficult when looking at all the stats over the past ten years or so