Can Johnson's big driver carry him to victory?
Welcome to Ohio. The 17th state to join the Union, Ohio is the 34th largest state by area in the United States. Population wise, Ohio is the 7th largest state, which is why politicians salivate over the 18 electoral votes it has to offer. The capitol of Ohio is Columbus, which also happens to be the largest city. The state animal is the White-tailed Deer. The state bird is the Cardinal. The state tree is the Buckeye. Bob Hope, Drew Carey and, of course, Jack Nicklaus, who is credited with founding this tournament, are all from Ohio. Heck, even my mother was born in Ohio. Yet, given all that, the thing that excites me the most about Ohio is that it host the first PGA tournament north of the 38th parallel, which means I can finally put my snow shovel away.
Tournament: the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance
Date: June 2nd to the 5th
Location: Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio
Defending Champion: Justin Rose (-18)
About the course: As is often the case, a par five is the easiest hole on the course, with the average score being well under par. What’s different is that the three easiest holes, the fifth, seventh and fifteenth holes, are all par fives. The fifth hole is downhill from the tee. There is a creek that comes into the middle of the fairway and circles part of the green, but that doesn’t faze many players. Bunkers surrounded the seventh green, yet that doesn’t keep players at bay. The fifteenth is straight as an arrow, giving big hitters a great chance to get to the green in two. All in all, these three holes give any big hitter a great shot to bring home some hardware.
Golfers to watch: In taking my own advice, the big driver of Dustin Johnson will be a good play this week. He’s an elite player who is capable of putting up elite numbers. Luke Donald is having an outstanding year. Other than missing the cut in his first tournament of the year, he hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in his last seven tournaments. Bubba Watson is another big hitter, and he is currently first in FedExCup points so you could say he’s having a good year. Steve Stricker is also having a good year, having finished no worse than 29th in any stroke-play tournament. Don’t overlook Hunter Mahan, who finished top 16 in all three tournaments he entered in May. J.B. Holmes also looked good in May with two top 10 finishes, and he’s hitting his drives on average 315 yards. Finally, if you’re looking for a sleeper, consider the Ohio native Brett Wetterich who shot back-to-back 69’s last week and would be first on the PGA in driving distance if he had played the minimum number of rounds to be ranked.