2025 Memorial Tournament: Five golfers to watch for 50th edition
DUBLIN, Ohio (WCMH) -- The 2025 Memorial Tournament, the 50th edition of the PGA Tour event founded by 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus, is finally here.
Muirfield Village Golf Club will host 72 of the best golfers in the world in what should be an exciting week of golf in central Ohio. Three of the last four Memorial tournaments have been decided by one stroke or in a playoff as this year's field tries to catch 2024 winner and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler is among a handful of golfers spectators will follow across the 18-hole course; additionally, here are four others to keep an eye on this week.
Scottie Scheffler
Since winning The Memorial last year, Scheffler has just kept on winning big events around the world. The 28-year-old from Ridgewood, New Jersey, won the FedEx Cup last season after claiming a stunning Olympic gold medal in France.
In recent weeks, Scheffler won his third major with a dominant victory at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow to add to his two Masters wins. He has cemented himself as the best golfer in the world and has proved he can win in a variety of ways, from dominant starts to late weekend surges.
If Scheffler wins at Muirfield Village, he'd become just the second golfer to win back-to-back Memorials, joining Tiger Woods, who won three straight from 1999 to 2001.
Patrick Cantlay
The 33-year-old Californian will be searching for history in Dublin as he aims to become the third golfer to win three Memorials, joining Woods and Kenny Perry.
Cantlay turned pro after a successful college career at UCLA and cemented himself as the seventh two-time winner at Muirfield Village in a playoff over Collin Morikawa in 2021. His avenue toward winning his second Memorial in three years opened after defending champion Jon Rahm, who was leading after three rounds, was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19.
Cantlay has won four PGA Tour events since his 2021 Memorial victory, but has gone nearly three years since his last title. He was able to put together his best performance at a major last year with a third-place finish at the U.S. Open and was part of last year's USA triumph at the Presidents Cup, earning a co-team high four points.
Xander Schauffele
Standing close to Scheffler in the top of the golf world is fellow American and world No. 3 Xander Schauffele. The 31-year-old from San Diego burst onto the scene in 2017 when he won his first PGA Tour event at the Greenbrier Classic.
It took him time to find the spotlight but when he did, it was hard for him to leave it. Schauffele became the first American golfer to win gold at the Olympics with his Tokyo 2021 win. He then went on to win the PGA Championship and British Open in 2024 to become the first golfer since Brooks Koepka in 2018 to win two majors in a calendar year.
Schauffele has yet to have a big performance at Muirfield Village, with his best Memorial finish coming last year when he tied for eighth place. His best round on the Dublin course was in 2023, when he shot a 6-under-par 66 in the second round.
Viktor Hovland
One of Europe's best golfers, Hovland has made his mark in the states with no bigger year than 2023. Two years ago, the 27-year-old from Oslo won the Memorial in a playoff over Denny McCarthy to claim his fourth career PGA Tour win.
He followed that up with back-to-back wins at the BMW and Tour championships to win the FedEx Cup at just 25. Hovland has won on tour this year with a March victory at the Valspar Championship by one stroke over Justin Thomas.
If he hopes to become the eighth man to win two Memorials, Hovland will need to find the same groove he had in 2023, when he shot under par in each round at Muirfield Village.
Ben Griffin
The golfer coming to central Ohio in the best form is 29-year-old Ben Griffin, who enters the Memorial fresh off his first two career PGA Tour victories that have come within the last month.
Born in Chapel Hill, Griffin played collegiately with North Carolina for four years. The Tar Heel turned pro in 2018 and has now made a mark on the PGA Tour. In April, Griffin won the Zurich Classic in New Orleans with teammate Andrew Novak.
Last week, he won his first solo event, taking the Charles Schwab Challenge over Germany's Matti Schmid by one stroke. If Griffin stays hot and wins the Memorial in Dublin, he will become the first golfer since Hovland to win back-to-back PGA Tour events.
2025 Memorial field
- Ludvig Aberg (Sweden)
- Byeong Hun An (South Korea)
- Daniel Berger (USA)
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa)
- Akshay Bhatia (USA)
- Keegan Bradley (USA)
- Jacob Bridgeman (USA)
- Sam Burns (USA)
- Brian Campbell (USA)
- Patrick Cantlay (USA)
- Bud Cauley (USA)
- Wyndham Clark (USA)
- Eric Cole (USA)
- Corey Conners (Canada)
- Cam Davis (Australia)
- Thomas Detry (Belgium)
- Nick Dunlap (USA)
- Austin Eckroat (USA)
- Harris English (USA)
- Tony Finau (USA)
- Matt Fitzpatrick (England)
- Tommy Fleetwood (England)
- Rickie Fowler (USA)
- Ryan Fox (New Zealand)
- Ryan Gerard (USA)
- Lucas Glover (USA)
- Max Greyserman (USA)
- Ben Griffin (USA)
- Adam Hadwin (Canada)
- Brian Harman (USA)
- Russell Henley (USA)
- Harry Higgs (USA)
- Joe Highsmith (USA)
- Tom Hoge (USA)
- Max Homa (USA)
- Viktor Hovland (Norway)
- Mackenzie Hughes (Canada)
- Sungjae Im (South Korea)
- Stephan Jaeger (Germany)
- Michael Kim (USA)
- Si Woo Kim (South Korea)
- Chris Kirk (USA)
- Matt Kuchar (USA)
- Min Woo Lee (Australia)
- Shane Lowry (Ireland)
- Robert MacIntyre (Scotland)
- Hideki Matsuyama (Japan)
- Denny McCarthy (USA)
- Maverick McNealy (USA)
- Collin Morikawa (USA)
- Alex Noren (Sweden)
- Andrew Novak (USA)
- Matthieu Pavon (France)
- Taylor Pendrith (Canada)
- J.T. Poston (USA)
- Aaron Rai (England)
- Justin Rose (England)
- Xander Schauffele (USA)
- Scottie Scheffler (USA)
- Matti Schmid (Germany)
- Adam Scott (Australia)
- Brandt Snedeker (USA)
- J.J. Spaun (USA)
- Jordan Spieth (USA)
- Sam Stevens (USA)
- Sepp Straka (Austria)
- Nick Taylor (Canada)
- Sahith Theegala (USA)
- Justin Thomas (USA)
- Davis Thompson (USA)
- Jhonattan Vegas (Venezuela)
- Cameron Young (USA)
NBC4i will provide live coverage daily from the 2025 Memorial. Click here to see the latest on this year's tournament.