(Reuters) - Most of the game's leading players have gathered for this week's Memorial tournament in Dublin, Ohio, where the leafy Muirfield Village layout is always in immaculate shape for a PGA Tour event that enjoys major-like status.
Hosted annually by golfing great Jack Nicklaus with a prime spot on the tour schedule just two weeks before the U.S. Open, the Memorial repeatedly attracts one of the best fields on the U.S. circuit.
Six of the world's top 10 players, and 12 of the leading 20, will be competing this week at Muirfield Village where number one Rory McIlroy, third-ranked Bubba Watson and Henrik Stenson (fourth) are the notable absentees.