The Memorial Tournament is a PGA Tour golf tournament founded by Jack Nicklaus. It is played on a Nicklaus-designed course at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Nicklaus' home town of Columbus. The golf course passes through a large neighborhood called Muirfield Village. There is a statue of Jack Nicklaus teaching a young child how to golf along Muirfield Drive. As a restricted field event on the PGA Tour, only the first 75 players on the previous years money-list are guaranteed invites. One of the main features of the tournament is a yearly induction ceremony honoring past golfers. A plaque for each honoree is installed near the clubhouse at Muirfield. Jack Nicklaus himself was the honoree in 2000. Columbus is where Nicklaus was born and raised, where he started his own family, and where he learned the game of golf. It was Nicklaus's vision to create a golf club that embodied his personal and professional life and to create a golf tournament that would long represent his passion for tournament golf, and would give back to a community that has embraced him and the game. This vision was fulfilled in May 1976, with the first playing of the Memorial Tournament. This came two years to the day after the doors were opened and the first shots played at Muirfield Village. Nicklaus signalled his intent to host his own tournament during Masters Week in 1966, when he spoke of his desire to create a tournament that, like The Masters, had a global interest, and was inspired by the history and traditions of the game of golf. He also wanted the tournament to give back in the form of charitable contributions to organizations benefiting needy adults and children throughout Columbus and Ohio. The primary charitable beneficiary of the tournament is Nationwide Children's Hospital. The Memorial reached the height of its popularity in the 1990s having reached "Sold-Out" status, a first on the PGA Tour other than the major championships. For a variety of reasons the event started seeing ticket sales decrease during the last five years. Tiger Woods has the most victories in the event with four (1999, 2000, 2001, and 2009).
Past Winners 2009 Tiger Woods 2008 Kenny Perry 2007 K.J. Choi 2006 Carl Pettersson 2005 Bart Bryant 2004 Ernie Els 2003 Kenny Perry 2002 Jim Furyk 2001 Tiger Woods 2000 Tiger Woods 1999 Tiger Woods 1998 Fred Couples 1997 Vijay Singh 1996 Tom Watson 1995 Greg Norman 1994 Tom Lehman 1993 Paul Azinger 1992 David Edwards 1991 Kenny Perry 1990 Greg Norman 1989 Bob Tway 1988 Curtis Strange 1987 Don Pooley 1986 Hal Sutton 1985 Hale Irwin 1984 Jack Nicklaus 1983 Hale Irwin 1982 Raymond Floyd 1981 Keith Fergus 1980 David Graham 1979 Tom Watson 1978 Jim Simons 1977 Jack Nicklaus 1976 Roger Maltbie
