The Golden Bear and Wife Barbara Raise Millions for Charity, Honor David Graham, and Have a Great Field
Tournament Director Dan Sullivan and the Bear on how the Memorial got started. It changed the Tour forever
By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
Dublin, Ohio — Jack Nicklaus was the only choice to host media day. Usually the defending champion meets with the press in person or on a Zoom Call. Longtime tournament director Dan Sullivan asked Nicklaus how the tournament got started. Nicklaus took it from there. After Jack and Barbara, the PGA Tour made tournaments more fan and player-friendly. They also built a charity component into the PGA Tour event, and now, most tournaments do not get started without one.
Jack and Barbara’s foundations and work with the Worldwide Children’s Network is part of the Memorial and has expanded to help children all over the US. They have raised hundreds of millions of dollars and countless lives have been changed and saved.
Check out my six-minute interview with Jack.
Memorial Player Commitments
The Memorial Tournament is a can’t-miss event for PGA Tour players. Rarely does an invited or qualified player miss the event. Playing the tournament of a living legend and being treated as a top-notch professional are huge reasons. The 20-million-dollar purse is another.
Scottie Scheffler has already committed. Jack said Rory told him he is in. Here are a few more. With plenty more announcements coming.
Cantlay, 34, will be making his tenth start at Muirfield Village Golf Club, where he has twice won the Memorial Tournament, in 2019 and 2021. He picked up four of his eight career PGA TOUR victories during his 2020-2021 season and finished atop the leaderboard in the final two events in the FedExCup playoffs at the BMW Championship and the TOUR Championship. Cantlay’s career-best year culminated with the FedExCup title, the Jack Nicklaus Award as the PGA TOUR Player of the Year, and his first Ryder Cup appearance. Cantlay has carried that momentum forward with a combined 33 top-10 finishes the past four-plus seasons, including two wins and six runner-up finishes—three of which were playoff losses. Cantlay landed inside the top 20 in FedExCup points for a fifth consecutive year in 2025, finishing T2 for his fourth top 5 in the season-ending race. He is currently ranked No. 33 in the world and No. 40 in FedExCup points with two top-10 finishes over nine starts this season. The former UCLA Bruin ranks fourth in career scoring average at the Memorial Tournament with a 70.82 average, and his career Tournament earnings of $5,074,266 is third all-time behind five-time winner Tiger Woods (2) and fellow two-time winner Scottie Scheffler (1).
Hovland, 28, added his seventh PGA TOUR victory last season at the Valspar Championship since turning professional in 2019. He is currently ranked No. 26 in the world and 60 in FedExCup points. Hovland became the first Norwegian to win on TOUR when he secured his first professional victory at the 2020 Puerto Rico Open. The 2018 U.S. Amateur champion enjoyed a career-best season on the PGA TOUR in 2022-2023 that included nine top 10s, with three wins and one runner-up finish over 23 starts. After defeating Denny McCarthy in a playoff at Muirfield Village Golf Club in 2023, Hovland capped off his finest season with back-to-back wins in the final two FedExCup Playoff events, the BMW Championship and TOUR Championship to claim the FedExCup trophy. This will be Hovland’s seventh start at the Memorial Tournament where his earnings total $4,167,608 (ranked No. 4) to go with a 72.67 career scoring average. He finished T-25 last year for his third consecutive top-25 result at the Memorial.
Thomas, 33, will make his 12th start at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, where he has three top-20 finishes, highlighted by a T-4 effort in 2017. His scoring average at Muirfield Village Golf Club is 72.47 with career earnings of $1,030,767.14. The University of Alabama standout is ranked No. 17 in the world and No. 67 in FedExCup points with six starts this season, including a T8 at THE PLAYERS Championship. He is coming off his best season on the PGA TOUR in nearly three years with eight top 10s and four inside the top 5 including his 16th PGA TOUR title at the 2025 RBC Heritage. His previous victory counted as his second major and second PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in May of 2022. The Kentucky native is arguably one of the more popular and accomplished players of the past decade, enjoying three multi-win seasons¾with his best campaign coming in 2016-17 with five wins, the FedExCup title and the Jack Nicklaus Award as the PGA TOUR Player of the Year.
