Memorial Tournament

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The Memorial Tournament is a PGA Tour golf tournament which is closely associated with 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 gold 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.

Jack Nicklaus always said that the Columbus and Dublin areas represent the confluence of his personal and professional life. Columbus is where he was born and raised, where he started his own family, and where a legendary golf game got its start and was nurtured.

For years, it was Nicklaus's vision to create a golf club that embodied his personal and professional life, and would forever stand as a representation of his love and respect for the game of golf. It was also his vision 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.

When Jack turned his attention to the tournament that would call Muirfield Village Golf Club its home, he had in mind what many have called Jack's second home - Augusta National Golf Club. During Masters Week in 1966, Nicklaus 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.

Finally, it was Nicklaus's desire to create a tournament that would remember and honor the great golfers of the past, and those individuals who built the foundation to a game that today is played and enjoyed by millions around the world. 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 Columbus Children's Hospital.