Pivotal par-3 16th at Muirfield Village no longer unbearable during Memorial but certainly is no pushover

DUBLIN, Ohio – How difficult can the par-3 16^th at Muirfield Village Golf Club, at a mere 200 yards at most, play during The Memorial?

In 2020 in the final round, Phil Mickelson laid up 43 yards short on the hole and then putted the ball for his second shot. When the hole measured 173 yards.

The same year, Matt Fitzpatrick, en route to finishing third, purposely tried to hit his tee shots into a greenside bunker the entire week.

“It was just playing that firm that day. I just remember the whole week, it was just really, really firm and it was downwind as well, and it was incredibly hard to stop the ball,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think there was only one man that hit it within 20 feet on the final day, and that was Tiger Woods.

“I think that says it all.”

Since 2011, the 16^th has been pivotal in determining who gets to shake Nicklaus’ hand in victory as it has been the toughest hole on the course Nicklaus built in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2020. How tough? There have only been four aces on the hole since 2015. In the 2013 Presidents Cup, Ernie Els was the only player to birdie the hole in singles action as he knocked in a 25-footer.

The hole wasn’t always a terror. For the tournament’s first 37 years, it was a pleasant hole that was not much of a bother. But in 2010, with the Presidents Cup upcoming, the Golden Bear sunk his claws and dug out a lake abutting the green on the left that teamed with three severe bunkers on the right that instantly turned the hole into a monster with plenty of teeth. Especially when it played downwind.

It was nearly unbearable until Nicklaus and his team began a major renovation in 2020 and discovered the shallow green pitched from front to back, and with the surface usually firm, players had a hard time holding the green with tee shots. Especially from 200 yards with wind at their backs.

“Nobody could stop it on the green before,” Nicklaus said. “So we took seven inches out of the center of the green and added seven inches to the back of the green and now the green sits to you.

“It wasn’t fair before. They couldn’t stop the shot. It’s still not an easy shot, but the green will receive a good shot now.”

That’s what the players are hoping for this weekend. If the forecast holds – plenty of sunshine and heat on Saturday and Sunday – the green will be firm. But not a rock, as it was in the past, Nicklaus said.

Jon Rahm has had his moments on the 16^th. The 2020 Memorial champion made an ace on the 16^th in the second round and survived a two-stroke penalty in the final round for his ball moving slightly as he addressed the shot in the rough that year. Rahm likes the redo and said the hole is fair but not a pushover. That was the case in 2021 when the hole ranked as the eighth toughest among the 18.

“The new redo makes it a lot easier than it used to be,” Rahm said. “But it all depends on the firmness on the greens, right. I mean, when the greens were as firm as they were in 2020, there wasn’t much you could do. You had to hit it as high as possible and hope for the best, and hope you got up-and-down from long, basically, if you didn’t hit the green.

“Now it’s a little more doable. Still a tough shot, right. Just got to be comfortable with the decision you make, right. I feel like you need to be decisive, choose the club, choose your shot and stick to it because it’s not a big target. It’s a small green, water and bunkers around it.

“But unlike in the past, those up-and-downs are slightly easier than they have been. So it’s not like it’s a hole you’re looking at to make birdie, but I’m pretty sure everybody in the field will take four pars and move on to 17.”

Or as Rory McIlroy said, “just hit it in the middle of green, two putts, take your three and run to the 17th tee.”