The Memorial Tournament may have been an event Tiger Woods won five times during his career, but that does not mean that the 15-time major champion does not have some bad memories from playing Muirfield Village.
Woods is the only player to have won at Jack’s Place on more than three occasions.
He is also the only player to have won the event three times in a row.
How Tiger Woods behaved when he shot an 85 at the Memorial Tournament in 2015
In fact, Woods’ seven-shot win in 2001 remains the largest margin of victory in the history of the Memorial Tournament.
But in 2015, Woods was making history for a different reason. His 85 on Saturday in Ohio remains the worst score of his PGA Tour career. He finished the week at least eight shots behind anyone else who made the cut.
It was Zac Blair who played alongside Woods in that third round. And speaking to ESPN in 2018, Blair revealed just how impressed he was by his playing partner’s attitude that day.
“Whenever I tell people the story about playing with Tiger, I always try to tell them how amazing he was toward me,” Blair said. “He could have easily walked off. He wasn’t playing his best and after nine he could have just gone in. He stuck through it all day and really grinded it out and was still really nice. That was the coolest round of golf in my entire life.”
Zac Blair was still stunned by Tiger Woods’ quality during the worst round of his professional career
Blair actually finished 15 shots better off as he posted a 70. He would go on to finish the week in a tie for 61st, 10 places higher than Woods.
Woods played on his own in the final round. A 74 ensured that he finished 14 over par for the week.
He was clearly dealing with injuries, with his only top 10 of the year coming at the Wyndham Championship.
Nevertheless, Blair insisted that he was still amazed by what he saw from Woods when they played together at Muirfield Village.
“I remember some of the shots he hit and thinking how unbelievable this guy is and why he is on another level as far as talent from anybody else,” he said. “To hit some of the shots he hit, I had played a year out here and played with a lot of good players but some of the things he could do with a golf ball made me realise why he was the best. He was still able to do some good things. He hit some iron shots that I couldn’t believe how flush they were.”
Thankfully, Woods has since played the Memorial on three more occasions. He did not finish lower than 40th in that time.
And he managed to finish inside the top 10 in 2019. Woods posted one of the lowest rounds of the day on Sunday, with a 67, on that occasion.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
