Temps de lecture : 3 min
Key Takeaways
- Intentional naming: Nicklaus deliberately called his PGA Tour event the Memorial Tournament, not a championship, to avoid presumptuousness, much like Bobby Jones did with the Masters.
- Service to the game: The tournament was created to give back to golf and the community of Dublin, Ohio, not to claim major status.
- Decades of growth: Since 1975, Muirfield Village’s Memorial has become a premier event, and Dublin’s population has grown a hundredfold with Nicklaus’s support.
I’ve Played That Shot a Thousand Times
Jack Nicklaus is hosting his PGA Tour event, the Memorial Tournament, for the 51st time in June 2026 at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. The Golden Bear debuted this tournament in 1975, and he created it in the likeness of the Masters Tournament—the actual, formal name of the event most everyone knows simply as the Masters. Here’s the thing nobody talks about: it’s not an accident that it’s called the Memorial Tournament.
Bobby Jones Figured This Out in 1928
Nicklaus explained it plainly: “The name of the tournament, it’s called the Memorial Tournament. And the reason it’s called the Memorial Tournament is that the Masters also is called the Masters Tournament. And why is the Masters called a tournament? Well, it’s called a tournament because Bobby Jones did not want it to be called a championship. Jones felt like he was using what the USGA and the R&A, and the PGA, and the players that played best in those three championships made up his field at the Masters, and it would be presumptuous to call it a championship, so he called it a tournament.”
The game doesn’t owe you anything. Neither did Nicklaus. He didn’t want to name his event to suggest it was on the level of a U.S. Open or Open Championship or the PGA Championship. That kind of humility is rare—even in golf.
And I Didn’t Want to Be Presumptuous Here
“And I didn’t want to be presumptuous here in calling this any more than a tournament because I felt like our goal was to be of service to the game of golf and to try to further the game, bring the game back to the place where I grew up, bring it back to the people here.” Walk the course. You’ll understand. That philosophy built an event that’s now one of the biggest on the calendar.
All These Years Later
All these years later, the Memorial is one of the biggest events on the schedule, and the town of Dublin has grown some 100 times in size in terms of population. Nicklaus is proud to have grown the event as the city has grown, too. “We had great support from Dublin. About 60,000 people (currently) in Dublin. Well, Dublin’s done fairly well. I think we probably had a pretty big influence on that. We’re very proud of that. And we’ve had great support from the whole Central Ohio and actually the whole golfing world.”
Bobby Jones figured this out in 1928. The game doesn’t owe you anything. But if you treat it right—and treat the people around you right—it might just give you something back. Jack Nicklaus built a tournament that way. That’s not a tip—that’s a truth.
Playing golf since before GPS rangefinders existed. Eddie covers the classic game — courses, technique, and the stories worth keeping.