2007 Memorial Pictures: The Americans

The Memorial attracts a wealth of good players, and a good many of them are American. However, their numbers are dwindling, as Jack Nicklaus himself is quick to point out. Nicklaus says golf is again becoming more of a “world game,” and that the pendulum is swinging back towards foreign domination of golf. Witness, he says, the last several Ryder Cups and the number of international players in the field at his tournament.

The man has got a point.

Ben Curtis

Brad Faxon

Brad’s good friend Billy Andrade watches a modern master at his craft. Faxon is rightfully renowned as one of the greatest putters on the PGA Tour, and has been for a long, long time.

Brett Quigley
Seen here playing the 16th hole in a practice round with Billy Andrade, Brett Quigley was goofing around with the “stack and tilt” swing made popular recently by Aaron Baddeley and others.

Suffice to say, he thinks the theory is a lot of bunk. Then again, Baddeley has won a few times… what’s Quigley done?

Bubba Watson

Charles Howell III
Seen here practicing bunker and chip shots around the dangerous par-three 12th hole.

David Leadbetter followed Charles around most of Tuesday. Charles played with Adam Scott, who was followed around by Titleist wedge craftsman Bob Vokey (farthest back).

Charley Hoffman
Charley and Jeff Quinney played together. Here, they prepare to drive off the 11th tee.

Corey Pavin

Davis Love III
Davis should have stopped to smell the flowers below the 12th tee – it may have been the most pleasant thing he did all week. In tournament action, he duffed it around to +12 and missed the cut.

Jack Nicklaus
Jack began the week with his usual interview. Among the questions asked, many were about the rakes, some were about the modern golf ball (go figure), and others were about how the Memorial began and what he thinks of Oakmont and the upcoming U.S. Open.

Though the putting stance is familiar, Jack has trouble crouching behind the ball to read putts and has seemingly aged more quickly than Arnold Palmer, despite being ten years his junior.

Jason Bohn

Jason Gore
Jason Gore so despised Nike’s golf balls that he asked to be released from his Nike contract. He’s been playing Cobra equipment lately, though I’m not positive a deal has been made official yet.

Jerry Kelly
Jerry kissed his ball off Mark Wilson’s at the 14th hole Friday, which bumped the ball just enough that it spun into the cup for an eagle. Jerry is seen below on the practice range.

John Rollins
John Rollins is the 43rd ranked player in the world and sits at ninth place in the FedExCup race, but you’ve probably never heard of him. When will he get a win? Soon, perhaps. He’s been playing very good golf.

Justin Leonard
As coincidence would have it, each of these shots were taken on the ninth green on various days.

Kenny Perry
Kenny Perry had an incredible week driving the ball, hitting 49 of 56 fairways, 72.22% of his greens in regulation, and driving the ball 297.9 yards – good enough for thirteenth place. It’s interesting how flat-footed Kenny is through impact. He, like Nicklaus, roll their ankles more than most modern players.

Mark Wilson
Mark, seen here driving on the 11th and chipping in a tournament round at the ninth, is having a good year. He netted his first win and birdied seven straight holes at Muirfield Village on Friday to get into contention.

Nick Watney
Nick used his wedge to putt to putt to a few likely hole locations at the sixth hole. I do this myself sometimes as a practice drill on the putting green.

Phil Mickelson
Phil, seen here during the pro-am and before his Thursday withdrawal, always has a good time on the golf course. Well, save for the 72nd hole at Winged Foot last year, anyway…

Ryan Moore

Sean O’Hair

Ted Purdy

Tom Lehman
Lehman is trying to make the Ryder Cup team two years after having captained the team. Currently 81st in the FedExCup, he’s got a ways to go, but I wouldn’t bet against him.

Tom Pernice, Jr.

Woody Austin
Like you have to ask: if you see a guy with a Cleveland hat and a hideous shirt, it’s Woody Austin. He may be the most identifiable player in golf, right after Tiger Woods.

Zach Johnson
Seen here at the ninth tee, the 2007 Masters champion had to withdraw mid-round Thursday due to strep throat. He’s the only player capable of winning the Grand Slam this year.

Special Thanks
The Sand Trap would like to give a special thanks to lensrentals.com. Several of the pictures above would not have been possible without the lenses loaned to us by the fine folks at lensrentals.com. For one-, two-, or long-term lens rentals, visit lensrentals.com.

All pictures © 2007 The Sand Trap .com. All rights reserved..