Despite having a field of about 100 to 110 contestants, The Memorial Tournament attracts a wide variety of foreign players. Though they rarely experience success at Muirfield Village, the 2007 edition was won by a Korean – K.J. Choi – and featured several Aussies in contention, including Adam Scott, Rod Pampling, Geoff Ogilvy, and Aaron Baddeley.
Here are some shots of some of the more popular international players from the 32nd Memorial Tournament.
Adam Scott
Adam Scott is a favorite player of mine, but I’m not as keen on him as I was before the tournament. Scott admitted to thinking about shooting 59 twice during his Friday 62 around Muirfield Village, weakly missing the short putts he faced (for birdie at 13 and eagle at 15) each time. That doesn’t indicate a strong mind. His failure to back up his 62 on Saturday or Sunday casts further doubt on Scott’s major aspirations.
Walking, with caddie, to the par-five fifth green. The light green shirts are from his Friday 62. Darker green and orange from practice rounds (Tuesday and Wednesday’s pro-am respectively).
On the practice range Wednesday prior to the pro-am.
Practicing bunker shots from the front bunker on the tricky, dangerous 12th green.
Chipping at the 13th green. Bob Vokey spent the day with Adam watching his wedge game.
Adam Scott was one of a few people who birdied the short but dangerous par-four ninth hole on Friday on his way to 62, one shot off the tournament record.
After finishing at 18 with a tricky up and down from behind the green (he pulled a “Freddie Couples” and chipped the ball with the toe of his putter), Scott thanks the crowd with a tip of the hat.
Scott, naturally, was asked to comment on his 62 after the round. With 11 birdies and a single bogey at the par-three 16th hole, the course was Adam’s playground for the day.
When asked about Maria Sharapova listing Scott sixth on her top ten list of doubles partners and requesting a “night match, please?,” Scott replied “she must know I’m a pretty good tennis player.”
A day later, when asked about Sharapova again, Scott said “well, she’s hot, but my girlfriend is pretty hot too.” Sure, rub it in, Adam!
Camilo Villegas
When will this kid learn to win? Not at the 2007 Memorial. He has all the tools, as they say, but can he put something together four days in a row?
Charl Schwartzel
Practice rounds are a great time to get close to your favorite PGA Tour players. Just look at how empty those stands are!
Fredrik Jacobson
Geoff Ogilvy
With the fall-off of Joe Ogilvie’s play and Geoff’s win at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, I am willing to bet less people are calling him “Joe” or spelling his last name with an “i-e” these days.
Ian Poulter
Ian glared at me because he believed I took several pictures during his backswing and downswing. He teed up a second ball and I laid my camera down to prove to him it was the fans behind the ropes that were doing the dirty deeds.
So I feel compelled to point this out: though practice rounds are a great way to get close to PGA Tour players, get your own pictures, and create some awesome memories, they are not license to be rude. Don’t take pictures when golfers are swinging. They’re still working, even though it’s not a tournament round. Please respect them and wait until after impact to press the shutter button.
Jeev Milka Singh
Jesper Parnevik
Jesper looks just a little bit more than crazy here in this picture. When reviewing them later, a friend remarked that he looked like Freddy Krueger. I can’t disagree.
Johan Edfors
Easy to spot and fun to watch, Johan Edfors is perhaps one of the more under-rated players in the game today.
José Maria Olazabal
Seen here with Greg Owen and a club technician, José is finally playing a MacGregor driver. Last year I watched MacGregor folks give him ten drivers to hit. He hit three balls with each, then promptly handed each back and put his Titleist 905R back in the bag.
K.J. Choi
The winner of the 2007 Memorial: K.J. Choi and his super-loud, super-square Nike driver. My ears are still ringing.
Luke Donald
“Luke Donald Golf” didn’t get the Brit a win at this year’s Memorial. Am I out of line for suggesting Luke may be one of the more over-rated players in the game?
Richie Ramsay
Robert Allenby
Robert is one of the few Aussies who didn’t seem to get his name on the leaderboard. He’s seen here with a playing companion’s bionic train-conducting caddie.
Rod Pampling
Sergio Garcia
Suffice to say, Sergio wasn’t pleased with the outcome of this shot, an approach to the green at the par-four 10th.
Shigeki Maruyama
Stevie Williams
My camera survived unharmed. It’s an old joke, sure, but one that’s still told to me by the fans watching me take pictures of Stevie and his boss.
Trevor Immelman
Vijay Singh
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..