Two weeks until the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
After missing the cut and playing not-so-hot at the PGA, Tiger Woods will have himself a warmup this week.
It is a familiar hunting ground for Woods, in fact, it is Muirfield Village outside Columbus, the hometown of Jack Nicklaus and the course is built on property where Jack used to go hunting with his father, Charlie.
Woods, who rose to No. 5 in the world rankings this week, has won there five times and after only two rounds at Bethpage, the now 15-time major champion knows he needs some work.
So he’s in Columbus this week with a lot of big names. Two big names are not there — world’s No. 1 Brooks Koepka and No. 2 Dustin Johnson. D.J. has to defend next week at the Canadian Open, not sure if Koepka will show up there but he might, it certainly worked pretty well for him playing the week before the PGA.
Woods will be joined by No. 3 Justin Rose, No. 4 Rory McIlroy and No. 6 Justin Thomas will return after resting his injured wrist.
Muirfield Village is a big-boy tract — witnessed by Tiger’s five victories.
Bryson DeChambeau got the winner’s handshake from Nicklaus last year but golf’s young mad scientist has been mired in a slump lately.
Same for Rose and no one knows what to expect from J.T., who was bumped from No. 5 down to No. 6 by Woods.
Jason Day lives there and is a member but has never won, in fact, J-Day hasn’t done much at the Memorial at all.
Jordan Spieth’s game is trending in the right direction, he got his first top 10 of the season last week at Colonial but his errant drives better be gone when he tees it up this week.
Phil Mickelson? Good luck with those wild tee shots of yours, Philly Mick.
Good news is that there will be Tiger-size crowds.
Good news is that because it’s Jack’s home, those crowds will be a lot more respectful to the players than two weeks ago in New York.
And that should make for a good week.
