Muirfield Village Goes Back-To-Back To Replace John Deere Classic

The PGA Tour has made yet another unprecedented move.

In basically the blink of an eye,  it has replaced the John Deere Classic.

The Tour announced Tuesday that it landed a sucker, er sponsor, for an event that will be played the week before Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament on the same course — Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village.

The aforementioned sucker, er sponsor for the full-field event is none other than Workday — a company that Phil Mickelson represents as a brand ambassador.  You may have seen him in one of the clever television commercials as a “Business Caddie.”

So we can pretty much surmise that Phil will be in the field for the first and only “Workday Open” or whatever they’ll call it.

The Workday event will have a full, 156-player field compared to the 120 players in Jack’s event the following week.

The Workday will be played July 9-12 and as of now, there will be no fans on site.  The Memorial may or may not allow fans, that’s still to be determined.

Having those back-to-back events makes it simple for travel and lodging, given the state of the Corona Virus pandemic.

Last week, the John Deere Company announced it was cancelling its event at TPC Deere Run but is looking to return in 2021.

Tour Players Warming Up At Sea Island Event:

The PGA Tour is back starting next Thursday at Colonial Country Club.  But there will be some players in live action on Friday at Saturday at Sea Island Resort.

Looks like Davis Love III had a hand in organizing a 36-hole team event that will be played at the resort’s Seaside Course, the layout that hosts the RSM Classic in the fall.

Along with Love III will be Harris English, Patton Kizzire, Keith Mitchell, Brian Harman and Hudson Swafford.

In all, there will be 20, two-man teams with a bunch of players from the Korn Ferry Tour in the field.

“For us, we had a lot of the Tour guys here and we were talking to a couple of their agents and we’re starting the Korn Ferry Tour just down the road in Jacksonville next week, so we thought what’s some way we can help get them in the mental state where they are actually competing,” said Brannen Veal, Sea Island’s director of golf. “It just kind of happened.”

The tournament will crown a team and individual champion.  There will be social distancing.  Volunteers will walk with each group to rake bunkers and handle flagsticks.