Memorial skins game News & notes from Muirfield Village

June 4, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

Northern exposure: There’s something about a traditional, tree-lined Midwestern course that Zach Johnson likes. “This is what I grew up on,” he said Wednesday, a day before the opening round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village. “I love the tree lines. I love the bentgrass. I love the fast greens, the substantial rough. I just like how you have to plot your way around it.” Yet the problem for the Iowa native is that he has never won on such a course. His five wins on tour are the BellSouth (Georgia), Masters (Georgia), AT&T (Georgia), Valero (Texas) and Sony Open (Hawaii). “I haven’t had a whole lot of stellar finishes in the north,” Johnson said. “I finished second here once (two shots back of winner Carl Pettersson in 2006). I don’t know if I’ve had any other top 10s up north.”

Honorees: Each year the Memorial Tournament honors players and contributors who have helped make the game what it is. This year’s honorees are JoAnne Carner, who won 43 times on the LPGA Tour, and Jackie Burke Jr., winner of 17 PGA Tour titles including two majors. Carner was known as a free spirit who would banter with pro-am partners, fellow competitors and galleries. During honoree ceremonies on Tuesday near the 18th green, she said one of her nicknames was “Shank.” She related how, after she repeatedly had trouble with wedge shots near an elevated green, a playing partner asked if she might just try some other club.

“Why? I’m just now getting the hang of this one,” she cracked. Plaques bearing the honorees’ likenesses are mounted in a small area near the first tee at Muirfield Village.

Quotable: Rocco Mediate, on whether the Memorial Tournament serves as preparation for the U.S. Open: “I would never say I’m using it more to prepare for the U.S. Open. I’m using the Memorial to try to win the Memorial.”

Associated Press