2020 Memorial Tournament - Jon Rahm
The coronavirus pandemic shut down golf in mid-March. But Tiger Woods was shut down a month before that. A stiff back kept him out of a host of tournaments he would normally play, such as the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players.
Tiger Woods, ranked 14th in the Official World Golf Ranking, is a five-time winner of the Memorial Tournament.
No player on the tour has a bigger fan following than Woods, who is a 15-time major champion. But like everybody else on the tour, Woods will have to adapt to the change.
Players have described the scene to him as a very different world out there.
"It's going to be different, there's no doubt about it," Woods said. "For most of my career, pretty much almost every competitive playing round that I've been involved in, I've had people around me, spectators yelling, a lot of movement inside the gallery with camera crews and media."
This is the 45th year of the Memorial Tournament, and host Jack Nicklaus has made a tradition of waiting behind the 18th green to congratulate the winner with a hearty handshake.
Nicklaus, 80 years young, won the Memorial twice among his 73 PGA Tour victories. He designed the course and founded the tournament, which began in 1976.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Nicklaus said Tuesday that he will not be changing anything.
Jack said, "I wouldn't put anybody in a position to possibly be exposed to the virus. I wouldn't do that, and if I was in any danger of doing that, I wouldn't shake their hands".
Because he is part of the tour personnel on site, Nicklaus was required to take a COVID-19 test.
