The oddities of 2020 continue this week on the PGA Tour with the Workday Charity Open, an event never previously played, as kind of a last-minute replacement for the John Deere. When the Deere was cancelled, somebody came up with the idea of a two-week run at the Muirfield Village course near Columbus OH, first this new event and then the long-running Memorial. At one time they thought that a few thousand spectators would be allowed to view the latter event, but now it’s going to be locked gates both weeks unless you’re a player or have some other special status.

They’ve done pretty well with attracting a field – those entered include three of the top four in the Hawley Ratings, 11 of the top 20, and 31 of the top 50. From here it looks like the favorite ought to be Justin Thomas, with Patrick Cantlay and Jon Rahm also of solid interest. Thomas appeared in the first three June events in the Tour’s restarted season, finishing in the top 10 in the Schwab and Heritage before laying a big, fat egg, well below the cut line, in the Travelers. What the heck happened? A look at the stat sheet made it pretty obvious – he was fine off the tee but near the bottom of the field in shots gained in approach and shots gained putting (153rd in the latter). No hiding it. He wrote on Instagram, “Tips from the Tour .. Want a weekend off? Hit your irons poorly and make zero putts. It’s as easy as that .. Week off to get some rest and get things right before the ‘Columbus swing’!”

Cantlay’s only appearance since June was an 11th at the Travelers. Rahm has not clicked, missing the cut in the Schwab and then barely making the top 40 finishers in the next two events.

The Muirfield Village course has a wonderful reputation over its nearly 50-year history, and it reflects the style of play of its owner and designer, Jack Nicklaus, with an emphasis on what happens before you get to the greens. Per the Hawley course fit statistics, over the last several years driving distance and accuracy, shots gained in approach, and sand saves have been the stats most closely correlated with success on the course. However, and as noted at golfdigest.com, there is a grain of salt to take with this: the course is not going to be set up identically for both the Workday and the Memorial. To reinforce the notion that the Memorial is the prime event of the two, the rough will be cut down a bit this week and the greens are going to be slower than what they will see next week. Compensating, pin positions are expected to be trickier for the Workday.

Based on the conditions in the Memorial’s history, Gary Woodland, Rahm, and Adam Hadwin appear to have the games best-suited to the course. Others well-fitted from among the top 50 include Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, and Sungjae Im. Longshot? Maybe Brendan Steele, who fits the course and had a top-10 at the Travelers.

There are 31 players in the field who have played all four events since the restart. Clearly the steadiest guy among these is 22-year-old Norwegian Viktor Hovland. Hovland, in only his second year on the Tour, finished just outside the top 20 in the first two events and then just outside the top 10 in the recent two. Two others who have played all four events and made all the cuts are Mark Hubbard (best of top-25 in the Rocket) and Brian Stuard (best of top-20 in the Travelers).

Of those who have played three of the four events, Joel Dahmen leads the way with all made cuts and two top-20s. Hadwin, Maverick McNealy, Joaquin Niemann, Scott Stallings, Jhonattan Vegas, and Richy Werenski also are three-for-three on made cuts.

Among those who have played twice, Cameron Champ has the steadiest record with two top-20s. Brooks Koepka was in the top 10 at the Heritage and made the Schwab cut.

Cantlay has the best one-appearance finish, his 11th at the Travelers.