Tiger’s back! Five-time winner!

And he’s not the only one.

Eight of the top 10 players in the world per the Hawley Ratings, 44 of the top 50, and all five of the winners so far on the re-started 2020 PGA Tour will be on hand this weekend for the Memorial Tournament in Dublin OH. It’s easily the best field assembled since the Schwab re-started the Tour in June. Of the top 50, only the Euro-based Adam Scott, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Francesco Molinari, and Henrik Stenson, plus Will Gordon, lacking status on the Tour, are missing.

Tiger Woods last appeared in the Genesis at Los Angeles’ Riviera Country Club in February. Obviously, it’s hard to say what to expect in July. In the current century, this is 12th time that Woods is appearing after a break of 10 weeks or more, although only the fifth time it in a regular season event other than a major. His record coming off a long break is not too bad. He’s got three wins (the most recent only nine months ago), a couple of other top-10s, and only two missed cuts. Here is the breakdown:

“I just felt it was better to stay at home and be safe,” Woods said Tuesday when asked about the long time away from competition. “I’m used to playing with lots of people around me or having lots of people have a direct line to me, and that puts not only myself in danger but my friends and family. Just been at home practicing and social distancing and being away from a lot of people. Coming back and playing the Tour, in my case over the 20-some-odd years I’ve been out here, that’s really hard to say, that I’m used to having so many people around me or even touch me, going from green to tee. That’s something that I looked at and said, ‘Well, I’m really not quite comfortable with that, that whole idea.’”

Woods is looking for his sixth win in this event, the last having come in 2012.

2018 Memorial champion Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy are the two lowest-priced choices for bettors at bovada.lv. DeChambeau of course has been a sensation with his rocket launches from the tee box. He has four top-10 finishes in four appearances going back to the Schwab, including the win at (appropriately) the Rocket. McIlroy, no. 1 in the world rankings, has been a little bit off. He was outside the top 30 in the first two events after the re-start, then 11th at the Travelers. It’s his worst three-event string since the 2018 fall season when his best finish was a 20th in three October-November starts.

From the standpoint of the course itself, McIlroy looks like a good fit. The top two stats in correlation with strong play on the Muirfield Village course over recent years are greens in regulation and shots gained around the green. McIlroy is one of the top four when ranked by how his statistical profile matches up with the top stats, per the Hawley course fit statistics. He’s joined by 50-year-old Ernie Els, 2014 winner Hideki Matsuyama, and Webb Simpson in that area. Patrick Cantlay, slumping Tony Finau, and Xander Schauffele are within a half-stroke of McIlroy.

Others from the top 50 who have come out of the break with some strong play include Abraham Ancer, Viktor Hovland, and veterans Lucas Glover and Rory Sabbatini. Ancer is three-of-three in top-20 finishes, and Hovland is five-of-five in made cuts, including last week’s impressive third-place finish on this same course. Hovland is up from 66th in the March Hawley Ratings to 31st now.

From outside the top 50, Kevin Streelman and Doc Redman are showing some good midsummer form. Streelman missed the first two cuts, then was runner-up in the Travelers and in the top 10 in the Workday. Redman has made four out of four cuts with a best finish of 11th in the Travelers.

In terms of consistency in this event, Matt Kuchar and Marc Leishman are worth evaluating. Kuchar missed the cut last year to end a streak of six years in which he won once (2013), was fourth twice, and never finished outside the top 30. Over a similar span, Leishman has been fifth twice, in the top 20 two other times, and never missed the cut.