With the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday just two weeks out, the lineup and impact are starting to take shape. Today, the tournament announced the addition of four-time major championship winner Rory McIlroy to the field of competitors.
McIlroy, currently ranked No. 7 in the Official World Golf Ranking, joins four other top-10 players: 2020 Memorial Tournament winner Jon Rahm (2), Collin Morikawa (3), Cameron Smith (4) and defending Memorial champion Patrick Cantlay (5). Matt Kuchar, winner of the 2013 Memorial Tournament; Matt Fitzpatrick, seven-time winner on the European Tour; and Brandt Snedeker, 2012 FedExCup champion also committed to the tournament.
The tournament, which is viewed by people from 225 countries and territories, has an estimated economic impact for central Ohio around $35 million, according to organizers’ estimates from before the Covid-19 pandemic. This year’s tournament takes place May 30-June 5 at Muirfield Village Golf Club and will feature the first full audience since 2019.
The 2022 Memorial Tournament expands the beneficiaries of the event to include Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Eat. Learn. Play. The later is an Oakland-based charitable foundation helmed by Akron-native Stephen Curry and his wife, Ayesha.
“The hospital has incredible reach in Columbus and is a natural partner in the work we’re doing to serve the next generation,” Curry said in a video. “Ayesha and I have been able to see some of the needs that exist in Columbus and it’s not dissimilar to what we see every day in Oakland. We’re excited to begin this journey with the Memorial to make a difference.”
By working with Eat. Learn. Play., the tournament will support a number of initiatives related to Nationwide’s mission that go beyond the walls of the hospital. That comes in addition to the tournament’s annual contributions to Nationwide Children’s.
“About 20 percent of what drives care or the wellness of children is really what happens in hospitals,” said Tim Robinson, Chief Executive Officer, Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “Eighty percent is what happens outside, and that’s why the mission of Eat. Learn. Play. is so, so important, so synergistic.”
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Among the initiatives receiving support from this year’s tournament are the Linden Fresh Market and Charitable Pharmacy; the Reach Out and Read program, in which doctors “prescribe” books for children from ages 6 months to 5 years; Spark, a kindergarten readiness program; and Play Strong, which supports healthy habits through play and exercise.
Those programs, and other work by Nationwide Children’s, align with Eat. Learn. Play.’s efforts to support healthy eating, literacy and opportunities for play in Oakland, said Chris Helfrich, CEO of Eat. Learn. Play.
Helfrich highlighted we he described as an early literacy “crisis” among the foundation’s biggest concerns and said that the tournament will give the organization an opportunity to offer benefits and opportunities for children around central Ohio.
“For lower income children, access to quality youth sports program is just lacking,” Helfrich said. “Some of our early investments here alongside Nationwide Children’s is just making sure that kids in and around Columbus have the opportunities to play and to reap the benefits that come with it.”
Cameron Carr is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at ccarr@cityscenemediagroup.com.
