Jack Nicklaus not exactly over the moon about PGA Tour's Memorial request

Golf legend Jack Nicklaus admits he was happy to play ball with the PGA Tour in moving his Memorial Tournament in the schedule, but was not enthralled about it being staged a week before the US Open. 

Nicklaus, 84, told the media ahead of his annual event at famed Muirfield Village that he was directly asked by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan to move his Memorial Tournament away from its regular spot at the end of May and into the first week of June.

The Memorial Tournament, which was founded by the record 18-time major champion in 1976, has typically been staged to coincide with Memorial Day, which this year took place on Monday 27 May. 

Originally established during the Civil War, Memorial Day honours those who have died in military service for the United States. 

But for this year, PGA Tour boss Monahan needed the Memorial Tournament pushed back a week in the schedule because, according to Nicklaus, 'they had a thing they wanted to do'. 

While Nicklaus was more than to 'help 'em out' as he put it during his press conference, he did have reservations in the fact he was 'asked to be putting on a golf tournament in a week that I would never play'. 

That is because Nicklaus would 'rarely' have played in a PGA Tour event the week before a major championship.

Next week sees the third major of the year, the 2024 US Open, take place at Pinehurst No.2. 

Nicklaus admits further discussions will be held with the PGA Tour over the scheduling of next year's Memorial Tournament. 

Scroll down the page for Nicklaus' comments about adhering to the PGA Tour's request...

All of the world's best PGA Tour players including Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy have committed to this week's Memorial Tournament, which features a raised $20m prize purse as a result of it being the seventh of eight signature events on the rota this season. 

The winner of the Memorial Tournament will receive $4m. 

One player who seemingly followed Nicklaus' philosophy is last week's maiden PGA Tour winner Bob MacIntyre, who turned down his invite into the Memorial Tournament having played six weeks in a row on the circuit. 

The decision split opinion on social media, with some going as far to say his WD 'betrayed lack of ambition'.

MacIntyre, who admitted to wanting to 'party hard' with his girlfriend back home in Scotland this week, has hit back at his critics. 

Elsewhere in Nicklaus' presser, he told an incredible story about a young Rory McIlroy.

He also spoke of how marriage affected Tiger Woods' career. 

Scroll below to read the full exchange between Nicklaus and reporters on the subject of shifting the Memorial Tournament back a week in the schedule this season...

Q. A year ago this time it looked like the tournament was going to move a week later, we didn't know for sure, now it has. What do you make of the change to the week before the U.S. Open, the smaller field, obviously a limited cut, and do you expect to have any conversations about that going forward?

JACK NICKLAUS: Well, I'll answer your last question first. That discussion is in process, okay? So, you know, we would prefer the other week; however, we are here this week because the TOUR asked us to help 'em out. They said they had a thing they wanted to do and that the players had asked for and that would we help it out, and we said yes, that we would do that this week. But we said we would review it after this tournament and we'll figure out how we're going to settle the schedule after that, and I said that discussion is under way.

Q. What negative do you see to it?

JACK NICKLAUS: To what?

Q. To being a week later, if there is any. What do you not like about it?

JACK NICKLAUS: Well, I mean, let's put it this way. When I played, I would rarely play a week before any major championship. So I'm asked to put on -- be part of putting on a golf tournament in a week that I would never play. That, to me, is the essential part from my standpoint.

From a sponsor's standpoint, you know, Memorial Day has been what our name is and we were around Memorial Day. I mean, yesterday was normally a very big day gallery-wise for us because it was Memorial Day, and we had maybe a thousand people here yesterday. From the sponsor's standpoint, I think that they get into -- they get into board meetings and kids' graduations and so forth, so that's maybe not as advantageous, but that won't make any difference.

We're going to have a good tournament this week either way, in spite of all the different things. And, you know, as I say, we did that as a favor and the TOUR asked us to do that, and we said yes. So we've always been a supporter of the TOUR. We support what we think is -- we want to try to continue to support what is best for the TOUR, but we also want to support what's best for the Memorial Tournament. So that is to be determined.