The 38th edition of the Memorial Tournament or ‘Jack’s Tournament’, as it’s colloquially known in honor of its founder golf’s all-time leader in major wins Jack Nickalus, gets underway this Thursday May 30th from the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, OH.

Nicklaus founded the Muirfield Village golf community in honor of Muirfield, Scotland, home site of the first of his three Open championships. What Augusta National Golf Club was to Bobby Jones, Muirfield Village is to Jack Nicklaus.

Two golf courses are located within Muirfield Village - The Country Club at Muirfield, which also has tennis and swimming facilities, and Muirfield Village Golf Club, where the Memorial Tournament is held annually on Memorial Day weekend.

The Memorial Tournament is one of golf's premier events, and along with The Players, it has sometimes been called the fifth major. Sometimes, just not lately. But the quality of the players and the golf course is championship caliber every single year.

This year is no exception. A strong field, eight of the top 10 in the current world rankings, led by the world’s No. 1 Tiger Woods, will tee it off at The Memorial on Thursday.

Woods has to be the favorite to win the tournament for the sixth time. Fresh on everyone’s mind, is the memorable 50-foot chip shot at the 16th last year to capture his 73rd win overall and tie Jack Nicklaus' career mark at his own event.

He’s won the Memorial Tournament five times and has three other top five′s in his 13 carrer appearances. Woods has also been playing exceptional this season with four wins including his last start at The Players Championship.

He will try to keep his red-hot season going by defending his title against a field that consists—besides the eight Top 10 players in the world present—of 17 of the top 25 players in the world rankings.

World’s No. 2, Rory McIlroy, has a decent track record here by his standards with two top-10s in three tries. He surprisingly missed the cut at Wentworth, but on this side of the pond, he has three top 10s in his last four tournaments.

Masters champ Adam Scott has a pair of top five′s at Muirfield Village and has made the cut in all five of his stroke-play events this season. He has only played once since his Masters win, which was a T-19th at The Players and could be a factor on Sunday.

Justin Rose’s record at Muirfield might only be bested by Woods. Rose got the winner’s handshake from Golden Bear in 2010 and has four other career top-15 finishes. Last year, he finished solo eight and this year he has racking up the numbers—and money—with three top ten’s and six top 25′s in his seven starts on the PGA Tour.

Brandt Snedeker has not seen weekend play in five starts in the event. Last year he had to withdraw and failed to make the cut on his previous four starts. But this year he is playing better than ever, he has a pair of top 10′s in his last three starts, including a T-6th at Augusta and a T-8th at The Players.

Luke Donald, like McIlroy, surprisingly missed the cut at Wentworth last weekend. In his last four appearances at the Memorial he has finished in the top 15. He is due for a breakout win; this year in seven PGA Tour starts, he has finished in the top-25 all but one time, with a pair of top-five′s.

Matt Kuchar didn’t have Lady Luck’s hand finishing second last week after a solid performance at Colonial. Mr. Consistency continues to pile up top performances and has finished inside the top-10 on his last four starts in this event.

Lee Westwood made a splash with his comments on why he would not defend his title at the Nordea Masters this weekend and would play here. He has only one appearance (2003) finishing T-29th. He comes to the tournament in red-hot form sporting five straight top-10 finishes.

If you are looking for a sleeper pick, look no further than Graham DeLaet. The Canadian faded in the final round last week but is clearly on good form. He's one of the PGA Tour's most consistent ball-strikers and that, along with his great length and GIRs percentage should serve him well this week.

Also, Chinese teenager Tianlang Guan will return to the field this week on a special invitation after missing his first cut in three appearances on the PGA Tour at the Byron Nelson Championship. Don’t expect him to make it either this weekend at the huge Muirfield Village course.

Key Hole

No. 17th – It’s not only the second-to last hole on the course, but this long, 478-yard par-4 generally plays as one of the most challenging holes. Trees down the right side can hamper the approach from a tee shot that's leaked in that direction.

The green is small and well guarded and the ball must carry all the way to the surface across a rough-filled valley. It’s an intimidating hole that could—and usually does—send a player to the 18th in a must-make (birdie) situation on a critical time.

Tee Times (all times ET)

Players will tee it off from holes No. 1 and 10 in threesomes starting at 7:20 am through 8:59 am on the morning session. The second session of threesome groups starts at 12:10 pm and runs through 1:49 pm.

Some of the notable threesomes and their tee times for the first two rounds:

TV Coverage (all times ET)

Golf Channel has coverage the first two days and early on the weekend before handing off to CBS for Saturday's and Sunday's afternoon coverage.