The PGA TOUR is in Ohio this week for the Memorial Tournament and with most of the top-ranked players in the field, it should be a great event. The tournament is contested at Muirfield Village Golf Club, a 7,300-yard, par-72 track that always garners great reviews from the field. In 2005, the scoring average of 71.932 for the event was close to par, but it will take a much better than par effort to in this event. The last three winners have combined to post 15 of their 16 rounds under par, so taking advantage of scoring opportunities is going to be crucial at Muirfield Village.

The good news for some of the players is that scoring at Muirfield Village is not solely a distance-based competition. Over the past few years, the overall ball-striking statistic has ranked high among the players who finish near the top of the leaderboard. Since ball-striking is a combination of driving distance, driving accuracy and greens in regulation, it could mean that players are hitting it as far as they can without any regard to where the tee shot comes to PGA TOUR tour average for proximity to the hole from the rough is only about 12 feet more than approaches from the fairway. So players hitting from the fairway did have a distinct advantage in setting up birdie opportunities than those hitting from the rough. In addition to creating scoring opportunities, players will have to have good touch on and around the greens as they cannot afford to lose ground at this type of event, making scrambling and three-putt avoidance important factors.

So which players have the right combination of skills and have obviously used them to post low scores? Start at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking and you will find them. The three highest-ranked players in the field -- Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, and Retief Goosen -- all should be considered strong contenders this week for a variety of reasons. All three rank in the top 20 on the PGA TOUR in at least three of the five key ShotLink statistics, and looking at Goosen's statistics, it is just a matter of time before he wins on TOUR this season. Other contenders are Scott Verplank, who tied for 13th at last year's event and is well-equipped to tackle Muirfield Village, and 2006 PLAYERS champion Stephen Ames, who ranks in the top 15 in four of the five statistics.