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Good Thursday morning, golf fans, as day one of the Memorial Tournament gets underway.

1. Nicklaus: ‘I don’t even consider those guys part of the game anymore’

Tom D’Angelo for the Palm Beach Post…”Nicklaus was asked by Golfweek if he was disappointed not to have winners of two of the last four majors — Koepka and LIV’s Cam Smith, last year’s British Open champion — in the field.”

• “I don’t even consider those guys part of the game anymore,” Nicklaus said Tuesday. “I don’t mean that in a nasty way. This is a PGA Tour event, and we have the best field we can possibly have for a PGA Tour event for those who are eligible to be here. The other guys made a choice of what they did and where they’ve gone and we don’t even talk about it.”

2. Not settled regarding no-cut events

Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard…“PGA Tour officials said the overhauled 2024 schedule is “90-plus percent completed” and the lineup will be announced later this summer.”

• The Tour transitions back to a calendar-year schedule in ’24 and the goal was to create a better cadence to the lineup with the addition of designated events.

• “Our objective is, we used 2023 as a transition and we’d announced our schedule in June 2022. Subsequently, we identified we wanted to create designated events so we boxed ourselves in,” said Andy Pazder, the Tour’s chief tournaments and competitions officer. “It created situations in the current season where you have isolated events, tournaments in between designated events which is far from ideal. The process we have gone through leading up to announcing [next year’s] schedule is we now have the ability to put together a flow to the schedule that will not have isolated events.”

3. McIlroy: Brooks should be in Ryder Cup

James Corrigan for the Telegraph…”Rory McIlroy believes that Brooks Koepka has every right to appear in this year’s United States Ryder Cup team, but maintains it should be a different story for the Europeans who joined LIV Golf.”

• “Koepka won the US PGA Championship three weeks ago, after finishing second at the Masters in April. However, because he cannot earn qualifying points on the Saudi-funded circuit, and is banned from the PGA Tour, he could still fall out of the top six in the standings who will automatically earn their berths for Rome in September. McIlroy feels US captain Zach Johnson should pick Koepka regardless.”

• “I certainly think Brooks deserves to be on the United States team,” McIlroy said, speaking at the Memorial tournament in Ohio that begins on Thursday. “I mean, he’s second in the US standings, having played only two counting events. I don’t know if there’s anyone else on the LIV roster that would make the team on merit.”

4. McIlroy: Players could skip majors if purses don’t increase

Golf Digest’s Dave Shedloski…”Should the major championships, including the U.S. Open and Open Championship, find a continual proliferation of purse increases unsustainable, McIlroy said it wouldn’t stop him from competing in golf’s four biggest tournaments, but the organizations that run those championships might risk losing other players. And they can’t afford to do that.”

• “It wouldn’t stop me from playing a major, but at the same time the major championships basically rent the talent for a week from the PGA Tour, and you could argue from LIV and DP World Tour and wherever else,” he said Wednesday at Muirfield Village Golf Club. “So, the major championships aren’t going to be the product that they are without the top players in the world.

• “So, would that mean that I would, or anyone would, go to the lengths of not playing a major championship to make a point? No. But that’s just having a reasonable conversation with the governing bodies and the people that run those tournaments and try to come up with a solution.

5. New sponsor for Houston Open

Golf Digest’s Joel Beall…”The PGA Tour and the Astros Golf Foundation announced Wednesday that Texas Children’s will be the new title sponsor of the Houston Open.”

• “The event, which has been played in the fall the past four years, is also returning to its historical spot on the spring calendar. Because of the move, the tournament will not be contested in 2023 and instead restart in 2024.”

6. Why Jack wore Sunday yellow

Bill Fields for PGATour.com…”Craig was an outgoing child who made good grades and loved sports and music. His maternal grandparents, Alvie and Earlene Claxton, were avid golfers who moved after retirement to Pinehurst, N.C. where they could enjoy the game. Taught to play by his grandfather, Craig loved golf and had a natural, athletic swing. Knowing the best golfer in the world was a thrill.”

• “Walking to school one day in 1968 at the age of 11, Craig fell down and later told his mother his leg was hurting badly. He was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, and given six months to live.”

• “Nicklaus was in Craig’s corner as his illness progressed, doing what he could to lift his spirits during a difficult time. The Golden Bear phoned Craig and sent him notes and souvenirs from tournaments. On one of Nicklaus’s visits to the Smith home, Jack asked Craig about his favorite color golf shirt. Craig and his grandpa believed they played better when they wore yellow, so there was no doubt about Craig’s answer. A plan was set in motion.”

• “Jack promised Craig that he would wear a yellow shirt during the final round of televised tournaments as a “Hello” to his young pal. “It meant everything to Craig,” Dr. Smith told Golf World in 2011. “When Craig would see Jack on TV in a yellow shirt, he’d say, ‘Hello to you, Jack.’”

7. Jon Rahm’s Muirfield evolution

Jay Coffing for PGATour…”Now world No. 2, Rahm returned in 2020 to defeat Ryan Palmer by three shots. He held a six-shot lead after three rounds in 2021 but had to withdraw because he tested positive for COVID prior to the start of the final round, and he tied for 10th place last year. Oh, and Rahm shot a final-round 64 at Muirfield Village in 2020 to tie for 27th place at the Workday Charity Open during a two-week stretch where the PGA TOUR played two consecutive events here because of the pandemic.”

• “I think it’s a golf course you kind of need to learn to play a little bit,” Rahm said Tuesday in Ohio. “It gives you a lot of options off the tee on a couple of holes. Getting a couple reps helps. But it’s mainly, it’s a little different to what we play throughout the year. It’s target golf. You put it on the fairway, put it on the proper side of the fairway to give you the best angle to the green.”

• “Par-3s are all difficult. You have to be really accurate with your iron play. No surprise Tiger has such a success here, right. You just need to come out and be the best. While you’re doing that, it actually makes you think a little bit more than some of the golf courses we go to. So like I said, it’s a fun test and I think that’s why I’ve played well.”

8. Pros to fight roll back of ball

John Turnbull for Bunkered..”Several PGA Tour pros are likely to ‘push back’ golf ball changes from the game’s leading associations, according to Adam Scott.”

• “The 2013 Masters winner believes proposed changes that could make drives 20 to 25 yards shorter would not go down well with top players.”

• “Scott, chairman of the Player Advisory Council, said: “I think there’d be some pushback on that from the membership.”

9. Photos from Muirfield

• Check out all of our galleries from this week’s event!