Foreign Ryder Cup, President Cup Team Members Strengthen Memorial Field

Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington Lead International Commitments

Dublin, Ohio - May 8, 2003 - The 2003 Memorial Tournament field will be loaded with members of the most recent European Ryder Cup and International President's Cup teams and will be complemented with other top players from around the world, including the top-4 European Tour Order Of Merit leaders.

Leading the President's Cup International team in this year's field is the current Volvo Order of Merit leader Ernie Els. He also ranks fourth on the Official PGA TOUR Money List with over $2.2 million on the strength victories at the season opening Mercedes Championships and the Sony Open in Hawaii. Els will be making his 10th straight trip to Muirfield Village Golf Club where he has finished in the top-15 six times.

Joining Els from the 2000 International President's Cup team are 1997 Memorial winner Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Shigeki Maruyama, Carlos Franco, and previously released Mike Weir, winner of this year's Masters.

Singh, who will be making his 12th consecutive appearance in the Memorial field, picked up his 12th career TOUR victory earlier this year at the Phoenix Open and currently ranks seventh on the Official Money list with over $1.5 million. 2001 U.S Open champion Goosen will make his first ever start at this year's Memorial. He ranks ninth on the Official World Golf Ranking and has a solid hold on making his second straight President's Cup later this year. Maruyama, who has two PGA TOUR and ten international victories in his career, will make his sixth visit to Muirfield Village Golf Club in two weeks. Franco rounds out the 2000 President's Cup team in this year's field. The Paraguay native has won 25 times around the world including three on the PGA TOUR.

The 2002 European Ryder Cup team is well represented with six members, including three Memorial first-timers. Along with Padraig Harrington, and Lee Westwood, two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer will make their first appearances at the Memorial Tournament. Langer, who won the 1985 and 1993 Masters, was a part of the 1987 European Ryder Cup team beat the U.S. here at MVGC. He has 58 worldwide career victories. Harrington, on the strength of his victory at the BMW Asian Open, currently ranks fourth in the Volvo Order of Merit and hasn't finished out of the top-10 since 1998. Westwood, an integral part of the winning European team in last year's Ryder Cup, has 15 European Tour victories, including the 1997 Volvo Masters. In winning the 2000 Volvo Order of Merit, became only the fourth player to win six times in one European Tour season.

Rounding out the 2002 Ryder Cup team in this year's field are Sergio Garcia, Jesper Parnevik and another two-time Masters champion, Jose Maria Olazabal. Teamed with Westwood, Garcia posted a 3-2-0 record in the 2002 Ryder Cup. The three-time TOUR winner has also won six times over seas and will make this his third Memorial appearance. European Tour veteran Parnevik made his ninth Memorial commitment. The Swedish native has five TOUR and 9 international victories. Olazabal, also a part of that winning 1987 Ryder Cup team, has six TOUR and 22 international victories, and sports a European best 12-2-2 career Ryder Cup record. He continued his strong Masters appearances by finishing top-10 for the seventh time.

Other top international players that have earned invitations are: K.J. Choi, 2002 Tampa Bay Classic winner; Trevor Immelman, 2003 South African Airways Open and 2002-03 South African Tour Order of Merit winner; Scott Laycock, Australasian Tour money leader; Peter Lonard, currently ranks second on the Volvo Order of Merit; Craig Parry, winner of the 2002 WGC-NEC Invitational; 2002 THE PLAYERS Championship winner, Craig Perks; Toru Tanaguchi, 2002 Japan Tour Order of Merit winner; and Adam Scott, who currently ranks third on the Volvo Order of Merit.

The Memorial Tournament is held annually at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. The Tournament, which was founded and is hosted by Jack Nicklaus, is conducted each year with three goals in mind: to honor the memory of individuals living and deceased who have distinguished themselves in the game of golf; to showcase the world's best golfers competing on one of the most challenging venues in the world for the enjoyment of spectators; and to benefit charitable organizations in central Ohio. For more information, call 614-889-6700 or visit our Web site at www.thememorialtournament.com