This week the PGA Tour returns to Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, for the Memorial Tournament. GCSAA Certified Golf Course Superintendent Paul Latshaw, director of grounds operations, is looking to dry out and firm up the golf course after receiving more than 2 inches of rain during advance week.

The bentgrass greens, mowed at 0.90 of an inch, are rolling smooth and the rough, a mix of Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass and fescue, is 3 inches tall. No. 16 reopens this week with a new fairway leading to a new pond left of a new green, after a mass excavation broke ground last July. Six inches of sand was added to No. 14 green last fall to lessen the slope towards the water.

Muirfield received 2 ½ inches of rain during last year’s Memorial Tournament, causing six rain delays, as Latshaw and his team repaired the washed-out bunkers three times among other cleanup activities. The following summer was one of the worst in history for most of the country. Using defensive turf management practices such as raised mowing heights, reduced mowing and increased rolling, Latshaw steered Muirfield through the extreme heat and humidity with little to no turf loss, and remained open all year.

Latshaw is a 23-year GCSAA member and has been at Muirfield for the past seven years after working as the manager of golf courses and grounds at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y., where he hosted the 2003 PGA Championship. Before that Latshaw was the superintendent at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., which has hosted the most USGA championships of any golf facility in the country. He has a bachelor’s degree in agriculture science from Penn State University and a master’s degree in management from Rosemont (Pa.) College.

Muirfield has hosted the Memorial Tournament every year since 1976, and it has also hosted the 1986 U.S. Junior Amateur, 1987 Ryder Cup, 1992 U.S. Amateur, and the 1998 Solheim Cup. Muirfield will host the Presidents Cup in 2013.