The Memorial at Jack's Place, Muirfield Village, begins on Thursday in Dublin, Ohio. The Signature Event also serves (to Jack Nicklaus's chagrin) as the PGA Tour's final tune-up for the 2024 U.S. Open (June 13-16 at Pinehurst No. 2.)

U.S. Open qualifying was mostly completed on Monday, a.k.a “The Longest Day in Golf.” (Adam Scott, alas, will likely see his hard-to-believe streak of 91 consecutive major appearances, dating back to 2001, come to an end). However, golfers inside the top 60 of the Official World Golf Ranking by next Monday will gain a late ticket to North Carolina for the 124th U.S. Open.

The following five players currently sit outside the top 60 and either failed to qualify through Final Qualifying or took Monday off to rest for the Memorial — but are within U.S. Open striking distance, should they show out in Dublin.

Players in Memorial alive for U.S. Open spots

Ben Griffin

Griffin enters the week ranked 70th in the OWGR. The 28-year-old has two top-10s in 2024 but is still seeking his first career PGA Tour win. He's coming off a career-best result: a solo second-place at the RBC Canadian Open (which booked him a place for The Open at Royal Troon in July).

Lee Hodges

Hodges, ranked 75th, hasn't finished better than 12th in a PGA Tour event this season, but two of his three 12th-place finishes have come in the past two weeks — at the PGA Championship and the Charles Schwab Challenge.

Davis Riley

Riley (OWGR: 78) opted out of the RBC Canadian Open after besting world no. 1 Scottie Scheffler to win the Charles Schwab Challenge — his first career PGA Tour trophy.

“It was a super exhausting week, but to get it done by myself gave me a lot of confidence going forward,” said Riley. “I decided to withdraw from Canada, just to take a week of rest to get prepared for (Memorial) . Then obviously I was doing the U.S. Open qualifier in Canada the Monday after, and I just felt like it would be pretty taxing to go all the way up to Canada just for a 36-hole event and then come down here.

“There is still a way for me, I don't know exactly what I've got to finish, but there is a way, if I have a well enough finish this week, to get into next week, so I was just kind of putting all my eggs in the basket that route.”

Like the Schwab's venue, the Colonial Country Club, Muirfield Village will pose a stiff tee-to-green test.

“It's just a ball-striking golf course,” Riley said. “You've got to hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens. Similar to Colonial, you got to drive it in the fairway, and fairways and greens are going to be the premium, just because when you get in this rough, it's so thick and it can be very tricky around and just off the fairway. So definitely a ball-striking premium.”

Andrew Putnam

Putnam will tee off at Jack's Place as the occupant of the no. 79 spot on the OWGR. The 2018 Barracuda Championship winner has four top 20s on the PGA Tour in 2024, but none since the RBC Heritage in April.

Patrick Rodgers

Rodgers (no. 87) has been all over the map in 2024, but that does include three top 10s: at the Farmers Insurance Open (T9), the Mexico Open (T6), and the RBC Heritage (T5).

The 31-year old ranks 38th in driving distance on the PGA Tour, which might behoove him at the lengthy par-72 of Muirfield Village. On the other hand, precision off the tee is sneakily paramount at Jack's Place, and Rodgers ranks 147th on the PGA Tour this season in driving accuracy.

It's rare for non-stars to break through at Muirfield, which perennially — by Jack's design — rates amongst the toughest treks in golf. Can Rodgers, Putnam, or anybody else on this list, temporarily level up?

Adam Scott, ranked no. 60, is not in the Memorial field. He is one of the six U.S. Open alternates, however, so he'll be rooting for all these guys to struggle. The USGA does not disclose its alternate system.