Two-time major champion, Australia’s David Graham, has been selected by the Memorial Tournament Captains Club as 2026 honouree at Jack Nicklaus’ signature event at Muirfield Village Golf Club, tournament officials announced Sunday (Monday AEST).
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In addition, early St Andrews professional Allan Robinson will be honoured posthumously. They will be celebrated next June 3 during the 50th anniversary of the Memorial Tournament.
Graham, 79, from Melbourne, won the 1979 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club and the 1981 US Open at Merion among his eight PGA Tour titles. He also won the 1980 Memorial Tournament, a meaningful win considering his association with Nicklaus as a friend and as a collaborator at MacGregor Golf—Graham had a hand in helping Nicklaus design the irons he used to win the 1986 Masters—and the fact that he is a longtime member of Muirfield Village almost since its inception in 1974.
“This is one of the greatest honours I have ever received,” said Graham, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2015. “I’m just tickled to death as a past winner of the Memorial and a proud Muirfield Village Golf Club member to have been selected by the Captains Club. It’s even more rewarding to know that this was a decision by such a distinguished committee. This is a really special honour, especially having a close relationship with Jack Nicklaus.”
“David has been a great friend for a very long time,” Nicklaus said, “and we have not only played a lot of golf together, we also have worked alongside each other outside the ropes. David worked at one time with MacGregor—the clubs I played for decades and the company I owned for a while—and actually helped me make clubs. David was a very good player when he came to the United States, but he really learned how to win once here. He is a really good man and an excellent choice by the Captains Club.”
Graham. Picture: Logan Riely
Born May 23, 1946, Anthony David Graham was introduced to golf at a young age by a club professional at a local nine-hole course in Melbourne. By age 13 he decided to quit school and dedicate himself to the game and turned pro at 16.
He moved to the US and earned his PGA Tour card in 1971 after some success in his home country and wins on tours in Europe and Asia. His first tour title came at the 1972 Cleveland Open after defeating fellow Australian Bruce Devlin in a playoff. Graham also won five times on the PGA Tour Champions before being forced to retire from competition in 2004 due to being stricken with congestive heart failure. The captain of the International team in the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994, Graham is credited with 36 world-wide titles by the World Golf Hall of Fame.
He also has been a course designer and served for many years as a member of the Masters Tournament Cup and Tee Committee, which sets up the course at Augusta National Golf Club for the year’s first major.
Graham and his wife Maureen live in Dallas. They have two sons, Andrew and Michael, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
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1854: British golfers captain Hay Wemyss (right), Old Tom Morris (left) and Allan Robertson with his clubs under his arm (center), at St Andrews in Scotland. Hulton Archive
Allan Robertson was considered one of the finest players of his time as well as an all-around contributor to the game.
Born September 11, 1815, in St. Andrews, Scotland, Robertson was a renowned feathery ball-maker just as his father and grandfather were before him. Old Tom Morris worked as one of his apprentices in his shop in St Andrews. In addition to being a dominant player, Robertson was a caddie, an inventor, keeper of the green and course designer. Among his credits are improvements to the Old Course and 10 holes at Carnoustie Golf Links.
Charles Blair Macdonald, a trailblazer in American golf and the first winner of the US Amateur in 1895, once said of Robertson, “Allan Robertson was the best-known golfer of his generation and generally thought to have been the greatest player of his day.”
Robertson died on September 1, 1859, in St Andrews at age 43 after an attack of jaundice. The Open Championship began the following year at Prestwick Golf Club in reaction to his passing so that a new “Champion Golfer” could be determined. A plaque in his honour was dedicated only a few weeks ago at St. Andrews. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001.
