Rickie Fowler, players ready for anything when Memorial weather strikes

DUBLIN, Ohio — Chief Leatherlips has been dead for more than 200 years, executed in 1810 by members of his own Wyandot tribe for being too friendly with settlers and refusing to take up arms against them.

His reign, however, remains influential in these parts this time of year, when the game's best players gather at The Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide — and break out the rain gear.

Local lore holds that the tournament's host, Jack Nicklaus, built his sweeping Muirfield Village Golf Club on an ancient Native American burial ground that includes the final resting place of Chief Leatherlips. While no evidence supports this contention, locals believe the chief curses the tournament every year.

Rain, wind, fog, hail, snow and even a horde of cicadas have played through the event since the maiden voyage in 1976. The joke in these parts is when the dates for the Memorial roll around, animals start lining up two by two. In this massive housing and recreational community, they call it Memorial weather, when dark clouds start forming and arrive just in time to disrupt play.

"(The weather) always seems to be on your mind when you come here," said Steve Stricker, a winner here in 2011 who is playing in his 15th Memorial starting Thursday.

Who can blame him or any player in the field? The thermometer reached barely above 50 degrees on Monday and hovered there until Tuesday afternoon. The forecast isn't full of sunny icons nor is it promising, as the chance for thunderstorms is as high as 50% on three of the four tournament days.

With the forecast and judging from the past, Chief Leatherlips will be smiling somewhere. Nearly 30 of the 39 Memorials have been adversely impacted by bad weather. In 1979, a wind chill of 13 degrees whipped through Muirfield. In 1989, Nicklaus moved the tournament to mid-May – and it snowed.

The 1990 tournament was shortened to 54 holes with Greg Norman declared the winner. In 2001, Tiger Woods survived six suspensions of play to win the third of his five Memorials.

Stricker said the worst weather he had to endure came in October 2013, when the Presidents Cup was plagued by rain.

"That was a lot of rain," Stricker said. "We were coming in and warming up, it seemed like, three or four times a day. … The more times you're out here, the more times you get to deal with it. I think you have to have an attitude of going with the flow because sometimes things are thrown at you that you're not expecting. You have to hang in there, get mentally sharp and be prepared for anything to happen this week, or any week, really."

Stricker was alluding to pro golf's recent run of bad luck with Mother Nature. Severe thunderstorms led to massive flooding the past two weeks on the PGA Tour in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Somehow, both tournaments finished 72 holes. As did the European Tour's Irish Open, despite high winds and all four seasons showing up during the event.

Rickie Fowler, who made consecutive 8s in high winds and rain to finish off his third round in the Irish Open, said he looks at playing in terrible conditions as a challenge. And a time to have fun.

"Just make the best of it," Fowler said.

Wet conditions will make the Golden Bear's already long layout a robust emerald bear with plenty of teeth. Fowler said there would be a premium to hit fairways because the thick rough becomes unbearable if it's wet – and it's always an advantage to put your hand on the ball if lift, clean and place is in play.

And while players would feel like they were throwing darts at the yielding greens, pin placements in the back of the putting surfaces would be difficult to reach because players would be putting too much spin on the ball.

"It's just a different type of golf when it's wet," Fowler said. "But you just have to relax. This time of the year we get thunderstorms and such, and it's inevitable that you are going to get a delay. Just tell yourself to be ready for anything and everything."