Why Are PGA Tour Pros Wearing Yellow Ribbons at Memorial Tournament 2026?

All of the pros at the Memorial Tournament on Sunday are wearing yellow ribbons on the course. The purpose behind the same is a philanthropic collaboration that the PGA Tour has.

The PGA Tour and the Play Yellow Children’s Miracle Network collaborated to launch the ‘Play Yellow’ campaign. All the benefits from the campaign were planned to be donated to the Children’s Miracle Network.

Nationwide Children’s Hospital has been a beneficiary of the Memorial Tournament since its inception in 1976 and is one of 170 CMN hospitals in the country. The hospitals rely on donations to fund care for millions of children.

Under the ‘Play Yellow’ campaign, they were able to donate more than $100 million in January 2024, and the tournament host, Jack Nicklaus, was quite proud of it.

“So we started on this program, and we passed, after about three and a half years, we passed about 130 million. And so I don’t know what level we’re at now, we’re 130 million plus, I think we’re probably in the, by now, by the fourth year of our campaign,” Nicklaus told the media.

Not just pros, but fans can also support the “Play Yellow” campaign by wearing yellow on Sunday’s final round and purchasing special Play Yellow merchandise. Spectators can also donate at concession stands or within the golf shops.

Introducing the ‘Play Yellow’ campaign into his tournament shows how much faith Jack Nicklaus has in the initiative. But let’s understand what he feels about the campaign.

What made Jack Nicklaus feel connected with Play Yellow?

“Play Yellow” was started by a young man who is a son of our minister, Barbara’s minister when she grew up. And he contracted Ewing sarcoma when he was like 9 or 10 years old, and his mother asked Barbara if I would call him. So I called him and talked to him and developed a relationship. And I talked to him quite frequently. Nobody knew much about what we were doing.”

“But, anyway, one day I called him after a tournament I had won, and Craig said to me, ‘Jack, Jack, do you know why you won today?’ And I say, ‘Why is that, Craig?’ He says, ‘I wore my lucky yellow shirt. So that’s where it started. So I won that tournament; we didn’t really say much about it.”

Nicklaus explained that the connection he had with Craig always kept him close to the color and the initiative. He also wore yellow for many of his famous wins, including the 1986 Masters Tournament Sunday. So he was proud that he could come so far with the campaign and surpass the goals they had set with it.

The post Why Are PGA Tour Pros Wearing Yellow Ribbons at Memorial Tournament 2026? appeared first on EssentiallySports.