The PGA Tour remains at Muirfield Village for a second straight week, following up the Workday Charity Open with the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. The field will include several big names who did not appear last week, including Bryson DeChambeau, Webb Simpson, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, who will appear in his first PGA Tour event since the sport ended the COVID-19 hiatus. The course will be slightly different, as the pin placements will be more difficult, the rough will have grown over the week and be slightly thicker, and the tee boxes will be different. The top statistic to look for remains Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green, as it was last week. The top five golfers last week gained almost six strokes with iron play. We have the top PGA Betting Odds (+10000 or better) as well as suggestions for your wagering choices.
PGA: 2020 The Memorial Tournament Presented by Nationwide Preview
Contender Odds (+10000 or less)
- Bryson DeChambeau +1000
- Justin Thomas +1200
- Rory McIlroy +1400
- Patrick Cantlay +1500
- Dustin Johnson +1700
- Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm +2200
- Hideki Matsuyama, Tiger Woods, Viktor Hovland, Webb Simpson +2500
- Brooks Koepka +2800
- Xander Schauffele +3300
- Daniel Berger, Rickie Fowler +4000
- Gary Woodland +4500
- Abraham Ancer, Justin Rose, Patrick Reed +5000
- Jason Day, Sungjae Im, Tony Finau +6500
- Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia +7000
- Joaquin Niemann, Billy Horschel, Kevin Streelman, Marc Leishman, Matt Kuchar, Paul Casey +7500
- Matthew Fitzpatrick +8000
- Kevin Kisner +10000
Viktor Hovland will play in his sixth tournament in the last six weeks, so while fatigue is a factor, there is his hot play to consider too. He had the best rating for Strokes Gained: Tee to Green last week but had a hard time with his putter, particularly on Saturday and Sunday. In his last three tournaments, he has finished first in Tee to Green, but he has also lost strokes with that putter in four straight events, going all the way back to the RBC Heritage. Playing the same course two weeks in a row should make a difference for his putter, though.
Jon Rahm had a tough time last week, as he experienced difficulty getting off the tee. Even on Saturday, the first shot of each hole gave him his biggest problems. However, on Sunday, he had the lowest round in the field with a 64 (-8). He gained the third most strikes using his irons in the last round, only behind the tournament winner, Collin Morikawa, and Patrick Cantlay, who cracked the top ten.
Xander Schauffele had a very impressive weekend, knocking down 64s on both Saturday and Sunday, giving him a -10 result for the four-day tournament. His iron play ranked him sixth in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green, and his putter gained him two strokes. Schauffele will also have course familiarity on his side.
Abraham Ancer has three runner-up finishes in the last year, including the RBC Heritage, where he gained 11.8 strokes and almost beat Webb Simpson. His irons gained him 4.2 strokes at the Travelers Championship and 4.7 strokes at the Charles Schwab Challenge. In the last year, he has also finished in the top five and in the top 15 at two different World Golf Championships events.
Tiger Woods has won the Memorial Tournament five times. We haven’t seen him play since he and Peyton Manning edged Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady in an exhibition on Memorial Day weekend. Woods remains one of golf’s best when it comes to irons, and this is a course where the approach is key.
Webb Simpson struggles with driving distance, but that’s not really a factor at Muirfield Village, so long as you stay in the fairway. According to RickRunGood.com, Simpson has gained 18.46 strokes in all areas of his play since the sport resumed, behind only Ancer among people who have appeared in just three tournaments.
Daniel Berger has made eight straight cuts and cracked the top tens in five straight tournaments, including that victory at the Charles Schwab Challenge. That’s a terrific run, one that very few PGA golfers can match right now.
