The Memorial Tournament Golf Odds And Predictions

The U.S. Open is in two weeks in Wisconsin. Some players don’t like competing on the PGA Tour the week before a major championship, and thus this week’s Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, will serve as their warm-up event for the second major championship of the year. It’s a strong field with seven of the world’s Top 10 set to tee it up. Here’s a look at the Sports Interaction favourites as well as odds on the Canadians in the field.

The Memorial Tournament Favorites

This is one of the marquee non-Grand Slam events on the PGA Tour schedule because it’s Jack Nicklaus’ tournament and Muirfield Village Country Club, designed by Nicklaus, is one of the best courses in not just the United States but the world. It has previously hosted both the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. Muirfield is a par 72 measuring 7,392 yards. The course record is a 61 by John Huston back in 1996 and the 72-hole record is a 268 by Tom Lehman in 1994.

The Memorial has special invitational status on Tour and thus is limited to 120 players instead of the usual 156. Tiger Woods grew up idolizing Nicklaus and hoping to better his record of 18 Grand Slam tournament victories so it’s likely not a surprise that Tiger has won a record five times at Muirfield. Of course Woods remains out this year following another back surgery. Also, world No. 2 Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland had to pull out with a rib injury that could put his U.S. Open status in jeopardy. McIlroy was originally hurt in a European Tour event in January and missed several weeks. He re-aggravated the problem a few weeks ago at the Players Championship. This was to be his last planned start before the U.S. Open.

World No. 1 Dustin Johnson is the +637 favourite. DJ finished third last time out at the Byron Nelson and didn’t play last week at the Dean & DeLuca Invitational that was also held in the Dallas area. Johnson was third at the 2016 Memorial at 14 under, missing a playoff by one shot.

Jordan Spieth and Spain’s Jon Rahm are each +1200. I recommended Spieth for a Top-10 prop last week at Colonial, and he finished in a three-way tie for second at 9 under, one shot behind Kevin Kisner. Rahm also was tied for second. Spieth was third at the 2015 Memorial but 57th last year. Rahm, who won the Nicklaus Award last year as the top collegiate golfer in the country while at Arizona State, is playing here for the first time.

Aussies Jason Day and Adam Scott round out the favourites at +1400. Day is a member at Muirfield Village as his wife is from the area.

There are a handful of former Memorial champions in the field, including Justin Rose (+2000), Matt Kuchar (+3400), Hideki Matsuyama (+1700), William McGirt (+8700) and David Lingmerth (+11900). McGirt and Jon Curran finished at 15 under last year, and McGirt won the tournament on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff. They both parred No. 18 and then played it again, with McGirt parring and Curran bogeying. It was McGirt’s first PGA Tour win. He played the final 22 holes without a bogey. It was the third straight year the Memorial was won by a first-time PGA Tour champion, following Lingmerth and Matsuyama.

Canadian Golfer Odds

Adam Hadwin is +8200 and qualified for this tournament thanks to a victory on Tour in the past year. Hadwin finished 53rd last week at Colonial and has been 11th and 57th in two trips to the Memorial.

Graham DeLaet (+9900) comes off a 57th at Colonial. He last played here in 2015 and was 26th. Nick Taylor (+17200) was 61st last week after back-to-back Top-10 Tour finishes this year. He missed the cut here in 2015. David Hearn (+26800) was 70th last week and has a best result of 21st at this tournament back in 2013. Mackenzie Hughes (+31900) missed the cut last week following rounds of 75-77. He has never played the Memorial.

No Canadian has won this tournament. Mike Weir finished in a three-way tie for second behind Kenny Perry in 2008.

The Memorial Tournament Predictions

For Top-10 finishes, I would recommend Kuchar, who has four of them in this tournament this decade including his win in 2013. Ditto for Justin Rose and Matsuyama. Rose won in 2010 and has three other Top 10s since. Hideki is my winner. He did miss the cut in 2016 but won in 2014 and was fifth the following year.