BlogMemorial Preview and Picks

Memorial Tournament

June 2nd – 5th, 2016

Muirfield Village G.C.

Dubin, OH

Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,392

Purse: $8.5 million

with $1,530,000 to the winner

Defending Champion:
David Lingmerth

by Sal Johnson

Founder, Chief Data Officer, GOLFstats

E-mail me at:
sal@golfstats.com

This week’s field includes:

The field includes 52 of the top 100 and 29 of the top 50 in the latest Official World Rankings, with six players from the top-ten: #1 Jason Day, #2 Jordan Spieth, #3 Rory McIlroy, #4 Bubba Watson, #5 Rickie Fowler and #8 Dustin Johnson. The other top 50 players are  #12 Patrick Reed, #15 Hideki Matsuyama, #18 Matt Kuchar, #19 Phil Mickelson, #21 J.B. Holmes, #23 Charl Schwartzel, #24 Kevin Kisner, #25 Russell Knox, #26 Paul Casey, #27 Byeong Hun An, #28 Rafael Cabrera Bello, #29 Jim Furyk, #30 Justin Thomas, #31 Bill Haas, #32 Kevin Na, #36 Kevin Chappell, #39 Marc Leishman, #41 Danny Lee, #42 Soren Kjeldsen, #43 Daniel Berger, #44 Emiliano Grillo, #48 David Lingmerth and #50 Ryan Moore.

Last year this event had 21 top-50 players.

The field includes 18 of the top 25 on the FedEx point standings for 2016.  Those players are #1 Jason Day,  #3 Jordan Spieth, #4 Russell Knox, #6 Kevin Kisner, #7 Kevin Chappell, #8 Patrick Reed, #9 Justin Thomas, #10 Kevin Na, #11 Hideki Matsuyama, #13 Bubba Watson, #14 Jason Dufner, #15 Smylie Kaufman, #18 Dustin Johnson, #19 Rickie Fowler, #20 Matt Kuchar, #22 Phil Mickelson, #23 Fabian Gomez and #25 Charles Howell III.

The field includes 17 players in the top 25 on this year’s PGA Tour money list. Those players are #1 Jason Day, #3 Jordan Spieth, #4 Russell Knox, #5 Kevin Chappell, #7 Justin Thomas, #8 Hideki Matsuyama, #9 Kevin Kisner, #10 Bubba Watson, #11 Patrick Reed, #13 Kevin Na, #14 Dustin Johnson, #16 Matt Kuchar, #17 Rickie Fowler, #18 Phil Mickelson, #19 Smylie Kaufman, #20 Rory McIlroy and #22 Jason Dufner.

The field includes 7 past champions: David Lingmerth (2015), Hideki Matsuyama (2014), Matt Kuchar (2013), K.J. Choi (2007), Carl Pettersson (2006), Ernie Els (2004) and Jim Furyk (2002).

The field includes 16 players that have won 19 events on the PGA Tour this year: Emiliano Grillo (Frys.Com), Smylie Kaufman (Shriners Hospitals), Justin Thomas (CIMB), Russell Knox (WGC-HSBC), Peter Malnati (Sanderson Farms), Kevin Kisner (RSM Classic), Jordan Spieth (Hyundai T of C & Dean & DeLuca), Fabian Gomez (Sony Hawaii), Jason Dufner (CareerBuilder), Hideki Matsuyama (Phoenix), Vaughn Taylor (AT&T Pebble), Bubba Watson (Northern Trust), Charl Schwartzel (Valspar), Tony Finau (Puerto Rico), Jason Day (WGC-Dell Match Play, Palmer & Players) and Jim Herman (Shell Houston).

A perfect way for fantasy golfers to check on the past performance of all the players in the Memorial field is our performance chart listed by average finish.  Another way to check who is the best is through a special formula worked out in Golfstats that gives us the best average performances at the Memorial in the last five years or check out our sortable 8-year glance at the Memorial.

A good cheat sheet is this list of odds from the top bookmakers in England.

Another cheat sheet is this list of odds from the top bookmaker in Las Vegas.

**NOTE**

One thing to look for is our new GOLFstats IQ.  For those that play in fantasy golf it’s a perfect way to help you pick those players in Draft Kings and Victiv games.  You can customize the list of those in the tournaments, to look back a couple or many years of tournament stats and you can go back a couple or ten weeks prior to the tournament.  On top of that, all the stats are fully sortable to help you pick your six players, we even give you their value for the week to help you chose.

That’s GOLFstats IQ, give it a try and tell us what you think of it

24/7 GOLF is no more.  We have retired the name and the app for a new and better app for golf.  So check out

GOLF IQ

Still get Total Golf Knowledge At Your Fingertips

with over 2.1 million records updated daily and available for your Iphone or Ipad.

We have improved the app to not only give you Golf History, results and records but GOLF IQ provides weekly tournament previews, Key Stats and and picks for Fantasy Golf!

So if you own a Iphone or a Ipad we have developed a perfect app called GOLF IQ.

 

Time to look at our who’s hot and who isn’t:

Who’s Hot in the field for the Memorial Tournament

Player Dean & DeLuca BMW PGA AT&T Nelson Irish Open The Players Wells Fargo Zurich Classic Volvo China Valero Texas Shenzhen RBC Heritage Open de Espana Masters
Matt Kuchar
(322.67 pts)
T6
(60)
DNP 3
(90)
DNP T3
(135)
DNP DNP DNP T42
(5.33)
DNP T9
(15)
DNP T24
(17.33)
Jason Day
(280.33 pts)
DNP DNP DNP DNP Win
(198)
DNP T5
(46.67)
DNP DNP DNP T23
(9)
DNP T10
(26.67)
Rory McIlroy
(269 pts)
DNP DNP DNP Win
(132)
T12
(57)
T4
(53.33)
DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T10
(26.67)
Jordan Spieth
(215.67 pts)
Win
(132)
DNP T18
(32)
DNP CUT
(-15)
DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T2
(66.67)
Kevin Chappell
(214.33 pts)
CUT
(-10)
DNP DNP DNP 2
(150)
T41
(6)
DNP DNP T4
(53.33)
DNP T9
(15)
DNP DNP
Russell Knox
(158.17 pts)
DNP CUT
(-15)
DNP T2
(100)
T19
(46.5)
DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T2
(33.33)
DNP CUT
(-6.67)
Hideki Matsuyama
(145.17 pts)
DNP DNP DNP DNP T7
(82.5)
T11
(26)
DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T7
(36.67)
Daniel Berger
(136.17 pts)
DNP DNP DNP DNP T9
(67.5)
T17
(22)
T20
(20)
DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T10
(26.67)
Justin Thomas
(135.67 pts)
DNP DNP DNP DNP T3
(135)
CUT
(-6.67)
DNP DNP DNP DNP 75
(0)
DNP T39
(7.33)
Thomas Aiken
(132 pts)
DNP T4
(120)
CUT
(-10)
DNP DNP CUT
(-6.67)
T15
(23.33)
DNP T42
(5.33)
DNP DNP DNP DNP
Danny Lee
(131.17 pts)
T22
(28)
DNP T18
(32)
DNP T35
(22.5)
T9
(30)
T58
(0)
DNP DNP DNP CUT
(-3.33)
DNP T17
(22)
Dustin Johnson
(124.33 pts)
DNP DNP T12
(38)
DNP T28
(33)
DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T4
(53.33)
Ken Duke
(111.67 pts)
CUT
(-10)
DNP CUT
(-10)
DNP T3
(135)
DNP T64
(0)
DNP DNP DNP CUT
(-3.33)
DNP DNP
Francesco Molinari
(111.5 pts)
DNP T55
(0)
DNP DNP T7
(82.5)
T17
(22)
DNP DNP T42
(5.33)
DNP T45
(1.67)
DNP DNP
Rafael Cabrera-Bello
(110.33 pts)
DNP T22
(42)
DNP T8
(50)
CUT
(-15)
DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP T16
(11.33)
T17
(22)
Gary Woodland
(108.33 pts)
DNP DNP T12
(38)
DNP T28
(33)
T24
(17.33)
T20
(20)
DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
Kyle Reifers
(106 pts)
5
(70)
DNP T10
(40)
DNP T64
(0)
T41
(6)
CUT
(-6.67)
DNP T51
(0)
DNP CUT
(-3.33)
DNP DNP
Patrick Reed
(102 pts)
T15
(35)
DNP DNP DNP CUT
(-15)
T28
(14.67)
DNP DNP 2
(66.67)
DNP DNP DNP T49
(0.67)
Chris Kirk
(101.17 pts)
T15
(35)
DNP DNP DNP WD
(-7.5)
DNP T5
(46.67)
DNP T13
(24.67)
DNP T23
(9)
DNP CUT
(-6.67)
David Hearn
(100.67 pts)
T17
(33)
DNP DNP DNP T28
(33)
CUT
(-6.67)
T20
(20)
DNP T13
(24.67)
DNP CUT
(-3.33)
DNP DNP
Spencer Levin
(97.33 pts)
DNP DNP T4
(80)
DNP CUT
(-15)
CUT
(-6.67)
T15
(23.33)
DNP T29
(14)
DNP T45
(1.67)
DNP DNP
Webb Simpson
(97.33 pts)
T3
(90)
DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT
(-6.67)
DNP DNP DNP DNP T66
(0)
DNP T29
(14)
Paul Casey
(96.5 pts)
DNP DNP DNP DNP T23
(40.5)
T41
(6)
DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT
(-3.33)
DNP T4
(53.33)
Charles Howell III
(93.33 pts)
DNP DNP T4
(80)
DNP CUT
(-15)
CUT
(-6.67)
T11
(26)
DNP DNP DNP T23
(9)
DNP DNP
Daniel Summerhays
(92.17 pts)
T47
(3)
DNP DNP DNP T23
(40.5)
T14
(24)
DNP DNP T13
(24.67)
DNP T51
(0)
DNP DNP

How Player Rankings are Computed

Who’s Not Hot in the field for the Memorial Tournament

Player Dean & DeLuca BMW PGA AT&T Nelson Irish Open The Players Wells Fargo Zurich Classic Volvo China Valero Texas Shenzhen RBC Heritage Open de Espana Masters
Brendon Todd
(-58.33 pts)
CUT
(-10)
DNP CUT
(-10)
DNP CUT
(-15)
CUT
(-6.67)
CUT
(-6.67)
DNP CUT
(-6.67)
DNP CUT
(-3.33)
DNP DNP
Matt Jones
(-45 pts)
CUT
(-10)
DNP CUT
(-10)
DNP CUT
(-15)
CUT
(-6.67)
DNP DNP T60
(0)
DNP CUT
(-3.33)
DNP DNP
Carl Pettersson
(-45 pts)
CUT
(-10)
DNP CUT
(-10)
DNP CUT
(-15)
DNP WD
(-3.33)
DNP CUT
(-6.67)
DNP 81
(0)
DNP DNP
John Huh
(-41.67 pts)
CUT
(-10)
DNP CUT
(-10)
DNP CUT
(-15)
DNP CUT
(-6.67)
DNP T72
(0)
DNP DNP DNP DNP
Hunter Mahan
(-38.33 pts)
CUT
(-10)
DNP DNP DNP CUT
(-15)
T53
(0)
CUT
(-6.67)
DNP CUT
(-6.67)
DNP DNP DNP 54
(0)
Scott Brown
(-31.67 pts)
CUT
(-10)
DNP DNP DNP CUT
(-15)
CUT
(-6.67)
DNP DNP DNP DNP T64
(0)
DNP DNP
George McNeill
(-31.33 pts)
CUT
(-10)
DNP DNP DNP CUT
(-15)
CUT
(-6.67)
DQ
(-3.33)
DNP T72
(0)
DNP T39
(3.67)
DNP DNP
Jason Gore
(-30.33 pts)
CUT
(-10)
DNP CUT
(-10)
DNP CUT
(-15)
T41
(6)
CUT
(-6.67)
DNP T37
(8.67)
DNP CUT
(-3.33)
DNP DNP
Ryan Moore
(-28.33 pts)
DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT
(-15)
CUT
(-6.67)
DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT
(-6.67)
Brendon De Jonge
(-26.67 pts)
CUT
(-10)
DNP DNP DNP T57
(0)
CUT
(-6.67)
CUT
(-6.67)
DNP T55
(0)
DNP CUT
(-3.33)
DNP DNP

How Player Rankings are Computed

The Buzz:

Just two more weeks before the U.S. Open.  As I write this on Monday afternoon, Tiger Woods has entered the Open but I have my doubts he will play.  Nobody but Tiger really knows the truth, he has been playing for a couple of months but for him not playing yet means that his game is not ready.  Two weeks ago at media day for the Quicken Loans Tiger hit three wedges into the lake in front of the par 3, 10th at Congressional, who knows maybe he staged those shots but it wasn’t very promising that his game is ready.  It’s really hard to so up for a major and I have my doubts on the U.S. Open.  Maybe the week after at Quicken Loans, then he can play in the British and PGA Championship, but I have to think we may be a while away from Tiger competing again.  Possibly some of the fall events, that’s a good time to get things rolling again.

Justin Rose

Have to think that Justin’s back is more serious than we think.  He hasn’t played well in 2016, was planning on playing the BMW PGA last week in London and withdrew.  The same thing with the Memorial, he stayed in England and withdrew.  With the U.S. Open coming up it’s no very promising.

Things you need to know about the Memorial

This is the 41st annual Memorial Tournament. The first one was played in 1976 and it has always been played at Muirfield Village.  There are close ties between the Memorial Tournament and Jack Nicklaus. The tournament was a long-time vision of Nicklaus, who grew up playing the famous Scioto Country Club, which hosted the 1926 U.S. Open.  But the course wasn’t large enough to hold a major championship so Nicklaus built Muirfield Village with that in mind.  In some ways the Memorial mirrors the Masters beacuse it’s the tournament that Nicklaus always thought was the best run on a great course.

The tournament got its name because every year a different golfer is recognized for their contribution to the game of golf. The first Memorial Tournament honoree was Bobby Jones in 1976. Beginning in 2002, two honorees were selected annually, a male and female golfer. The 2016 honorees for the Memorial Tournament will be Johnny Miller, while Leo Diegel and Horton Smith are posthumous honorees. As for the journalism award, Sports Illustrated John Garrity is the honoree.

Course information:

Muirfield Village Golf Club

  • Dublin, Ohio
  • 7,392 yards     Par 36-36–72
  • Muirfield Village has a 76.9 rating and slope rating of 153 from the championship tees. The course is very private. The tees and Fairways are Bentgrass Poa Annua while the rough is Kentucky Buegrass with ryegrass and fescue. The greens are bentgrass.
  • In 2015 Muirfield Village was the 23rd hardest course on the PGA Tour playing to a 71.74 average.  Because of the course being soft with a lot of rain the week before and perfect conditions during the tournament, it was the second year in a row that the average score was under par.  For comparision, in 2013, Muirfield Village was the 6th hardest course on the PGA Tour playing to a 73.256 average which is a shot and a quarter over par.
  • During the 1966 Masters, Jack Nicklaus told some of his closet friends that he wanted to bring a major championship to the Columbus area.  Unfortunately,the best course in town, Scioto Country Club, was not big enough to hold a tournament that Nicklaus envisioned.  At the time he was just getting into course designing so he knew just enough to be dangerous on the subject.  He also envisioned that his course would have some of the same characteristics that Augusta National had, plus Nicklaus wanted the event to mirror Augusta.  After the Masters, Nicklaus and his trusted friends made secert site surveys around the Columbus area and found the site he thought was perfect, on the Northwestern part of town.  In 1967 with his own money, Nicklaus started buying the land that would be Muirfield Village.
  • By 1970, Nicklaus realized that he had a future in building golf courses. He started his own company and in 1972, under the supervision of Golden Bear Inc., construction began in Dublin, Ohio. The project encountered many delays, including exorbitant amounts of rain that ultimately postponed the completion of the project until late 1973. Jack Nicklaus played the inaugural round of golf at Muirfield in October of 1973. Fittingly, his round was marred by heavy rain storms. The course officially opened on May 24, 1974 with an exhibition match between Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf. Nicklaus shot a 66, which stood as the course record until 1979.
  • Over the years, Muirfield Village has racked up numerous prestigious awards, but the most important accolade that Muirfield Village gets every year is when it is voted one of the five best sites by PGA Tour players, not only because the course is great, but because how well the players are pampered here.  It goes beyond even the PGA Tour rules.  It’s the only tournament on Tour that bans equipment manufacturers, tournament representatives and the media from the practice facilities and locker rooms.
  • When Nicklaus built the course in the ’70s he had championships in mind and of course, a yearly PGA Tour event.  Along with the Memorial, which got started in 1976, the course has held just about every other major tournament, except for a U.S. Open or a PGA Championship.  Other championships that have been held at Muirfield include the 1986 U.S. Junior Amateur, the 1987 Ryder Cup Matches, the 1992 U.S. Amateur, the 1995 Wendy’s Three-Tour Challenge, the 1998 Soleim Cup and last year the 2013 Presidents Cup
  • The par 72 course has 73 bunkers, with water coming into play on 11 holes. In general, Muirfield Village plays a long, challenging 7,392 yards. With a course rating of 76.9 and a slope rating of 153, it is one of the most difficult venues on Tour.
  • Nicklaus didn’t just design this course with the golfer in mind; he was one of the first designers to account for the fan. The 220-acre venue strategically incorporates hills and mounds that allow fans to look downward upon most of the action. This set up mirrors most traditional stadium-seating arrangements found at major sporting events.

Let’s take a look at key stats that are important for those playing at the Memorial:

This is based on the most important stats for the Muirfield Village, based on data from last year’s Memorial and using data from all the players in the field with stats from 2016.
Historically Muirfield Village had the reputation as a course to get ready for the U.S. Open. Many have said that the course could be a perfect Open venue. It has the length, tight fairways with three-inch-plus rough, tree line and fast undulating greens. Just about everything that you would see at a U.S. Open is at Muirfield Village. That tradition will be spread through articles on the course and it won’t take long for the announcers in the commentary to bring this up.
But over the course of the last two years, things have changed. Muirfield has gone from a very feared course to one that is a layup. Between 2003 and 2013 the course played over par every year except in 2005 (71.93) and 2007 (71.49). After 2008 the course played hard, in 2008 it played to a scoring average of 74.40 ranking 5th hardest course for the year, in 2009 it was 73.42, ranking 6th. In 2012 it played to a 73.68 average and in 2013 it played to a 73.26 average with both years ranked 6th toughest.  The reason for the difficulty was the course played fast, firm and with wind the three keys to high scoring.

But it dropped to 71.90 in 2014, ranked 29th and last year it averaged 71.74 and ranked 23rd. The shocking stats were what used to be it’s meat and potatoes, driving accuracy and greens in regulation. In 2014 it ranked the 38th hardest in driving accuracy and 21st in greens in regulation. Last year it jumped to 42nd in driving accuracy and 18th in greens in regulation. There were a lot of reasons for this, between lot’s of rain before the tournament that made the course play very soft and lack of wind during the championship rounds. Another oddity the winners the last two years, Hideki Matsuyama and David Lingmerth were first-time winners on the PGA Tour, that hadn’t happened at the Memorial since 1992. Now I’m not saying this is terribly bad, just that when conditions are easier it open the course to more players winning, such as players that haven’t won before. So the first thing to consider is the weather, it’s rained a lot in the area in the month of may and forecasts are calling for low winds during the championship, so again the norm of players that hit it straight and those great iron players that hit lot’s of greens won’t be in play. Now the rough is going to be tough that stat was high the last two years as it ranked 7th in 2014 and 11th last year so for those that miss the fairways it will still be tough. This and fairway accuracy is not one of our four categories, but something you should keep in the back of your mind and you should take a look at those rankings for this year, you can find driving accuracy stats at this link and those on rough proximity is at this link.

In looking at our four categories, our first for Muirfield Village are strokes gained tee-to green, last year the course ranked T-28th while last year’s champion David Lingmerth ranked 9th. Next important is putting inside 10 feet, Muirfield Village has some great greens, they are only 5,000 square feet but have a lot of undulation, and the bentgrass is easy to read. Those are some of the reasons that from 10 feet and in the course ranked 4th last year and Lingmerth ranked 5th. You have to putt well to do score at Muirfield Village, last year the field made 85.93% of the putts in that distance, so look for players that make lots of putts.
Out third important stat is scrambling, players will miss greens and have to get it up and down. The course ranked 13th last year while Lingmerth was T-9th. Last is birdie average last year it ranked 43rd which means a lot of birdies were made with the average being 4.02 per player. For Lingmerth he averaged 5.50 and was T-6th.

*Strokes Gained tee-to-green: Course may have only been 25th hardest on tour, but you need to hit it long and straight along with hitting lot’s of greens. So this is important to find a player that will do this

*Putting inside 10 feet: Very easy, counts every putt from ten feet in to see who makes the most.

*Scrambling: The percent of time a player misses the green in regulation, but still makes par or better.

*Birdie Average: Average number of birdies made over the course of a round

Players from this year’s field with stats from 2016:

Click any column title in the table header to sort columns.

For the rest of the players, hit this link:

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Memorial:

Key stat for the winner:

As we said above Muirfield for the third year in a row is probably going to play easy.  Normally Muirfield Village is a course that will get you ready for a U.S. Open, but with the soft conditions and lack of wind scores will be low again.  No matter how easy, you can’t overpower this course, you have to hit it in the fairway and think each shot to the green.  Despite playing soft it will still be a good practice for Oakmont.

Another key:

Those that do well in majors, do well at Muirfield Village.  Of the 30 different champions of the Memorial they have accounted for 476 wins on the PGA Tour while 16 have won a total of 66 major championships. What’s more, 14 of the last 23 Memorial champions have been a winner of a major championship.

Tournaments that can claim having the most major winners (Since 1976)

  • 29 – Hyundai Tournament of Champions
  • 28 – Players Championship
  • 24 – Memorial Tournament
  • 22 – Verizon Heritage
  • 22 – Farmers Insurance
  • In the history of the Memorial only two leaders after the first round has won (Ernie Els in 2004 and Justin Rose in 2010). 14 second-round leaders have won and 19 third-round leader have won.  Between 1994 and 2006, 11 of the 13 winners were in the lead after the third round.  But since 2007, only 2 champions had the lead going into the final round so again look for someone coming out of the pack to win.
  • Ten of the last 19 winners were in the top four in greens hit. In 2009 Tiger Woods was T3rd in greens hit while Justin Rose was T-13th in 2010, Steve Stricker was T30th in 2011, Tiger Woods was T-1st in 2012, Matt Kuchar was also 1st in 2013.  In 2014 Hideki Matsuyama was T-22nd while David Lingmerth was T-16th last year
  • Overpowering the par fives is crucial. But just like everything else the last two winners Lingmerth and Matsuyama were the rarity to the win as Matsuyama played the par 5s in six under in 2014 while Lingmerth played them in 5 under last year. But before last year between 2000 and 2013 the 13 winners played the par 5s in a average of 9-under, in 2010 Justin Rose was 8 under while Stricker was 6 under in 2011, Tiger Woods was 8 under in 2012 and Matt Kuchar was 7 under in 2013.
  • In past years hitting greens has been important, as Muirfield Village has some of the hardest set of greens to hit from the fairway.  Once you miss the greens it’s hard to get it up and down, in 2014 of the 2,631 greens missed only 1,375 par or better was made, it was the fourth hardest course in scrambling at 52.26%.  In 2015 of the 2,504 greens missed only 1,382 par or better were made making it the 13th hardest.
  • Accuracy is key to winning at Memorial, eight of the last 13 winners have been in the top-10 in driving accuracy, which proves the point that you have to drive the ball well at Muirfield Village.  In 2009 Tiger Woods was 2nd while in 2010 Justin Rose was T-10th.  In 2011 Steve Stricker kept the tradition up as he was T-3rd but in 2012 Tiger Woods broke the tradition when he was T-14th in driving making him the first player out of the top-ten in driving since Ernie Els won in 2004.  Even worst things got bad in 2013 as Matt Kuchar was T-37th in driving accurany, in 2014 Matsuyama was T-11th while in 2015 Lingmerth was T-11th..
  • In its 40-year history there have only been four playoffs, the last coming in 2014 when Matsuyama beat Kevin Na with par on the first extra hole.  Previous to that 1992 was the last playoff year as David Edwards beat Rick Fehr on the second hole.  Since then every Memorial except for three (2005, ’07 and ’11) has been won by at least two shots or more.

Active tournaments that has the least amount of playoffs since 1976:

  • 4 – Memorial
  • 5 – Players championship
  • 6 – Shriners Hospital
  • 6 – Arnold Palmer Invitational
  • 7 – Honda Classic
  • 8 – John Deere Classic

 

  • Only nine times in the history of the Memorial has a player shot four rounds in the 60s with seven of them winning. Steve Stricker did it in 2011 but the the last time that happened before that was in 2005 when Bart Bryant prevailed.
  • Last we have to talk about weather.  Frankly with all of the rain in Texas the last two weeks, the PGA Tour has been very lucky to get the Colonial and Nelson completed on time.  Seems that no matter what week the Memorial is played, rain will pay a visit and this year three of the four days will have a 40% of showers.  The worst is Friday with 50% while there is no chance of rain on Saturday.

 

Who to watch for at the Memorial Tournament

Best Bets:

Jason Day

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
CUT T37 T41 CUT T33 T27 CUT

He won at Palmer and Players after not playing well in previous events, Day has never finished in the top-25 of this event so could this be a repeat of what happened at the Palmer and Players? He can play well on any course and you have to think he will play well this week.

Rory McIlroy

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
T15 T57 CUT 5 T10

Coming off a good win in Ireland, this course is right for his game and if he putts well will win.

Jordan Spieth

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
T3 T19 T63

Talking about putting well, you know that Jordan will do that and after winning at Colonial will be looking for two in a row.

Best of the rest:

Matt Kuchar

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
T26 T15 Win T2 T8 T5 T10 T13

This guy is also on a roll finishing in the top-six in his last three starts. He is going to win soon and it could be this week.

Dustin Johnson

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
T13 T46 CUT T19 4 T33 T14 68

He is like a volcano that is ready to erupt, he has played well but finds himself three or four shots back. Again it’s down to his putting, if he can get going on that he can do very well this week.

Hideki Matsuyama

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
T5 Win

Seems to know how to play Muirfield Village, all eight of his rounds have been under par as he is 25 under the two times he has played here.

Patrick Reed

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
T26

Another of those guys that has not done what many thought he would do in 2016, but a course like Muirfield Village could bring the best out of him.

Solid contenders

Bubba Watson

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
3 T29 CUT T42 T33 T23 CUT T23 T34

Has not played well since Doral but this course is very good very his game and he should do very well on it. Still I wouldn’t go much on a limb on him, but dont’ be surprise if he does well.

Rickie Fowler

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
CUT CUT T37 T52 T22 2

Has become the Jeckyl and Hyde of the PGA Tour, you just don’t know when he will play great. Has missed the last two cuts but he was runner-up back in 2010 so anything is possible.

Bill Haas

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
T18 T8 T4 CUT T45 T41 T69 T30 CUT T67

Watch him this week, course is good for him and if it’s playing soft he can go low on it.

Kevin Na

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
T13 2 CUT T34 66 T45

Almost won in 2015, he has the type of game that can surprise you and win.

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
First time playing in this event

Long shots that could come through:

Rafael Cabrera-Bello

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
First time playing in this event

Playing for the first time what him, he could surprise us with a really good week.

Tony Finau

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
T8

Played well last year and could do better this year.

Jim Furyk

2016 ’15 ’14 ’13 ’12 ’11 ’10 ’09 ’08 ’07 ’06 ’05 ’04
T5 T19 T21 T13 CUT T10 2 T39 T23 T18 T8

Has struggled in his first three starts from injury, but coming to a place he has done great on and could surprise us.

Comments

  1. alex munro says

    Matsuyama to win this before he wins the US open

  2. I have always thought that Matsuyama would win a major, probably his best shot is the British Open.

  3. alex munro says

    i had him each way at 300/1 at Muirfield a couple of years ago.was disappointed he didn’t win it.!

  4. Alex, you are probably talking about last year. He has only played twice, won it in 2014 and finished T-5th last year.

    Or are you talking about Muirfield and the 2013 British??? For Matsuyama he was close, just Phil ran over everyone to win that. Matsuyama needed one key shot down the stretch and just couldn’t do it.

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