The new scheduling for the Majors means there is a strong field descending on Dublin, Ohio for this week’s PGA Tour event. The Memorial Tournament was established in 1976 by Jack Nicklaus and is held in the familiar surroundings of his stunning Muirfield Village course.
Attending this week is the defending champion Bryson Dechambeau along with our most recent tour winner, Kevin Na, so let’s see if we can pick some winners from this week’s pack.
At the head of the sportsbooks’ betting leaderboard this week is Rory McIlory who is in front by several points at +900 (9/1). Rory has never won the Memorial Tournament but has a reasonable record at Muirfield Village with five top 15 finishes in seven starts.
Crucially, form is good for the Northern Irishman with only one finish outside the top ten in ten outings this year and he has good, relevant stats for the course.
Tiger Woods (+1100), who has won this event on no fewer than five previous occasions, is second favorite in the Memorial Tournament betting odds. Clearly he’s a threat but it’s difficult to assess Tiger with his win at the Masters followed by a missed cut at the US PGA.
Behind Tiger, there will be a lot of interest in Justin Rose (+1600) who has a better record than most in this tournament. The Englishman won here in 2010 and has claimed seven top 10 finishes in the Memorial. Form has deserted him this season but could easily return on one of his favored venues.
Justin Thomas (18/1) and Patrick Cantlay (16/1) are just behind and then we come to the man who heads the Power Rankings this week. Matt Kuchar (+1800) is staking a big claim for the FedEx series with two wins and two runners up slots this season. It’s also worth noting that he’s a former winner of the Memorial Tournament, in 2013, and is second on the all-time money list for this event.
Also worth mentioning, before we get to the outside bunch, are Tony Finau (20/1), who returned to form with a second placed finish on Sunday and Jordan Spieth (18/1), who is just starting to show glimpses of his brilliant best.
Bryson Dechambeau (28/1) won here in a playoff last year and that victory led to a strong run of form that he carried on through the FedEx series. The touch has deserted him this season however and there will be few backers for ‘The Scientist’ who finds himself down among the outsiders. There should, however, be some support for Kevin Na (50/1) this week following his impressive victory at the weekend despite being at even longer odds.
In a strong field of 120 invitees, there could be lots of value this week with the likes of Adam Scott and Gary Woodland also in the mix at around 33/1 with the best of the American online bookies.
This is one of the few tournaments on Tour that Phil Mickleson (28/1) hasn’t won. Lefty has, however, notched a reasonable record in the Memorial without ever getting over the line and is a good option for a top 10 finish at least.
Our Memorial Tournament Preview’s Course & Betting Trends with Betting Picks & Predictions Conclusion
We are back once again at the Muirfield Village course in Dublin Ohio which has been home to the Memorial Tournament since the very start. It’s a par 72 at just under 7,400 yards so there can be some benefit to the distance hitters in places.
Driving distance was a key stat for last year’s winner Bryson Dechambeau who also led the field in scrambling, while returning good stats for proximity to the green plus strokes gained: tee to green, and strokes gained: putting.
While Tiger Woods dominated for a while, winning five Memorial Tournaments between 1999 and 2012, multiple champions are not uncommon with Kenny Perry completing a hat trick as recently as 2008.
Dechambeau’s figures from 2018 suggest we are looking for a good all-rounder and while he has been absent from the course for a spell, we feel that Justin Thomas fits the bill. His record here is a strong one with a number of top 10 finishes and, as long as his wrist is fully healed, this Muirfield Village course should suit his style of play.
It should also be time for Phil Mickelson to rise and make a real challenge at the Memorial Tournament. With JT for the win and these other top 10 picks, we are looking for a return to profit and some thrilling golf across the four days. So these are the Memorial Tournament predictions for this golf preview:
- Justin Thomas to win @ best odds of +1800 (18/1) with Bovada, BetOnline or Bookmaker.
- The following for top 10 finishes: Justin Thomas (+165), Tony Finau (+225), Gary Woodland (+300) and Phil Mickelson (+450) for top 10 finishes, all those betting odds are with Bovada.
Matt Harris is a golf and soccer expert for USA Betting. His other area of specialist knowledge is cricket. He is well known in sports journalism and contributes articles to a plethora of big-name websites and media outlets. Titles that he writes or has written for include: Betfair, BetVictor, Unibet & Just Bookies.