Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – 2022 Memorial Tournament

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the 2022 Memorial Tournament 

Memorial Tournament Fantasy Preview

In the end, Sam Burns got a meaty paycheck, a massive trophy and grossly oversized tartan jacket for winning the Charles Schwab Challenge.

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But in defeating world number one and winning machine Scottie Scheffler one-on-one in a playoff, you suspect he will have taken even more out of the victory.

In fairness to Burns, he’s a pretty prolific champion himself now having taken down his fourth PGA TOUR title at the age of just 26, and he showed his mettle on Sunday by posting a closing 65 that would take him to -9 – a score that would not be bettered.

And then he holed a huge putt on the first extra putt to defeat Scheffler – it’s a victory that he will remember fondly, you suspect, until (or perhaps when) he lands his first major.

Who knows….maybe that will come at the U.S. Open? First though, the TOUR rattles round to Ohio for its customary stop-off at Muirfield Village for the Memorial Tournament.

Last Week’s Fantasy Results

Last week our top guy Jordan Spieth ended up finishing T7 and couldn’t seem to catch up to Sam and Scottie. 

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Another bright spot on our lineups was Kevin Na on the Tuesday Sleeper Report.  

Memorial Tournament Field

Seven of the world’s top-10 will tee it up at Muirfield Village as preparations for the U.S. Open go up a notch.

The defending champion, Patrick Cantlay, will look to find some form at a venue he knows well, while the dual winners here in 2020 – Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa (who won the Workday Charity Open played during the pandemic) – both return.

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Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele will be looking to cash in on their strong recent form, while Cameron Smith and Viktor Hovland can also not be ruled out of contention.

Bryson DeChambeau and Harris English, both battling back to fitness following injuries and surgeries, are also scheduled to tee it up if they are well enough to do so.

This Week’s Course Preview

Perhaps the best way to describe Muirfield Village is ‘fair’, given that a winning mark of mid-teens under par is generally what is needed to prevail.

It’s pretty long though, at 7,533 yards for its Par 72, although the undulations of the track ensure that drives can fly – when they land in the fairway, at least.

Tree lined, with 70 bunkers and water in play on 12 holes, Muirfield Village – designed by Jack Nicklaus in 1974 and given minor renovations – has plenty of danger lurking, and the rough is typically best avoided….and especially so when wet (more on that shortly).

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The Bentgrass greens are smaller-than-average and undulating in nature, so a week of quality ball-striking is likely to be the recipe for whoever is crowned champion of the 2022 Memorial Tournament.

Last year, just five of the eighteen holes averaged under par, with the four Par 5s unsurprisingly yielding to the most birdies. But, in a nice twist of fate for TV viewers at least, the eighteenth hole – a 480-yard Par 4 – played as the hardest on the course, with just 34 birdies throughout the week and 20 double bogeys or worse.

Weather Forecast for Dublin, OH

DFS gamers are recommended to keep a close eye on the weather this week.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday look pretty benign, with wind speeds at around 6-8mph and temperatures of around 78˚F according to the early forecast.

But Thursday, and the hours leading up to it, are looking decidedly less settled, and who knows maybe the first round will prove decisive if conditions play soft enough.

Scattered showers are the early prediction for Wednesday and Thursday, and so there is the possibility of a draw bias to consider.

DUBLIN WEATHER

Last Year’s Results from the Memorial Tournament

Last year’s edition of the Memorial Tournament pitted two of the hottest young talents in golf against one another in a playoff.

Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa had franked their 54-hole lead with a slow-and-steady closing round of 71, meaning that they could not be separated after posting bogey-free back nines to finish on -13.

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Morikawa missed a six-footer on the first extra hole to hand the win gift-wrapped to Cantlay, who made no mistake from eleven feet to pick up a confidence-boosting victory that would sweep him through to the FedEx Cup title.

Having drafted Cantlay on our roster, we were secretly pretty chuffed to see Jon Rahm forced to withdraw from the tournament. He was a whopping six shots clear after 54 holes when forced to WD with a positive Covid test.

Happily, the Spaniard was in good health, and he would have his revenge a fortnight later when winning the U.S. Open.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the Memorial Tournament this Week

There’s going to be a fantastic slate for the U.S. Open in a fortnight’s time, and so maybe the next couple of events should be considered a chance to accumulate some extra stake money – rather than a ‘go big or go home’ approach. So, here’s a couple of low-cost contests that could hit that brief perfectly.

• PGA $30k Caddie: There’s nothing particularly dazzling about a $5 entry game with a top prize of $3,000, but remember the emphasis is on accumulation rather than world domination. Finish inside the top 25% to at least double your money.
• PGA $80k Birdie: If you do want to spread your wings a bit, you can play up to 20 lineups in this $3 entry contest, with stacks of prizes for finishing inside the top 8,000 teams. Top prize is a cool $7,500.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the Memorial Tournament

Known as ‘Jack’s Place’ after its original designer, it won’t come as much surprise to learn that Muirfield Village prides itself on a Nicklaus speciality – ball-striking.

The rough is best avoided off the tee and the greens are small in stature, and so there is a real emphasis on hitting long, straight and true….as well as having a reliable recovery game.

Cantlay ranked first for SG: Tee-to-Green 12 months ago, and was inside the top-five for both SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Approach, so this is clearly where the edge is.

In some regards, Muirfield Village is like a golf course of two halves – your players have to stay out of trouble on the Par 3s and 4s, but then make hay on the Par 5s which are more than gettable. There tends not to be many eagles around, but at the fifth and seventh holes birdies outweighed bogeys at a ratio of around 5:1 last year.

We’re looking for solid Bentgrass putters, of course, but look at the identity of the most recent winners at Muirfield – Cantlay, Rahm, Morikawa, Bryson and Dufner (a major champion, lest we forget). It’s going to take a high-quality effort to win this week, and no mistake.

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Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the Memorial Tournament  

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Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the Memorial Tournament 

Top Tier Pick #1:

Rory McIlroy (Odds: 12/1, FPPG: 87.3, GPFP: 109.11 Salary: $10,900)

Rory McIlroy was in tremendous ball-striking fettle at the PGA Championship just a matter of weeks ago, and he will have been disappointed not to finish better than solo eighth after opening with a round of 65 there.

To get the Irishman on side, we’re always looking for golf courses that enable him to maximize his edge as an elite tee-to-green merchant, and surely Muirfield Village is exactly that – even if his record of 18-32-MC-8-4 at the layout isn’t great, by his standards.

It’s a difficult puzzle to unravel at the top of the sportsbook odds and DFS salary lists this week, but with five top-10 finishes in eight starts this term McIlroy is playing as well as anybody in world golf. He has all the ingredients to win this week, that’s for sure.

Key Stats:

• SG: Tee-to-Green – 3rd
• Par 5 Birdie or Better Leaders – 14th
• Par 4 Scoring Average – 28th

Top Tier Pick #2:

Will Zalatoris (Odds: 33/1, FPPG: 68.8, GPFP: 55.06 Salary: $9,400)

By our reckoning, the perfect Will Zalatoris golf course is a long, hard Par 72 with slick Bentgrass greens.

And so he has hit the jackpot with Muirfield Village, where his sole visit was a missed cut back in 2018. He’s a completely different animal these days.

It’s difficult to ignore his putting improvements at the PGA Championship, certainly for the first half of the event, and once again the youngster put himself in contention to win a major.

He’s got the game, now’s the time to add the trophies – the Memorial Tournament looks as likely a place as any for Zalatoris to strike.

Key Stats:

• SG: Approach – 1st
• SG: Tee-to-Green – 3rd
• Scoring Average – 23rd

Mid-Tier Pick #1:

Daniel Berger (Odds: 50/1, FPPG: 71.8, GPFP: 78.93 Salary: $8,500)

It’s generally the case that quality operators come to the fore at Muirfield Village, and so there is value in stuffing another class act into your roster this week despite the hit to your salary cap.

For us, that man is Daniel Berger, whose tee-to-green game is so strong you feel as though he is the perfect fit for this layout – not that his form here suggests as much.

But that helps us to nick a bargain here if Berger performs as well as he did at Colonial, where he ranked 13th for SG: Tee-to-Green – first for Approach on the Friday, and first Around-the-Green on Sunday into the bargain.

Muirfield Village calls for rock-steady tee-to-green performers, and when on song Berger very much fits that remit.

Key Stats:

• Scrambling – 13th
• SG: Tee-to-Green – 14th
• Par 4 Scoring Average – 30th

Mid-Tier Pick #2:

Tom Hoge (Odds: 100/1, FPPG: 67.9, GPFP: 54.32 Salary: $7,400)

Although consistency remains elusive for Tom Hoge, there’s no doubt he’s upped his game this season – now, at such a throwaway salary, he’s becoming much harder to ignore.

His tee-to-green play has been top-tier in 2021-22, and that has rewarded Hoge with a maiden PGA TOUR title at Pebble Beach, a couple of other top-fives and a major top-10 as recently as a fortnight ago at the PGA Championship.

Boasting all of the tools you could need at Muirfield Village, Hoge is another who doesn’t have a great record at the track – but who heads there this time around in the finest of fettle.

Key Stats:

• SG: Approach – 7th
• Scrambling – 7th
• Par 4 Scoring Average – 41st

Low-Tier Pick:

Lucas Glover (Odds: 180/1, FPPG: 61.4, GPFP: 59.60 Salary: $6,500)

After striping it at the PGA Championship, Lucas Glover was again in tremendous form at Colonial – ranking eighth for SG: Approach and 13th for SG: Off-the-Tee.

But, in time honored Glover fashion, he couldn’t land a putt for love nor money, and so once again he found himself a couple of pages down the leaderboard.

He’s made eight straight cuts at Muirfield Village, and so while this is straw-clutching time maybe the greens in Dublin, Ohio are more to his liking. If nothing else, he’s striking the ball better than the majority of this field right now.

Key Stats:

• Greens in Regulation – 14th
• SG: Approach – 27th
• SG: Off-the-Tee – 54th

Sleeper Pick for the Memorial Tournament

Pat Perez (Odds: 175/1, FPPG: 55.7, GPFP: 63.52 Salary: $6,600)

While not a regular fixture on the top page of leaderboards these days, Pat Perez has shown some good touch lately and clearly enjoys the challenge of Muirfield Village.

He closed out his campaign at the AT&T Byron Nelson with rounds of 65-67-68, and he played some good stuff at the Charles Schwab Challenge on his way to a T12 return.

In his last eight trips to Muirfield Village, Perez hasn’t missed a single cut and has a T8 and two other top-25 finishes on his resumé.

Key Stats:

• SG: Around-the-Green – 14th
• Scrambling – 58th
• Scoring Average – 88th

Alternative Sleeper Pick for the Memorial Tournament

Luke Donald (Odds: 450/1, FPPG: 50.2, GPFP: 43.64 Salary: $6,000)

No, you haven’t gone in a time machine back to 2011.

Luke Donald is actually playing some pretty good golf right now, and while his formline doesn’t exactly suggest as much that makes him the perfect sleeper candidate.

T16 at the Valspar Championship, T25 at the Wells Fargo and T40 at the Charles Schwab Challenge are the picks of his recent efforts, and those finishes do little to highlight his exceptional approach play.

Key Stats:

• SG: Approach – 11th
• SG: Around-the-Green – 35th
• Par 4 Scoring Average – 62nd

This Week’s Sample Fantasy Lineup

Note: Sample lineups provided as examples only.  Be sure to mix-and-match players to best fit individual contests.

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Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2021-2022)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”3.81%” bar_text=8 out of 210 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent=”20.47%” bar_text=”43 out of 210 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”34.76%” bar_text=73 out of 210 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”23.33%” bar_text=”7 out of 30 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”13.33%” bar_text=”4 out of 30 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”67.61″ bar_text=”142 out of 210 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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Cover Photo via Instagram