Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions – The Memorial Tournament 2014

Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for The Memorial Tournament May 28th – June 1st 2014

Last Week’s Fantasy Notes

Last week most of the media suggested steering clear from Adam Scott citing a possible shift in focus after becoming the newly crowned World No. 1. We thought differently and decided to make him one of our Top 5 picks to win. With the win, Scott padded his World Ranking stats and at the same time, gave a huge boost to our fantasy stats. When it was all said and done our picks took home over $1.7 million in earnings last week, bringing in some nice cash prizes for our Premium Members along the way (see below under Fantasy Golf Prediction Stats for more on this).

This Week’s Tournament Preview

This week the TOUR heads to Dublin Ohio to the one and only Muirfield Village Golf Club for The Memorial Tournament. Recent winner Adam Scott and fourth ranked Matt Kuchar are sure to grab headlines as the returning champ Kuch looks to repeat and snag away the No. 1 spot. A Kuchar win this week may or may not crown him the coveted No. 1 ranking, but as defending champion, the potential alone will certainly fire him up this week. Across the field many other notables will also be in contention again this week with Muirfield earning the respect that it deserves as a place Jack Nicklaus calls home.

The Field

This week’s field should attract a big showing, especially with the BMW Championship concluding overseas and most European players coming back to the States to gear up for the US Open. BMW champ Rory McIlroy and Crowne Plaza champ Adam Scott will be in a field that also includes defending champion Matt Kuchar, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose. Just seven of the top 25 in this week’s world rankings will be absent at Muirfield this week, and seventeen of twenty four players are back in action from last year’s Presidents Cup rosters, which also includes eight players from the U.S. team.

The Course

Muirfield Village Golf Club measures in at 7,352 yards and plays to a par 72. Muirfield could easily host a major every year if it wanted to, as it was built with an eye on significant events. Course designer Jack Nicklaus’ most famous creation opened in 1974 and has left an amazing stamp on his hometown. The Memorial Tournament is one of the PGA TOUR’s top “regular” stops, and has played home to notable events such as all three of U.S. pro golf’s team match-play showcases – Ryder Cup (1987), Solheim Cup (1998) and Presidents Cup (2013).

Muirfield Village Golf Club. Photo by Nicklaus.com

Weather Forecast for Dublin, OH (from weather.com)

• Round 1: Thursday (May 29) 79 degrees, 10% chance of rain, mostly sunny.
• Round 2: Friday (May 30) 82 degrees, 20% chance of rain, partly cloudy.
• Round 3: Saturday (May 31) 81 degrees, 10% chance of rain, partly cloudy.
• Round 4: Sunday (June 1) 84 degrees, 0% chance of rain, mostly sunny.

2013 Results

Last year Matt Kuchar beat the field with a closing 68, helping secure his first multiple-win season after closing a two-shot victory over Kevin Chappell. Kuch proved solid off the tee at Muirfield, missing only one fairway in the final round and capping off his 72nd hole with a 20-foot birdie to seal it. Also in the hunt was Kyle Stanley who started his back nine just one shot behind Kuchar, but later ended up falling back over the 9-hole stretch with some erratic shots. Chappell birdied three of his last four holes to keep the pressure on Kuch who was leading at the time – don’t be surprised to find him as one of our picks this week despite the rare missed cut last week.

Round 4 Recap: the Memorial Tournament 2013

In the final round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance, Matt Kuchar shot a 4-under 68 to win his second PGA TOUR event of the year. . SUBSCRIBE to PGA TOUR now: http://pgat.us/vBxcZSh Welcome to the official YouTube channel of the PGA TOUR.

Media

• Television Broadcasts
  • Thursday-Friday, 2:30 – 6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel).
  • Saturday-Sunday, 12:30 – 2:30 p.m. (GC), 3:00 – 6:00 p.m. (CBS).

• Radio Broadcasts
  • Thursday- Sunday, 1:00 – 6:00 p.m. ET (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).
• Mobile Broadcasts
  • Simultaneous coverage on the Golf Live Extra mobile app by Golf Channel.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes

In last week’s Fantasy Predictions segment we ignored the media hype and choose to stick with Adam Scott as a Top 5 pick to win, thus completing his “Texas Slam.” Picking John Senden and Ryan Palmer (both T5) instead of Kirk and Stroud also earned us over $300,000 in additional fantasy earnings. With the win, we have now successfully picked the tournament winner in a whopping four out of the last seven events. Even though we lost Matt Kuchar to a very rare missed cut, we were still able to pocket a little more than $1.7 million fantasy earnings and the win helped move our picks up to 6th in our 2400 player pick’em league as well as bringing in some serious cash winnings on DraftStreet.com.

So far this year, our fantasy staff has picked seven winners in twenty-one tournaments, along with 57 Top 10s, 18 Top 3s, and we’re still riding our 88% “made-cut” ratio, which, as we always point out, is a crucial stat to winning fantasy golf because simply, missed cuts earn no money. Try our picks this week to gain an edge over the competition and use our sleeper picks to help win your DraftStreet or other cash prize leagues. Don’t forget to take a look at our stats below…we still have more Top 3’s picked than players who missed the cut out of 147 picks YTD!

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Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win The Memorial Tournament 2014

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Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win The Memorial Tournament

• Matt Kuchar  (Golficity Odds 8/1): The only positive thing coming from his rare missed cut at the Crowne Plaza last week is that he had some much needed days off to get his game back on track. Kuch is a cut making machine and he comes into this event as the defending champ with a chance to get closer to the coveted World No. 1 rank.
• Adam Scott (Golficity Odds 10/1): How can you not grab Adam Scott in this slot? Not only did he take over as World No. 1 last Monday, but in his first tournament with this title he goes out and wins it. Scott is 7-for-8 in cuts made at Muirfield including three top 15s and a T13 last year. Tough to bet against him right now as we all know momentum is a key factor in winning these events.
• Rory McIlroy (Golficity Odds 15/1): It’s been a while since we had Rory up here but his come from behind victory at the BMW Championship last week was enough to get him on the ballot. It seems as if his recent girl problems haven’t fazed him (at least not on the course). Rory is a monster of an athlete he’s starting to remember how to win golf tournaments. Quietly gaining momentum McIlroy now has Top 10 finishes in 8 of 9 stroke play events in 2014.
• Jim Furyk (Golficity Odds 18/1): Furyk was in contention for most of the event last week until falling back to a T51 finish. He has top 20s in his previous six starts including a couple of runner-up finishes. Also keep in mind that Furyk ranks third in all-time earnings at The Memorial and he won this event back in 2002, and he has a total of thirteen top 25s in eighteen starts here. Gotta grab Furyk again here as some are calling him an early favorite for the US Open.
• Justin Rose  (Golficity Odds 23/1): This week Rose returns to the site where he broke through and earned his first PGA TOUR win back in 2010. Beyond that he has six top 15s in nine starts here as well as a T15 or better in five of last seven starts worldwide. Rose has returned to solid form lately and easily has what it takes to win this event, but with the competition mentioned above we still advise that you pick him low this week.

Sleeper Picks/Odds to Win The Memorial Tournament

• Gary Woodland (Golficity Odds 35/1): Woodland is one of the hottest players on tour without a win this year. He has thirteen consecutive cuts made including four T10s and another 5 T25s. Gary has only two top 20s in three attempts at Memorial but his game as of late makes him a sleeper pick to win for sure. High cost this week in salary leagues, but cheaper than the next guy we have on our list.
• Jordan Spieth (Golficity Odds 35/1): We were going to leave him off, but the young gun keeps impressing us week after week. Always in contention, this kid is a fantasy workhorse. More than just a sleeper who can make the cut, Spieth also has the game to win this event by a large margin. With T15s in five of his last seven starts, its hard to ignore him as an option this week. Last year he had a disappointing 82 in round 3 at Memorial, but Speith came back and fired a 68 on the final day.

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Last Week’s Results:  Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the 2014 Crowne Plaza Invitational

• Jim Furyk (Golficity Odds 12/1): T51 ($15,061)
• Matt Kuchar (Golficity Odds 15/1): MC
• Ryan Palmer (Golficity Odds 22/1): T5 ($216,960)
• Jordan Spieth (Golficity Odds 22/1): T14 ($102,400)
• Adam Scott (Golficity Odds 25/1): WINNER ($1,152,000)

Last Week’s Results: Sleeper Picks/Odds to Win the 2014 Crowne Plaza Invitational

• Charlie Hoffman (Golficity Odds 50/1): T51 ($15,061)
• John Senden (Golficity Odds 50/1): T5 ($216,960)

Fantasy Golf Predictions Stats: Season to Date

• Total Fantasy Dollars: $28,348,405 (Average tournament winnings of $1,349,924).
• Winners picked: 7 winners selected out of 21 tournaments (33.33% winners picked in 2014).
• Top 10s: 57 out of 147 players picked (38.78% of players picked finished in Top 10).
• Top 3s: 18 out of 147 players picked (12.24% players picked finished in the Top 3).
• Missed Cuts: Only 17 out of 147 players picked (88.44% of the picks made the cut in 2014).
• Major Winners Picked: 1 out of 1 (100%)

What are your fantasy picks and predictions for The Memorial Tournament this week? Let us know by leaving your comments below.

(Cover Photo Credit)