The tour moves to Ohio and the fabled Memorial event hosted by Jack Nicklaus. This event was first staged in 1976 and has since gone on to become one of the more revered regular tour events. It is an invitational event with the top 75 from last year’s money-list automatically qualifying.
11 of the current top 15 in the FedEx Cup rankings will tee it up this week. That being said, it’s slightly disappointing to see American heavyweights Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson eschewing Muirfield this week. But let’s not complain too much, as Tiger Woods returns to the sight of five victories ahead of next month’s US Open.
US PGA Tour 2019 | The Memorial Tournament
Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio
Thursday 30 May – Sunday 2 June 2019
This course was built in 1974 and was actually named after the ‘Golden Bear’s favourite links course: Muirfield. This is a beautifully manicured course akin to Augusta. The fairways are largely generous though they give way to very punitive rough. The fairways are an amalgamation of Kentucky Bluegrass, fescue and rye. The smaller than average bentgrass greens are undulating and extremely slick – once again much like Augusta: they are actually said to measure around 13 on the stimp this year! This is a second shot course, with great emphasis put on dialled-in iron play. Winners such as Lingmerth and McGirt emphasize the importance of accuracy around Muirfield.
Rory McIlroy is the favourite this week, which is usually a good reason to avoid him. Justin Rose also possesses a brilliant record around Muirfield but enters this event in something of a form quagmire. Justin Thomas returns following wrist concerns while clearly, Tiger will command the monopoly of media attention. Patrick Cantlay has been hinting at a significant breakthrough of late while Matt Kuchar also thrives on this Jack Nicklaus creation.
Past Winners
2018: Bryson DeChambeau (-15)*playoff
2017: Jason Dufner (-13)
2016: William McGirt (-15)*playoff
2015: David Lingmerth (-15)*playoff
2014: Hideki Matsuyama (-13)*playoff
Betting Favourites (To Win)
Rory McIlroy (9/1)
Tiger Woods (12/1)
Justin Rose (16/1)
Justin Thomas (18/1)
Jordan Spieth (20/1)
Value Bets
Kyle Stanley
To Win (90/1), To Place (19/1)
Now Kyle Stanley certainly fits into the mould of David Lingmerth and William McGirt. He missed the cut at the US PGA Championship, though Bethpage was always going to be a challenge for the metronomic Stanley. He was 8th in his previous start and also possessed two top 25’s in his last 4 starts. But above all, I love Stanley’s ridiculous course form. He possesses three top 6’s in his last four visits to Muirfield. He will be looking to keep it out of the punitive rough and make a run at 90/1.
Aaron Wise
To Win (100/1), To Place (22/1)
Aaron Wise is one of the emerging talents on tour and looks extremely appealing at 100/1. His current form stats read 2-1-MC. That victory in Texas was really the icing on the cake for Wise. His breakthrough really came with a 6th at Firestone, which like Muirfield is a second shot friendly course that rewards superb iron play. He was 17th on debut at the Masters and has excellent stats for shots gained tee-to-green: the PGA Championship saw him finish inside the top 25 for the third consecutive week for shots gained tee-to-green.
The Man to Beat
Matt Kuchar
To Win (20/1), To Place (44/10)
Outside of Tiger Woods’ exploits, Matt Kuchar is the most consistent performer at Muirfield. He currently sits in second on the all-time earnings in this event and is enjoying a bumper 2019. Kuchar has six top 10’s from 12 starts. He has made every single cut this season and his recent form has been imperious. He has two runner-up finishes in his last five events. Kuchar has enjoyed a fair degree of controversy this season. There was the caddie-gate incident followed by that accusation of poor sportsmanship at the WGC Matchplay in Austin. But his form on the golf course has remained sparkling and I suspect he will be in with a shout come Sunday.
