Staged at Muirfield Village and hosted by Jack Nicklaus, The Memorial has a list of winners to match any major with the likes of Nicklaus, Watson, Woods, Norman, Els, Rahm and Hovland all winning arguably one of the elite regular season events on the PGA Tour.
Key Stats/Skill Set Required
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- GIR
- Proximity
- Strokes Gained: Off The Tee
- Strokes Gained: Tee To Green
- Scrambling
- Strokes Gained: Around The Green
- Sand Saves
- Par 4 Scoring
Muirfield was designed by Jack Nicklaus and he regards it as his masterpiece. It is a tight course where a strong approach game is essential. Finding the small greens and getting up-and-down when you don’t is the only way to win here.
Key Correlation Courses/Tournaments
- Valhalla
- TPC Southwind
- PGA National
- PGA West
Few players play Jack Nicklaus courses as well as Justin Thomas and with his return to form, he looks a very nice bet. Thomas ranks 4th in strokes gained on Nicklaus courses in the field. He finished 8th at Valhalla this year as well a 3rd in the American Express. Ranks 5th in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green, 6th in Strokes Gained: Approach and 6th in Strokes Gained: Around The Green. Thomas is yet to win at Muirfield but has three Top 10s here.
Hideki Matsuyama
Matsuyama won here a decade ago and in his current form he is a great chance this week. He won The Genesis back in February and has six Top 25s in his last nine starts. Finished Top 40 in his last two majors. Leads the Tour in Strokes Gained: Around The Green while he ranks 3rd in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green and 10th in Scrambling. Looks a massive price this week.
Alex Noren
Alex Noren could not be more suited to a golf course and in his current form he needs to be included in any set. Noren leads the Tour in Scrambling while he ranks 3rd in Par 4 Scoring, 5th in GIR, 7th in Sand Saves, 9th in Strokes Gained: Around The Green and 11th in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green. He finished 12th at Valhalla this year, the key correlation tournament. Only one Top 15 in five starts here but has rarely entered in such good form.
Tom Hoge
A tremendous approach game has Tom Hoge right in this one. He ranks 3rd in Strokes Gained: Approach, 3rd in Proximity and 11th in Par 4 Scoring. Finished Top 18 at both the American Express and the PGA Championship this year. His form has been trending in the right direction with eight Top 25 finishes in his last 13 starts.
Lucas Glover
Lucas Glover has been in superb form this year and it was around this time in the schedule last year when he hit a rich vein of form that saw him win twice in August. One of those wins was in the St Jude, one of the key tournaments. Glover has posted Top 25 finishes in five of his last seven including The Masters. Ranks 6th in Proximity, 11th in Par 4 Scoring, 12th in Strokes Gained: Approach and 13th in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green.
Three Scandinavians tee it up at Muirfield Village including defending champion Viktor Hovland but the best play is outsider Alex Noren. Noren is perfectly suited to Muirfield and with Aberg carrying a knee injury and Hovland working on a swing change, confidence could not be higher on Noren.
This is a head-to-head matchup between Victor Perez and Matthieu Pavon. Pavon’s form has cooled a little while Perez is getting hot including a T-3 last week in Canada. Perez should be a lot shorter than he is.