RADIO
Hello PGA DFS family and welcome back to Horse For The Course! I hope you had a great Memorial Day holiday. I spent some time with the family relaxing and also played a little golf, which unfortunately put this article a day behind this week. My apologies for that!
The Charles Schwab Challenge ended up being a great test for a strong field, with two of golf's brightest young stars battling it out in a sudden-death playoff. Sam Burns continued his winning ways with a victory over world no. 1 Scottie Scheffler. We can expect another excellent event week, as we head to Ohio for the Memorial Tournament. Let's dive in!
Horse For The Course is an article that highlights players in this week's field with elite course history and is part of our free PGA DFS content here at RotoBaller. For my favorite DFS plays of the week check out my Core Four article here at RotoBaller every Wednesday. It's part of our amazing PGA Premium package that includes an all-new PGA Research Station, Lineup Builder & Optimizer, and some of the best articles in the PGA DFS industry! You can sign up now using Promo Code: NICE for an extra discount at checkout!
2022 The Memorial Tournament Overview
After consecutive weeks at Southern Hills and Colonial, our schedule hot streak continues with a trip to Muirfield Village for the Memorial Tournament. Like the Genesis and Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Memorial is classified as an "elevated status" event, which means it's not quite a major, but carries a lot more juice than your run-of-the-mill tournament.
Due to the tradition and importance of this event, not to mention the fact that it is hosted by Jack Nicklaus, the Memorial always draws a strong field. That's again the case this year, as Patrick Cantlay will be back to defend his 2021 "title" against a group of competitors that includes seven of the current OWGR top-10. Last year's event was a controversial one, as Jon Rahm was infamously forced to WD with a six-shot lead after 54 holes due to a positive COVID test.
In addition to the strong field that includes the aforementioned Cantlay and Rahm - as well as players such as Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, and Cameron Smith - this group of competitors will face a difficult challenge in a Muirfield Village that Jack Nicklaus tweaks at a constant rate. All in all, this is certainly one of the better non-major events that we'll see all year.
You can also find out who the smart money is on by checking out Spencer Aguiar's PGA DFS: Vegas Report every week. And be sure to read all of our other top-notch weekly PGA DFS articles to help you win big!
The Course: Muirfield
Par 72 - 7,543 Yards, Greens: Bent, Designed By: Jack Nicklaus
We can always count on a Nicklaus-designed course to force the players into strategic thinking and Muirfield Village doesn't disappoint. Muirfield Village has *GASP* penal rough lining the fairways and around greens that will punish a player's mistakes. 'The Golden Bear' built this course from the ground up in the 1970's and he continually updates it as needed. It's lengthy enough to require mid-to-long irons on some approach shots, but isn't a 'bomber's track'. Difficult, but not impossible to score on, we'll see golfers post both 66s and 76s this week. In other words, Muirfield is a very high-quality golf course...and one that Jack Nicklaus almost endlessly tinkers with. That tinkering led to noticeable changes last year that included the addition of trees and bunkers, as well as the re-finishing of green complexes.
I always recommend checking out RotoBaller's PGA Premium Course Breakdown by Josh Bennett for an in-depth breakdown of this week's golf course!
Recent Memorial Winners
- 2021: Patrick Cantlay (-13)
- 2020: Jon Rahm (-9)
- 2019: Patrick Cantlay (-19)
- 2018: Bryson DeChambeau (-15)
- 2017: Jason Dufner (-13)
The Horse
Jon Rahm
- Event Scoring Average: 69.85
- Notable Event Finishes: WD (2021), Win ('20)
- DraftKings Price: $11,100 FanDuel Price: $11,700
A lot will be made of Jon Rahm's return to Muirfield Village this week, the site of one of golf's most recent (in)famous controversies. For those of you that have been living under a rock for the past year, Rahm had a chokehold on last year's Memorial tournament with a six-shot lead through 54 holes but was forced to withdraw after a positive COVID test. It was a heartbreaker for Rahm, as well as his DFS and betting backers.
The Spaniard will attempt to get a bit of payback this week, as he heads to Ohio just a few weeks removed from a win in Mexico. Despite that victory - against a watered-down field - it's probably fair to label Rahm's 2022 disappointing to this point, as he's underwhelmed in both of the year's majors. His short game has been spotty at best, as he's now lost strokes around the green in seven of his last eight starts. While it's obviously a concern heading into this week, Rahm's track record at Muirfield indicates that he'll be able to overcome those deficiencies.
Prior to being ejected after three rounds in last year's edition, the sometimes-world-no. 1 had already tasted victory in the Memorial by overcoming impossibly-tough conditions to win the 2020 edition. This Muirfield layout rewards his excellence off the tee - an area of the Spaniard's game that has stayed elite this year. He grades out first in SG: OTT in both short and long-term measurements, and ridiculously, hasn't actually lost strokes OTT since 2019.
While Rahm's game hasn't truly been firing on all cylinders as of late, this event offers the type of tee-to-green test in which he's historically thrived and makes sense as a spot for the Spaniard to reassert himself among the game's elites.
The Ponies
Rory McIlroy
- Event Scoring Average: 71.08
- Notable Event Finishes: T18 ('21), T8 ('18), T4 ('16)
- DraftKings Price: $10,900 FanDuel Price: $11,800
Much can - and should - be made about the course history of last year's Memorial playoff participants, Patrick Cantlay & Collin Morikawa. While both easily meet the criteria to be included in this week's HFTC, I feel that Rory McIlroy is perhaps the more interesting choice from this price point.
McIlroy's course history is certainly more erratic and sporadic than that of Cantlay or Morikawa, but the man from Northern Ireland enters the week with more bounce in his step than either. On the heels of a blistering final round that resulted in a runner-up finish at the Masters, Rors has looked like a more confident player in subsequent starts. He's parlayed that momentum into a top-five result at the Wells Fargo and a top-10 at the PGA Championship.
After going T10-T5 over his first two career starts in the Memorial, his production - and regular attendance - in the event began to dip a bit, although he has logged two additional top-10s at Muirfield Village since 2016. He enters this year's edition with his game in a terrific place and it feels as though this is a tournament that McIlroy should have already had as a "W" on his resume. He's gained an average of 7.1 strokes T2G over his last five and grades out first in this elite field in SG: Total over his last 12 rounds.
Jordan Spieth
- Event Scoring Average: 71.25
- Notable Event Finishes: T18 ('21), T13 ('20), T7 ('19), T3 ('15)
- DraftKings Price: $9,700 FanDuel Price: $11,500
Speaking of positive momentum, Jordan Spieth enters the week with buckets of confidence. The Texan is likely disappointed that he couldn't get anything going in blustery conditions at Colonial last weekend, but a T7 result at the Charles Schwab is nothing to sneeze at. Spieth's game has been dialed since a missed cut at Augusta National, and he has a win and a runner-up across four post-Masters starts.
While the putter hasn't always been cooperative (see a T34 at Southern Hills), the four-time major champion's ball striking has been eye-opening. He's gained a whopping average of 10.2 strokes T2G over his last five starts. Spieth's history at Muirfield doesn't pop off the page, but it is quietly solid. A T3 back in 2015 stands as the highlight, but he has recorded top-18 results in three of his last four trips to Muirfield Village.
Patrick Reed
- Event Scoring Average: 70.86
- Notable Event Finishes: 5th ('21), T10 ('20), T8 ('16)
- DraftKings Price: $7,900 FanDuel Price: $9,700
Call it determination, drive, whatever...but Patrick Reed just won't seem to go away. After some wayward experimentation with different equipment that led to gargantuan struggles off the tee, Reed seems to have things sorted for the moment, and has actually gained strokes OTT in three of his last four starts. There's also been a noticeable uptick in his iron play, as he's gained a combined 8.7 strokes on Approach over his last two. The former Masters champion brings that trending form to a Muirfield Village layout on which he's fared very well in the past. Reed has gone T5-T10 over his last two Memorial appearances and has never failed to make the weekend in seven career starts in the elevated status event. He feels appropriately priced on FanDuel, but his $7.9k tag on DraftKings makes him a very strong value option on this slate.
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Brendan Steele
- Event Scoring Average: 72.65
- Notable Event Finishes: T37 ('21), T13 ('20), T20 ('16)
- DraftKings Price: $6,600 FanDuel Price: $9,400
Like the aforementioned Pat Reed, Brendan Steele's price tag really pops over on DraftKings, where he comes in at just $6.6k. Steele's course history in the Memorial is rock solid, if unspectacular, as he's logged just two top-25 finishes across 11 career appearances, but has now made the cut in seven consecutive trips to Muirfield Village. In addition to the steady nature he's displayed in the Memorial, the vet has flashed some form recently. After a nice T13 at The Players in March, Steele most recently impressed with a T9 in the PGA Championship. All told, he comes into the week having gained strokes T2G in each of his last six starts.
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