The 2023 Memorial Tournament presented by Workday has arrived as a newly Designated event on the PGA Tour this season. It’s the course Jack Nicklaus designed and continues to revamp seemingly every year, with a few tweaks made between Billy Horschel’s dominant four-stroke win over Aaron Wise in 2022. Designated events elevate the purse and the winning total, while the field of 120 golfers is loaded with talent from top to bottom.
Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm are the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked golfers in the world right now, so it makes sense that they both headline the outright betting favorites at the Memorial Tournament. Located in Dublin, Ohio, Muirfield Village Golf Club is among the more challenging par 72 courses that players will face annually on the PGA Tour. Long rough, fast Bentgrass greens, and doglegged fairways flanked by sand bunkers and water hazards create difficulty navigating 18 holes and staying below par.
Patrick Cantlay will look to add his third outright win at Muirfield Village since 2019 this week. Jon Rahm won here back in 2020 at -9-under-par, while Cantlay delivered a searing -19-under-par finish during his first outright win in 2019 and went -13-under-par during his second win over Collin Morikawa in a playoff in 2021. Scheffler finished third in 2021 and didn’t compete at Muirfield in 2022, so it will be intriguing to watch how he performs with how well his driver and irons have looked lately. Horschel is ranked outside of the top 100 in OWGR, which is why the defending champion has long odds to repeat at 180/1.
I’ve found six of my favorite prospects to target and add during our DFS roster construction ahead of Thursday’s opening round at the Memorial Tournament. Let’s first check out some of the previous winners, relevant betting stats, and review Muirfield Village GC closely before revealing why each of these six golfers warrant a spot in your DraftKings and FanDuel DFS lineups this week. Good luck and let’s cash out some contests!
Previous Winners
- 2022 – Billy Horschel (-13)
- 2021 – Patrick Cantlay (-13)
- 2020 – Jon Rahm (-9)
- 2019 – Patrick Cantlay (-19)
- 2018 – Bryson DeChambeau (-15)
Relevant Betting Stats
- Strokes Gained Off-the-Tee
- Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green
- Strokes Gained Approaching the Green
- Driving Accuracy percentage
- Total Driving
- Strokes Gained Putting
Course Overview
Muirfield Village Golf Club was designed by Jack Nicklaus and Desmond Muirhead roughly 50 years ago and it has been a mainstay on the PGA Tour since 1976. Located in Dublin, Ohio on the outskirts of Columbus, the course underwent restoration efforts this offseason and completely replaced the previous Poa Annua/Bentgrass mixture on the greens with strictly Bentgrass. This is the putting surface we’ve seen at most recent events, including both majors and last week during Emiliano Grillo’s win at the Charles Schwab Challenge. The Stimpmeter, which is a device that measures the velocity of a putt on the greens, runs up to 13 feet. It’s a fast surface that could become even quicker with the hot, dry conditions expected at Muirfield this week.
It’s a par 72 that runs just over 7,500 yards and provides an even distribution of par 5s and par 3s along the front and back nine. The last five holes are the toughest, including the par 4 18th, especially with the greens averaging roughly 5,000 square feet. They are small targets and with the various sand bunkers and plentiful water hazards in the form of ponds and creeks meandering throughout the course, Nicklaus is placing a premium on accuracy off the tee and approaching the greens. The rough may be up to four inches in length in some places on the course, punishing errant shots. It’s a rigorous course that allows for birdie and eagle opportunities, along with plenty of bogeys due to the small, fast-paced greens and doglegged fairways flanked by tall rough.
Recommended Plays: DraftKings
DraftKings maximum salary is set at $50,000
Patrick Cantlay: $10,500
As tempting as it is to recommend either Scottie Scheffler or Jon Rahm, I want to run it back with Patrick Cantlay, who is more than comfortable playing Muirfield Village. He’s already logged two of his eight career outright wins here, including a T3 finish at -7-under-par in 2022. The 31-year-old Californian is exceptional with almost every area of his game, ranking seventh in strokes gained tee-to-green, second off-the-tee, and 16th putting. Plus, he’s the best at total driving, which uses accuracy and distance, while finding greens in regulation at over a 70 percent rate, which is fifth-best on the PGA Tour. Cantlay’s game is built for Muirfield and he has five consecutive T25 finishes, including two T10s, entering this Designated event. Pay up to acquire my favorite blue-chip prospect on this slate.
Jason Day: $9,400
Jason Day finally ended his five-year winning drought at the AT&T Byron Nelson a couple of weeks ago, so expect his confidence to be soaring despite the missed cut he recorded at the PGA Championship. The 35-year-old Aussie resides near Muirfield Village in Westerville, Ohio and he has played well here in the past, logging a T4 finish (-4) during Rahm’s outright win in 2020. Two consecutive missed cuts at The Memorial Tournament may have DFS managers fading Day, but he’s revamped his game in 2023. Day ranks sixth in total strokes gained, including 11th tee-to-green, 30th off-the-tee, 22nd approaching the green, and 13th putting. In addition, he’s a great driver and hits 68.8 percent of greens in regulation, while also ranking as the second best scrambler on the PGA Tour. Day is a birdie machine when he’s hot, so at $9,400 on DraftKings, adding him into lineups is an easy decision.
Sahith Theegala: $8,400
Talk about never being scared of the moment. Sahith Theegala took the PGA Tour by storm in 2022, which included a T5 finish (-6) during his first stint at Muirfield Village. Theegala is still seeking his first career win on the PGA Tour but he’s been producing quality finishes this season, securing seven T10 finishes. Recent outings of T56 and T40 at the Wells Fargo Championship and PGA Championship have devalued Theegala and made him a cheap commodity to roster in DFS, so to me, this is a high value prospect that we need to insert into lineups. He has only missed one cut this season and logged a T10 at The Masters and a T5 at RBC Heritage, so Theegala should be ready to run it back yet again at Muirfield this week to shed his current slump.
Recommended Plays: FanDuel
FanDuel maximum salary is set at $60,000
Scottie Scheffler: $12,100
OK, I can’t fade Scottie Scheffler forever. He’s the most expensive player to roster on FanDuel but he’s been the definition of consistency lately. The 26-year-old Texan and World No. 1 ranked golfer hasn’t logged an outright win since The PLAYERS Championship in early March, but Scheffler has recorded three consecutive T5 finishes entering the Memorial Tournament. The last time we saw Scheffler play here in 2021, he logged a third-place finish, starting out -5-under-par and finishing two strokes behind Cantlay and Morikawa who competed in a playoff. Scheffler is dominant everywhere except with his putter, but I’m always going to pay up for a player who winds up in the top five and is ranked first in strokes gained tee-to-green, off-the-tee, and second in approaching the green and total driving. Pay up and reap the benefits of rostering the No. 1 golfer in the world.
Sungjae Im: $10,300
After back-to-back missed cuts, Sungjae Im’s salary is relatively valuable at $10,300 on FanDuel. The South Korean native is usually logging T20 or T10 finishes in most events, so let’s take advantage of the discount and insert him into FanDuel lineups. If you’re still hesitant, Im has performed fairly well at Muirfield in the past, securing a T10 finish in 2022 following missed cuts in 2020 and 2021. He’s due for a bounce-back performance this week and is ranked 21st in scrambling and 13th in total strokes gained. Plug Im into lineups at a favorable discount.
Denny McCarthy: $9,300
I haven’t mentioned Denny McCarthy’s name much this season but he’s been putting together some nice performances on the PGA Tour in 2023. McCarthy is fresh off of his fourth missed cut of the year at the Charles Schwab Challenge, but he previously logged five consecutive T30 finishes, including four inside the top 25 and one T8 finish at the Wells Fargo Championship. McCarthy played well at Muirfield Village last year, finishing T5 at -6-under-par. He’s equipped with a great putter, ranked 11th in strokes gained putting and 10th scrambling. He averages under four birdies, which would be a problem at an easier course, but birdies will be fairly hard to come by at Muirfield, so expect McCarthy’s scrambling ability, paired with his putting prowess, to keep him in the mix for at least a T25 finish if not better this week.
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Matthew MacKay is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Matthew, check out his archive and follow him @Matt_MacKay_.
