The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village isn’t a major, but given the strength of the field and the difficulty level of the course, it could very well be one. Renovations and modifications to Jack Nicklaus’s home course will give this year’s event a little bit of a different feel as the players descend on Dublin, Ohio for this year’s version of one of golf’s best non-major tournaments.
This is an event with Invitational status, so 120 players are in the field and all of them have earned their way into the event in some way, shape, or form.
Let’s take a look at this week’s event using the odds from DraftKings Sportsbook, where you can earn your way into up to a $1,000 Deposit Bonus when you sign up and make your first deposit.
2021 Memorial Tournament Field & Odds
The biggest name not in the field is Dustin Johnson, well, unless you include Tiger Woods, but who knows when he will play competitive golf again. Every other big name you could think of is going to tee it up this week. With only two weeks until the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, a lot of guys would like to either stay sharp or find some good current form going into that event.
Jon Rahm is the reigning champion and the +1150 favorite. Viktor Hovland and Justin Thomas were lined as the co-second favorites early in the week, but it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see some movement at the top of the odds board. There are a lot of players in good form right now at the top, like Wells Fargo Championship winner Rory McIlroy. Jordan Spieth is also playing terrific golf right now. Those two are both +1650.
Collin Morikawa is in excellent form and he won the Workday Charity Open on this course last year. He’s also +1650 with Xander Schauffele, who has become the new Tony Finau as a guy that always contends, but can’t seem to win. Speaking of Finau, he’s +2200 with a couple top-20 finishes in his last two events.
With a field of this magnitude, some good players will have some attractive numbers, like Corey Conners at +2650, Masters champion and former Memorial Tournament winner Hideki Matsuyama at +3000, and even Patrick Reed at +3500.
Handicapping Muirfield Village Golf Club
The course will look a little different this season. It was already a very challenging track to conquer, but the green complexes have been rebuilt. Trees have been added and some of the fairways have been narrowed. The tee boxes also have been redone and the course may end up playing a fair amount longer this year than it has in past years.
It is a par 72 that comes in around 7,550 yards. Rahm won by three shots last year at 9-under, the lowest winning score since Tiger Woods won his fifth Memorial title back in 2012. Rahm actually shot a final-round 75 and still won by margin.
Before Patrick Cantlay and Rahm’s wins over the last two years, four of the last five winners had been decided in a playoff, so we could get a lot of drama on Sunday.
Who Has Had Success Here?
Jason Day’s fourth-place finish last season felt like a long time coming. He’s a member at Muirfield Village, something that helped Jason Kokrak win the Charles Schwab Challenge last weekend. We’ll see if that’s something to monitor here.
Matt Kuchar is +7000 and he’s got seven top-10 finishes since 2008 and two more in the top 15. He also won here in 2013. He’s about as accomplished as anybody not named Tiger Woods at this event.
Patrick Cantlay won here back in 2019 after finishing fourth in 2018. Other past winners in the field include Bryson DeChambeau, Jason Dufner, William McGirt, David Lingmerth, and Hideki Matsuyama.
Others that have played well here include Byeong Hun An, who has four top-25 finishes and is priced at +22500. He missed the cut in both events at Muirfield Village last year. Keegan Bradley has two top-10 finishes and an additional top-25. He’s actually in good form as well. Bradley is +5000.
Rickie Fowler has finished second twice and also finished eighth in 2018 and 14th in 2019. He’s actually coming off of one of his better performances in a while at the Charles Schwab Challenge as well. He’s +7500.
Emiliano Grillo is +5500 and has two top-15 finishes here. He did miss the cut in both tournaments last year, though. Marc Leishman has four top-15 finishes since 2015 at this course and a price of +8500.
Jordan Spieth grabbed his fourth top-15 finish since 2015 here last year. Kevin Streelman has also been strong here with three top-10 finishes and another in the top-15. He was in the top 10 of the Workday Charity Open last year. Justin Thomas has a couple top-10 finishes in this event and also was the runner-up in the Workday last year.
Who Has Had Recent Success?
As far as current form goes, we have to look at Charley Hoffman. Hoffman has seven top-20 finishes in his last eight events, including a third last week at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Viktor Hovland and Patton Kizzire each have two third-place finishes over their last five events. Kizzire is a really big price at +14000, much higher than the co-second favorite in Hovland. Any recent form list should also include Corey Conners, who is having an excellent season all around and has three top-25 finishes in his last four starts.
Sam Burns won the Valspar Championship and nearly followed it up by going back-to-back with the AT&T Byron Nelson, where he finished second. Troy Merritt has three top-10 finishes in his last four events. He’s at a big, balloon number as well at +14000.
Memorial Tournament Picks
Call me crazy, but I think Tony Finau gets over the hump this week at +2200. It’s a short price, but he’s played well here and he’s been playing very well of late. Charley Hoffman at +5500 should be in contention and that’s enough to take a piece of him.
Marc Leishman’s starting point at +8500 also looks like a bit of an overlay, given that he’s had some good rounds recently and he’s been in the top 20 four times in his last six starts at Muirfield.