DraftKings Picks for The Memorial 2021
Another victory on tour for Canada! Ontario native Jason Kokrak outdueled Jordan Spieth at Colonial on Sunday to claim the Charles Schwab Challenge (CSC) and his second PGA victory. This week the tour heads to “Jack’s Place” in Dublin, Ohio to take on Muirfield Village Golf Club for the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Let’s get you set to see some green screens on DraftKings this weekend.
What's up golf addicts! AC here, checking in week to week to provide a quick preview of the upcoming PGA Tour event. I’ll give you the lowdown on the course, the players, some key stats, and our favorite DraftKings picks for the week.
Congrats to all the Kokrak backers out there. Saw some 40s, 50s, and 60s tickets. Love the Longshot SZN wins. Another great moment of the week was Justin Thomas handing recent Monday qualifier and CSC sponsor invitee, Mike Visacki, a check to help with the financing of Big Mike’s golf career. Classy, JT!
The invitation-only Memorial Tournament founded by Jack Nicklaus is entering its 45th year and has provided some great battles and great champions including Tiger Woods who captured the title five times. Jon Rahm bested Dustin Johnson in 2020 joining Patrick Cantlay (2019), Bryson DeChambeau (2018), Jason Dufner (2017), and William McGirt (2016) as the last five champions.
Jordan Spieth headlines the field this week as the top priced stud on DraftKings at $11,300. Rahm ($11,100), DeChambeau ($10,900), Rory McIlroy ($10,600), Collin Morikawa ($10,400) who won the Workday Charity Open at an easier setup Muirfield the week before the Memorial Tournament last year, and world #2, Thomas, who could once again become #1 this week, round out the $10k and above. Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, Cantlay, Tony Finau, Corey Conners, and 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama are just some of the other elite players teeing it up at Jack’s place.
Muirfield Village Course Breakdown
Jack Nicklaus along with his pals Pete Dye and Desmond Muirhead designed Muirfield Village Golf Club in 1974. The now 7,500 yard par 72 underwent an extensive renovation after the 2020 Memorial Tournament. In fact, the grounds crew were literally tearing up the course just behind the final group on Sunday. All of the greens were resodded with many of them being moved or altered with different sizes and contours. Many of the tee boxes were also altered to add more distance and options to the setup.
The course is pure Bentgrass from tee to green with a nasty mix of thick Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and fescue awaiting players who miss the fairway. The rough has been cut to 4 inches this week. Along with the thick rough and strategically placed trees in and along the fairways, Nicklaus has water hazards in play on 13 holes and 68 bunkers which hold his own special sand and bunker design.
The scoring can be all over the place at Muirfield with winning scores as low as -9 by Rahm in 2020 or as high as -19 by Cantlay in 2019. Typically not many players make it into double digits. Even when Cantlay went off only eight players total reached -10 or better. Weather is usually a factor as well and with the renovations and length added to the course we should see some difficult scoring once again. Nicklaus will certainly change things around mid event if he feels the players aren’t struggling enough.
Once again and typical to all Jack’s courses, second shots are key, making approach the number one stat this week. Recent form weighs a little heavier over course history with all the changes but don’t ignore either. Certainly a ball strikers course where position off the tee matters more than how far you can hit it. Putting on Bentgrass is a big factor along with around the green play. Players must take advantage of the par 5s and will face a large percentage of 450-500 yard par 4s. Avoiding bogeys is a must.
Make sure to keep an eye on the weather as the PM/AM wave looks to have some softer and less windy conditions.
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The Picks & Fades
Each week I will give you my plays and a fade from each DraftKings salary range.
$9k+:
$9k+:
DB: Play - Patrick Cantlay | Fade - Bryson DeChambeau
Pat: Play - Viktor Hovland | Fade - Bryson DeChambeau
AC: Play - Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Corey Conners | Fade - Rory McIlroy
You generally get what you expect from the world # 2 who once again has a chance to take the throne. JT is top 10 in opps gained, ball striking, par 5 scoring, bogey avoidance and the scrambling and around the green game are pretty damn solid as well. Though the putter has been struggling a bit but bent is his best surface and has two top 10s at Memorial including losing in a playoff to Morikawa last year at the Workday. Bent is by far Spieth’s best putting surface as well and thrives in windy and difficult scoring conditions. Seven top 10s in his last 11 events and is 8th is strokes gained total at Muirfield with five top 20s, two of which were top 10s. It should not come as a shock to see Conners here. He has cashed 8 of 12 t20s in 2021 and one of them he missed by a stroke. The dude is elite. The fade came down to Rory or Deki and because of the price, Rory is the fade. McIlroy has MC and finished T32 in his last two tries here and probably is a little less motivated finally scoring a win at Wells Fargo. He also doesn’t rank in the top 15 in any stat I am looking at this week.
$8k:
DB: Play - Keegan Bradley | Fade - Billy Horschel
Pat: Play - Charlie Hoffman | Fade - Cam Smith
AC: Play - Matthew Fitzpatrick, Charley Hoffman | Fade - Rickie Fowler
Fitz returns to Muirfield after a third place finish in 2020, just his second stop at the Memorial. His putter should be a lethal weapon this week and he always brings some great fairways gained, good drives, around the green, and bogey avoidance numbers. Hoffman has nine top 20s in 2021 including five in a row. That's just seriously good and I'll be on the train with him if it derails. The ball striking just isn’t quite there yet with Rickie and the putter has yet to be old Rickie so it’s still a pass but I hope he gets some inspiration from Spieth.
$7k:
DB: Play - Matt Wallace | Fade - Adam Scott
Pat: Play - Gary Woodland | Fade - Adam Scott
AC: Play - Marc Leishman, Kevin Streelman, Matt Wallace | Fade - Bubba Watson
Leishman should be a sneakier play this week coming off a nice win at the Zurich and a top five at The Masters. Not too worried about the MC at the PGA. The par 5 scoring, scrambling and putter should keep him in contention and historically plays Nicklaus designs very well including never missing a cut at the Memorial. Streelman is another course horse I like the looks of and is playing some serious stick right now. Streels has six straight made cuts here including four top 20s and enters the week with great opps gained, ball striking, good drives, and fairway numbers. Yes, I am staying on Wallace. Can’t ignore the numbers. Ball striking is great, par 4 scoring is great, and the around the green game is top 20 in the field. Oh, and he finished fourth here last year. I really dislike writing Bubba’s name down because he’s such a nice and cool guy but his last two attempts here weren’t great and bent is by far his worst surface.
$6k:
DB: Play - Troy Merritt, Peter Malnati, Jason Dufner
Pat: Play - Adam Hadwin, Lanto Griffin
AC: Play - Luke List, Richie Werenski, Victor Perez
THE INS & OUTS
OUT: Kevin Na, Vijay Singh
IN: Lucas Glover, Jimmy Walker, Russell Knox (Sponsor), Kyle Stanley (Sponsor)
Field is set at 121 with the top 65 and ties making the cut.