MEMORIAL CHEATSHEET: Bets, Weather, DraftKings, Course Breakdown

QUICK BETS

• Xander +1700

• Viktor +3500

• Fitzpatrick +6000

• Noren +6600 (With 8 Places)

• Novak +8000 (With 8 Places)

• N Taylor +20000 (With 8 Places)

FIRST ROUND LEADER

• Keegan +4500

AUSTRIA

• Eugenio +3000

• Kleen +25000 (& Top 10 Bet)

HOT LINKS

Memorial DraftKings Picks & Lineups | Final Bets, Weather, One & Done Picks

Memorial Picks, Bets, One and Done

NFL Schedule Release Breakdown 2025 | Week 1 Spread Picks, Predictions | NYJ Unfair Schedule

NFL Awards 2025 Futures Bets: MVP, Rookies, Win Totals, Coach of the Year

2025 MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

• Field: 72 Players

• Cut: Top 50 & Ties

• First Tee: Thursday, May 29

• Defending Champion: Scottie Scheffler

Rory McIlroy is the only one of the top players not in the field.

KEY STATS

• Strokes Gained: Approach

• Par 4s 450-500 Yards Gained

• Sand Saves Gained

• Proximity Gained 175-200 Yards

Mayo’s Key Stats powered by FantasyNational.com

COURSE

• Course: Muirfield Village

• Par: 72

• Yardage: 7,569

• Greens: Bentgrass

• Number of Sand Bunkers: 68

• Holes With Water is in Play: 13

• Average Green Size: 5,000 sq. ft.

• Average Fairway Widths: 24 yards

Par 3's (4): Average distance - 202 yards

- Scheffler played the Par 3's at +1 for the week, picking up only one birdie in the process

- Three of the six toughest holes are Par 3's, two of which have a double-or-worse rate over 4.5%

Par 4's (10): Average distance - 413 yards

- Scheffler survived a Saturday triple bogey on #9 (he birded it on Friday)

- Three of the four toughest holes on property are back-9 Par 4's, all of which check in at over 470 yards and have a double-or-worse rate over 2.5%

Par 5's (4): Average distance - 570 yards

- Scheffler had a Friday eagle on #15, but he was far from flawless on the longer holes -- he carded a bogey on #5 on Thursday and Saturday

- The four easiest holes on the course, all carrying an eagle rate north of 1%

DFS Streak

This course is built for drama at the end as three of the four toughest holes are the final three and that makes streaking from back-to-front near impossible. Even if you navigate Holes 17-18 (both of which are Par 4's that measure 480+ yards), #1 isn't any easier -- the bogey rate is eight full percentage points higher than the birdie rate. Playing in order isn't a walk in the park (#10 is the third most difficult hole), but if you're trying to break ties, that's the direction to go.

Surrounding #10 is a shorter Par 4 (417 yards) and a very gettable Par 5, so if you can navigate the one brutal hole, you could be in business, whereas playing in the other direction, you essentially need to run pure for nine straight shots.

Past Winners

• 2024: Scottie Scheffler (-8, one clear of Collin Morikawa)

• 2023: Viktor Hovland (-7, playoff win over Denny McCarthy)

• 2022: Billy Horschel (-13, four clear of Aaron Wise)

• 2021: Patrick Cantlay (-13, playoff win over Collin Morikawa; Rahm forced to WD after RD3)

2024: Scottie Scheffler (+400)

- Finishing places (in order) for the top-4 approach players for the week (1-3-33-2). The bar is high and this was Scheffler's best approach week of his career (+13!) ... he's picked up 10+ strokes on approach three times in his career -- he's done it in each of his past two trips to Muirfield

- Nine of the top-11 on the final leaderboard gained ground on the field when putting from 5-10 feet

2023: Viktor Hovland (+2000)

- Scottie Scheffler gained 20.8 strokes tee-to-green (8.9 more than anyone else) but managed to bleed 8.5 strokes back with the putter (the second worst of his career, only the 2018 Sanderson Farms was worse: -9.4)

- The top-8 finishers for the week all picked up ground on Par 4's measuring 400-450.

2022: Billy Horschel (+6000)

- The top-12 consisted only of golfers who gained putting and the top-17 of golfers who gained on approach (seven of them picked up 5+ strokes with their irons)

- Billy Horschel, Denny McCarthy, and Sahith Theegala all finished inside the top-10 for the week despite losing ground putting from 10-15 AND 15-20 feet for the week

2021: Patrick Cantlay (+2000)

- The top-8 approach players for the week all finished inside the top-20 on the final leaderboard (including Carlos Ortiz who led the field in approach and finished 16th despite losing 1.1 strokes off the tee and another 2.9 on the greens)

- Long irons weren't needed -- seven of the top-10 finishers lost proximity from 200+ yards away

FIRST ROUND LEADERS

2024

• 66 - Adam Hadwin (his only round better than 72 for the week)

• 67 - Scottie Scheffler (hung on despite a Sunday 74)

--> Six players shot 68 or better on Thursday and five of them finished T-8 or better for the week

2023

• 67 - Davis Riley (not much of an encore: went 78-78 over the next two days)

• 68 - Matt Wallace (his only round better than 74 for the week)

2022

• 67 - Six-way tie that didn't include any golfer who finished top-12 for the week (Cam Young was on that list ... he shot an 84 on Sunday and finished in 60th)

• 68 - Four-way tie that included three golfers who finished T-5 for the week

2021

• 66 - Collin Morikawa (up-and-down week: 66-72-66-71)

• 67 - Scottie Scheffler (consistent: 138 strokes on Thursday-Friday, 139 on the weekend), Adam Long (followed it up with a Friday 77)

NOTES

In 2024, No. 16 tee was moved 25 yards to the right and a greenside bunker was removed. Last year, new tees were added on No. 16 (220 yards) and No. 17 (503 yards).

At the conclusion of the 2020 Memorial, the greens, fairways and tee boxes were regrassed, and around 100 extra yards were added to the course. The greens weren’t just reconstructed with new bentgrass, irrigation and Precision Air systems, but they were recontoured as well. All greenside bunkers were modified too. Muirfield Village already possessed the most difficult greenside sand traps on TOUR, and the adjustments didn’t change that hardship based on the last two years.

Generating sand saves from the 68 bunkers spread across the grounds is essential. The greenside sand traps at Muirfield Village have annually resulted in the longest proximity lengths of any course in the regular PGA TOUR rotation. Coupled with the tiny and lightning-fast greens, The Memorial sits inside the top five courses with the lowest scrambling percentage (53%). Despite myriad changes, the classic elements of Muirfield remain: High driving accuracy with the wide fairways, low GIR with the smaller-than-average greens.

Muirfield Village had the longest proximity from inside 100 yards from the rough, and the second lowest going for the green rate (Colonial is first) of any course in the regular rotation. This can have a compounding effect: Lay up, but miss the fairway; bring a much bigger number into play. This is why Muirfield has the second-lowest birdie percentage from the rough.

Despite the aforementioned tiny and lightning-fast bentgrass greens, putting really hasn’t been that big of an issue for the field. In fact, they run so pure that generally terrible putters tend to do pretty well. Muirfield Village ranks as the third lowest three-putt rate of any regular PGA TOUR course, and is inside the top five in makes from 5”-15”. In 2021, the field made 89% of its putts inside 10 feet.

When trying to look at common links between the winners it’s always imperative to remove Tiger Woods from the equation. What help does five-time Memorial winner Tiger give you? Target players like Tiger? OK. I’ve finished my search and there are none. Now what?

Well, approach widely outweighs driving at Muirfield Village, attributed to the THICC fairways. 14 of the past 16 winners have ranked inside the Top 10 of Strokes Gained: Approach for the week. This shouldn’t be breaking news to anyone, as approach is always the most important stat when we review each event after its conclusion, but even for approach, that’s fairly extreme.

At the average PGA TOUR course, approach typically out-gains off the tee at around 2.5x clip. Among the top five finishers at The Memorial, it’s almost 3.5x. And it makes sense just looking at the course. Missing the green is just going to bring pain with those bunkers and the club-catching rough. There are usually massive fluctuations in SG: Around the Green from top to bottom of the field for a week, but looking at the past 10 years, it’s one of the few courses where SG: ATG actually factors in more than SG: OTT.

The key this week is to tread water on the long par 3s and par 4s and don’t waste opportunities on the par 5s. Obvious? Surely. Six par 4s measure from 450-500 yards, all of which are inside the nine most difficult. Three of four par 3s are inside the six most difficult holes. Three of the four par 3s are at least 200 yards. It’s not required to score on any of these holes, it’s all about refusing to pencil in some hockey sticks on the scorecard. Things can get away from the field pretty quickly with all the weird creeks and bunkers hiding everywhere. Or the wind can get so extreme, you can be like Phil Mickelson in 2020, and simply lay up on No. 16 … a Par 3.

Overall, Americans have won nine of the past 13 years, and The Memorial has produced a playoff six of the past nine years. Justin Rose (2010) was the last winner to miss the cut in his previous appearance at Muirfield Village, while Matsuyama (2014) won in his first attempt.

Previous to the revamp after 2020, despite being a longer Par 72, shorter hitters, who still gain strokes off the tee and smack a crisp long iron, can very much compete. Any place which can boast Matt Kuchar, David Lingmerth, Steve Stricker and Jason Dufner as past champions can attest to this. Since, this has somewhat held as Billy Horschel has claimed victory and Denny McCarthy made it to a playoff.

There’s one addition to last week after doing a deep dive and scanning the leaderboard. PGA National (Honda Classic) is another Nicklaus-adjacent course that features some crossover success. Since PGA National has so much water, one-year success or failure makes it hard to judge because one awful shot can take you out of that tournament. However, players with multiple quality results at PGA National tend to have a decent feel for Muirfield Village. Problem is, very few player in this event play at PGA National anymore.

Then there’s the fairly obvious one: Valhalla. Despite playing easier than expected, Valhalla is a long, bentgrass layout with putting surfaces on the smaller side. Oh, yes. It’s also a Jack design too.

Here’s the leaderboard from 2024…

Six winners at Muirfield Village inside the Top 10.

WEATHER

There’s a good chance minimal golf is played Friday. Unless they try and jam in all 72 players off split tees early to get it in.

Windtower: Ohio State University Airport

DRAFTKINGS

While not a no-cut event, many are choosing to play it that way. And with a limited field, it’s tough to get different. Expect to see Scottie at 40% in large GPPs and even higher in smaller, higher stakes contests. Since he eats so much salary, expect him to be paired with Andrew Novak, Bud Cauley, Si Woo Kim, and Ryan Gerald an awful lot.

Memorial DraftKings Picks & Lineups

If you’re looking to get different: Xander, JT, Ludvig, Hideki, Henley and Sungjae are all the projected lowest owned from their price ranges.