Tiger Woods is back competing on the PGA tour for the first time since February when he finished 68th at the Genesis Invitational. The Memorial, Jack Nicklaus’ tournament, is played every year in Dublin, Ohio and for the second straight week it will be playing host to a PGA tournament. Woods has won this tournament five times in his career, the most recent victory coming at the 2012 tournament.
I love this tournament, I always consider it one of the sixth best tournaments of the year. You have the four majors and the Players Championship and then you have the Memorial tournament. It’s obviously a different atmosphere with no fans, especially because it was reported that the Memorial was supposed to be the first event to allow half-capacity and a socially distant fan experience. Those plans have been postponed and we will have to wait to see fans back on the course.
This field is stacked, obviously all eyes are going to be on Tiger and to see how he responds to having the big lay-off while he gears up for the late season majors. I expect Tiger to make the cut and play well but I would be shocked to see him contend with this loaded of a field, especially in his first start on tour in five months.
For the first time in nearly eighty years the PGA tour has scheduled back to back events at the same location, Muirfield Golf Club, the course played relatively easy last weekend allowing players to go as low as 19 under par. I am expecting scores to be higher this week with decisively tougher pin locations, faster greens and tougher tee boxes. With that being said, this course will still allow for low numbers if players can stay in play throughout the week.
From a gambling perspective, I believe that golf is one of the most fun sporting events to wager on. Let’s take a look at the current odds for players in the field and I will give you my picks:
| Justin Thomas | +900 |
| Bryson Dechambeau | +1000 |
| Rory McIlroy | +1200 |
| Patrick Cantlay | +1600 |
| Dustin Johnson | +1800 |
| Jon Rahm | +1800 |
| Collin Morikawa | +2000 |
| Xander Schauffele | +2000 |
| Webb Simpson | +2000 |
| Viktor Hovland | +2500 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | +2500 |
| Tiger Woods | +2500 |
| Brooks Koepka | +2800 |
| Daniel Berger | +3300 |
| Rickie Fowler | +3300 |
| Patrick Reed | +4000 |
| Gary Woodland | +4000 |
| Abraham Ancer | +4500 |
| Jason Day | +5000 |
| Tony Finau | +5000 |
| Matt Kuchar | +5000 |
| Justin Rose | +5500 |
| Paul Casey | +6600 |
| Matthew Fitzpatrick | +6600 |
| Sergio Garcia | +7000 |
| Billy Horschel | +7000 |
| Joaquin Niemann | +7500 |
| Adam Hadwin | +8000 |
| Marc Leishman | +8000 |
| Ian Poulter | +8000 |
| Jordan Spieth | +8000 |
| Kevin Streelman | +8000 |
| Sungjae Im | +8000 |
| Scottie Scheffler | +9000 |
| Byeong Hun An | +10000 |
| Corey Conners | +10000 |
| Lucas Glover | +10000 |
| Kevin Kisner | +10000 |
| Kevin Na | +10000 |
| Bubba Watson | +10000 |
| Keegan Bradley | +12500 |
| Zach Johnson | +12500 |
| Shane Lowry | +12500 |
| Doc Redman | +12500 |
| Rory Sabbatini | +12500 |
| Matthew Wolff | +12500 |
| Bud Cauley | +15000 |
| Cameron Champ | +15000 |
| Harris English | +15000 |
| Brian Harman | +15000 |
| Max Homa | +15000 |
| Jason Kokrak | +15000 |
| Phil Mickelson | +15000 |
| Alexander Noren | +15000 |
| Louis Oosthuizen | +15000 |
| J.T. Poston | +15000 |
| Chez Reavie | +15000 |
| Patrick Rodgers | +15000 |
| Brandt Snedeker | +15000 |
| Sepp Straka | +15000 |
| Nick Taylor | +15000 |
| Harold Varner III | +15000 |
| Matt Wallace | +15000 |
| Danny Willett | +15000 |
| Jim Furyk | +17500 |
| Mark Hubbard | +17500 |
| Ryan Moore | +17500 |
| Brendon Todd | +17500 |
| Erik van Rooyen | +17500 |
| Christiaan Bezuidenhout | +20000 |
| Rafa Cabrera-Bello | +20000 |
| Joel Dahmen | +20000 |
| Talor Gooch | +20000 |
| Branden Grace | +20000 |
| Lanto Griffin | +20000 |
| Emiliano Grillo | +20000 |
| Charles Howell III | +20000 |
| Mackenzie Hughes | +20000 |
| Andrew Landry | +20000 |
| Adam Long | +20000 |
| Maverick McNealy | +20000 |
| Troy Merritt | +20000 |
| Sebastian Munoz | +20000 |
| Henrik Norlander | +20000 |
| Carlos Ortiz | +20000 |
| Brendan Steele | +20000 |
| Vaughn Taylor | +20000 |
| Stewart Cink | +25000 |
| Jason Dufner | +25000 |
| Tyler Duncan | +25000 |
| Dylan Frittelli | +25000 |
| Haotong Li | +25000 |
| Tom Hoge | +25000 |
| Graeme McDowell | +25000 |
| Matthew NeSmith | +25000 |
| Ryan Palmer | +25000 |
| Brian Stuard | +25000 |
| Bernd Wiesberger | +25000 |
| C.T. Pan | +35000 |
| Wyndham Clark | +35000 |
| Harry Higgs | +35000 |
| Jazz Janewattananond | +35000 |
| Danny Lee | +35000 |
| Scott Piercy | +35000 |
| Matthias Schwab | +35000 |
| Charl Schwartzel | +35000 |
| Si Woo Kim | +35000 |
| Cameron Smith | +35000 |
| Sung Kang | +35000 |
| Zac Blair | +50000 |
| Bill Haas | +50000 |
| Scott Harrington | +50000 |
| Bo Hoag | +50000 |
| Nate Lashley | +50000 |
| Denny McCarthy | +50000 |
| Keith Mitchell | +50000 |
| Victor Perez | +50000 |
| Andrew Putnam | +50000 |
| Steve Stricker | +50000 |
| Kevin Tway | +50000 |
| Jimmy Walker | +50000 |
| Xinjun Zhang | +50000 |
| David Lingmerth | +75000 |
| Jason Scrivener | +75000 |
| K.J. Choi | +100000 |
| Ernie Els | +100000 |
| Jim Herman | +100000 |
| Peter Kuest | +100000 |
| Tom Lehman | +100000 |
| William McGirt | +100000 |
| Andy Ogletree | +100000 |
| Carl Pettersson | +100000 |
| Vijay Singh | +100000 |
From Justin Thomas all the way down to Vijay Singh we have a lot of phenomenal players in this field. I would look to bet this event a couple of ways. First off, I would pick 3-4 players to win and then load up on some players for Top 10 finish bets, lastly, when the matchups come out, be sure to look at them. Once the matchups are released I will try to get a blog out giving some picks. Lets start with the guys I would focus on to win this event and who makes sense from a betting perspective.
1. Koepka +2,800
2. Finau +5,000
3. Dustin Johnson +1,800
If you want some guys to bet to win who have larger odds I would look at :
Kisner
Mickelson
Wolff
Varner III
Those three guys at those numbers is a phenomenal value, I especially like Finau at that number. He’s been a very consistent player over the last couple of years and to be able to get him at that type of value is something you can’t pass up. Let’s look at my projected top 10, I am going to throw in some longshots to try and get us all some value.
10 : Poulter
9 : Hovland
8 : Streelman
7 : McIlroy
6 : Phil Mickelson
5 : D. Johnson
4 : Finau
3 : Dechambeau
Runner-Up : Rose
Champion : Kisner
There you have it folks, the tournament starts on Thursday and we will have coverage on the tournament leading up and during the event. Please check out our podcast on the blog and on Spotify “The Corner Booth”. As always, hear, hear to the ProcrastiNation!
