DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: the Memorial Tournament Cash and GPP Strategy

This article is part of our DraftKings PGA DFS Picks series.

THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENTS PRESENTED BY WORKDAY

Purse: $20M
Winner's Share: $4M
FedEx Cup Points: 700 to the winner
Location: Dublin, Ohio
Course: Muirfield Village Golf Club
Yardage: 7,569
Par: 72
2024 champion: Scottie Scheffler

Tournament Preview

Let's begin this week with a history lesson: The past seven winners of the Memorial have been Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, Billy Horschel, Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm, Cantlay again and, in 2018, Bryson DeChambeau.

That's a good starting point to break down this tournament, which requires a high caliber of play to win on a very difficult golf course, which means it's usually won by a high caliber golfer.

Being a Signature Event, the Memorial gets high caliber golfers. But long before it became a Signature Event, it was a de facto Signature Event. It always had the best field of any "regular" tournament (non-major/PLAYERS/playoffs). Just about every top golfer would show up every year, for two reasons: one, as an homage to tournament host Jack Nicklaus and two, as a final tuneup for the U.S. Open, which traditionally is played two weeks hence. (Yes, another major is coming in two weeks.)

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and just about every other top golfer will be on hand at Muirfield Village this week, though there is one big exception. Rory McIlroy will skip the tournament for the first time in eight years, instead beginning a three-tournament stretch next week with the Canadian Open, U.S. Open and the Travelers, the eighth and final Signature Event of 2025. (Eight? It seemed like 15.)

Scheffler, who won here last year at a mere 8-under, will be joined in the 72-man field by last year's runner-up in Collin Morikawa, plus Hovland, Cantlay and every other golfer in the top 25 of the OWGR, save McIlroy and DeChambeau. The field also includes the Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5. And also four sponsor invites, namely the usual suspects in Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler and unusual suspects in Matt Kuchar and Brandt Snedeker (a pair of Workday pitchmen).

This will be the 50th edition of the Memorial, which debuted in 1976 when Nicklaus was 35 years old and still winning majors. (To see the surprise winner of that inaugural Memorial, keep reading.) Nicklaus is now 85 and, after a huge renovation five years ago, his signature course design remains, um, a bear: It was the fourth hardest course on the PGA Tour last year and fifth hardest the year before, when Hovland won at 7-under in a playoff with Denny McCarthy.

In some ways, Muirfield Village is the perfect golf course. No, it's not St. Andrews, it's not Augusta, it's not Pebble Beach. We don't mean it like that. As Nicklaus courses tend to do, it demands a golfer use all facets of his game and every club in his bag. While Nicklaus always put a premium on driving in his playing days -- and tee balls on these narrow fairways are important this week -- everything about Muirfield gets harder later. The holes get harder closer to the pin. The back nine is harder than the front, with the hardest stretch being Nos. 16-18. The closing three-hole stretch doesn't have a cutesy animal nickname like so many courses, but the 218-yard 16th, 503-yard 17th and 480-yard 18th all play over par.

Last year, 18 was as it always was -- the hardest hole on the course. And 16 was the third hardest. The second hardest was No. 10, emphasizing the difficulty of the back nine. Only five holes played under par last year. They were the four par-5s and drivable 360-yard par-4 14th.

The bentgrass greens have severe undulations and are fast and small, averaging 5,000 square feet. Complicating matters are the 68 bunkers, water on 13 holes and the rough at a club-grabbing four inches. The easiest path to victory is to score on the par-5s, none of which reaches 590. The par-3s have always been brutal, with three of them 200+ yards. Seven of the 10 par-4s exceed 450 yards, including the 472-yard brute that is No. 10.

With the top-50 golfers and ties making the cut, it's an opportunity to take some gambles on lower-priced options, maybe go with a top-and-bottom approach. Not only is a top guy likely to win, but a bottom guy, even the worst guy, will have to beat only 20ish guys to make the cut. But from our picks below, you'll see that a balanced approach is also in play.

As for the weather, high temperatures will be about 70 before warming a bit on Sunday. There's a small chance of some showers on Thursday but not much. The biggest issue facing the golfers might be the wind, forecast to blow in double digits for much of the time.

Fun Memorial factoid: As we like to note every year, the winner of the inaugural tournament back in 1976 was none other than the lovable Roger Maltbie, for the third of his five PGA Tour wins, in a playoff over Hale Irwin.

Annual Memorial honoree: Every year the tournament honors one of two of the greats of the game. This year, just one, and it's none other than Barbara Nicklaus. Jack had often credited his wife's support, guidance and sacrifice for the lofty heights he reached in his career and for the success of the Memorial tournament. On the 50th year of the tournament, Barbara Nicklaus is a fitting selection.

Key Stats to Winning at Muirfield Village

The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.

• Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green/Strokes Gained: Approach
• Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green 
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Par-3 Efficiency 200-225 yards, Par-4 Efficiency 450-500 yards, Par-5 Efficiency 550-600 yards
• Bogey Avoidance

Past Champions

2024 - Scottie Scheffler
2023 - Viktor Hovland
2022 - Billy Horschel
2021 - Patrick Cantlay
2020 - Jon Rahm
2019 - Patrick Cantlay
2018 - Bryson DeChambeau
2017 - Jason Dufner
2016 - William McGirt
2015 - David Lingmerth

Champion's Profile

In winning at 8-under last year, Scheffler, ranked 18th in SG: Off-the-Tee, first in Approach, 35th in Around-the-Green and 22nd in Putting, plus first in greens in regulation. Runner-up Morikawa was fourth in both OTT and Approach, 18th in Around and 11th in Putting, plus T16 in GIR.

Neither guy ranked in the top-10 in driving distance. In fact, no one who finished in the top-7 was in the top-10 in distance off the tee.

In 2023, Hovland defeated McCarthy in a playoff after both finished at 7-under. Hovland ranked third in SG: Putting and McCarthy was first. Hovland also ranked 10th in SG: Off-the-Tee, 26th in Approach and 31st in Around-the-Green, which for him was excellent. He also ranked 12th in SG: Tee-to-Green, and there was a direct correlation between that metric and the first page of the leaderboard. Scheffler finished just a shot back after ranking first in Off-the-Tee, Approach, Around-the-Green and Tee-to-Green. How did he not win? He also ranked 65th in SG: Putting.

Back in 2021, defending champion Rahm was forced to withdraw through 54 holes with a six-shot lead after testing positive for COVID. To that point, he had gained an incredible 21 shots total on the field -- 15 of them from tee to green, including nine on approach alone, and about 5 1/2 putting. His driving accuracy was 80 percent in what would've been one of the most dominating performances on Tour in years -- had it been completed.

Golfodds.com put the over/under on the winning score at 278.5, which is 9.5 under par.

DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS

Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap

$10,000 and up

Scottie Scheffler - $13,300 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +280)
Scheffler was similarly priced last week but didn't win; he tied for fourth. He still seems the far better play among the top tier, despite being significantly pricier than the other two guys, Xander Schauffele at $10,900 and Justin Thomas at $10,100. Scheffler is even ranked third in this field in SG: Putting over his past 24 rounds.

$9,000-$9,900

Collin Morikawa - $9,900 (+1600) 
Just about every indicator -- course history, stats, laser-like iron play -- screams "Morikawa!" He's been runner-up here twice. He's ranked seventh on Tour in SG: Approach, sixth in Tee-to-Green and second in driving accuracy. But it's now 19 months since his last win at the 2023 ZOZO. Further, Morikawa has not challenged for a title since he was stunned by Russell Henley at Bay Hill back in March.

Tommy Fleetwood - $9,200 (+2500) 
Fleetwood has nine top-25s in 11 starts. At this price, we want/need more than that. He's finished top-7 in three of his past four starts, including two Signature Events. He's top-55 in every strokes-gained category, just what we're looking for this week -- a well-balanced golfer. Fleetwood played here last year for the first time in years and tied for 20th.

Corey Conners - $9,100 (+3000) 
Conners continues a very steady season filled with top-10s and top-25s, the latest being a tie for 19th at the PGA Championship. As we say almost every week, his vastly improved putting is the difference this season. Conners tied for 20th here last year and has two other top-25s prior. The upside now is higher.

$8,000-$8,900

Sepp Straka - $8,800 (+4000) 
Straka has been, at worst, the third-best golfer on Tour this season. And he's far from the No. 3 price. Maybe it has something to do with him missing the cut in both majors so far. But Straka has been great in Signature Events. And he finished T5 here last year in a Signature-Event field, with a T16 the year before.

Daniel Berger - $8,600 (+4000) 
Missing the cut in a weak Charles Schwab field was, um, not optimum. It was a terrible putting effort for Berger, who lost more than four strokes across the two days. But it shouldn't dissuade us from one of the best golfers this season, one who is ranked top-35 in every strokes-gained metric outside of Putting. Berger hasn't played here since 2022, but he tied for fifth then.

Si Woo Kim - $8,300 (+4000) 
Kim was amid his best stretch of golf all season before tying for 28th at Colonial. Eh, that's not terrible. He had top-10s at the PGA and RBC Heritage and a top-20 at another Signature Event at the Truist. On top of all that, Kim crushes it year after year at the Memorial: five straight top-20s, two of which were top-10s. He's ranked 14th on Tour in SG: Tee-to-Green.

Matt Fitzpatrick - $8,000 (+4500) 
Amid a down season, Fitzpatrick is showing signs. He was top-25 at the Truist, top-10 at the PGA. And he now comes to one of his favorite tracks. He was top-10 here the past two years, with another top-10 a few years back. Fitzpatrick's season-long stats don't look all that encouraging, but his more recent numbers do.

$7,000-$7,900

Denny McCarthy - $7,900 (+4500) 
We know McCarthy is one of the best putters in the world. He's also been great on long par-4s this season. He was runner-up to Hovland here two years ago and tied for fifth the year before. McCarthy is coming off a T8 at the PGA and has not missed a cut this season. He's ranked ninth on Tour in bogey avoidance.

J.J. Spaun - $7,500 (+5500) 
Last week's tie for sixth thrust Spaun into the top-25 of the OWGR for the first time. He's been terrific on approach all season and now is ranked fourth on Tour. Spaun hasn't played Muirfield Village much, but he did tie for 20th two years ago, and now he's a far better player.

Andrew Novak - $7,100 (+7000) 
We detailed last week how Novak has been all or nothing this season -- in 17 starts, he's had eight top-25s and seven missed cuts. He is coming off a tie for 11th at Colonial, which definitely ain't nothing. So we come back to Novak, knowing the risk but also the upside, especially at this price.

$6,000-$6,900

Bud Cauley - $6,800 (+10000) 
What a story Cauley is becoming. With last week's solo third, he's up to 57th in the OWGR, which is just four spots from his career best -- achieved 13 years ago in 2012. He's also 36th in the FedExCup Standings, which means the TOUR Championship is within reach. Cauley has missed only one cut in 11 starts, with four top-10s. He last played this tournament back in 2020. He tied for ninth in 2019.

Lucas Glover - $6,500 (+11000) 
Eighteen guys -- a quarter of the field -- are $6,500 or less. And we always promise at least one. Glover has quietly had a very good season, one that would land him in the TOUR Championship if it started today. He has made seven of his last eight cuts. This will be his 21st start at the Memorial, the most in the field.

Agree with these picks? See how they stack up alongside other golfers in RotoWire's PGA DFS Lineup Optimizer.