This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
Memorial Tournament
Course: Muirfield Village Golf Club (7,569 yards, par 72)
Purse: $20,000,000
Winner: $4,000,000 and 700 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
While we still have two more majors left in 2025, we also only have two more signature events left. The Memorial Tournament is the seventh of eight signature events, and is the last of the three player-hosted signature events, meaning there will be a 36-hole cut for the top-50 and ties plus anyone within 10 shots of the lead for this 72-man field. Last year the Memorial was held the week prior to the U.S. Open for the first time, but now will be back in its traditional spot on the calendar with the RBC Canadian Open once again being the final tuneup for the third major of the season.
Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion at Muirfield Village after just hanging on by one shot to defeat Collin Morikawa. This year Scheffler is coming off a win at the Byron Nelson, a win at the PGA Championship and a T4 finish last week at Colonial. The winner of THE PLAYERS and The Masters will not be in the field this week, after Rory McIlroy elected to skip the Memorial for the first time since 2017. Playing the Memorial would have meant four in a row for McIlroy who is teeing it up at the Canadian Open next week followed by the U.S. Open and Travelers Championship. It will still be another incredible field at Muirfield Village with 26 of the top-30 in the OWGR.
The Memorial Tournament has been a staple on the PGA Tour calendar since 1976. Seven different players have won this tournament on multiple occasions with the most recent to accomplish the feat being Patrick Cantlay in 2021. Tiger Woods has the most victories with five (1999, 2000, 2001, 2009, 2012). Tournament host Jack Nicklaus won here in 1977 and 1984.
Speaking of Jack, there is nothing players think about more coming into this event than winning and being able to have that handshake walking off 18 green with the Golden Bear. The Memorial doesn't have the most glamorous trophy, but it's that moment that the champions here over the years always remember. It's been a place where we've seen some tremendous finishes as well with six playoffs since 2014.
Muirfield Village is one of the most constantly tinkered with courses year after year. Jack is always trying to push the course to the limit to make it one of the most challenging tests of the season. There are no announced changes to the course from last year, but rest assure there is some slope or bunker that has been adjusted somewhere, and Jack enjoys watching the best in the world struggle around his home course.
There might be a chance for some decent scoring this week, however, after a pretty wet month of May. It may just make the greens that little more receptive to be able to stop approaches closer to the hole. The four tournament rounds look to be in a pretty good spot as far as precipitation goes, but we could see some weather come in Friday afternoon. Temperatures will be a little on the cooler end for this tournament topping around the low-70s. The strongest of the winds for the event will come on Saturday with gusts that could reach up to 30 mph. 10-under-par has been the average winning score at Muirfield Village over the last five years, but I could see it being a little lower than that this week if the greens aren't able to completely firm up like we've seen the last two years with winning scores of 7-under and 8-under, respectively.
Recent Champions
2024 - Scottie Scheffler (-8)
2023 - Viktor Hovland (-7)
2022 - Billy Horschel (-13)
2021 - Patrick Cantlay (-13)
2020 - Jon Rahm (-9)
2019 - Patrick Cantlay (-19)
2018 - Bryson DeChambeau (-15)
2017 - Jason Dufner (-13)
2016 - William McGirt (-15)
2015 - David Lingmerth (-15)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Total Driving
- SG: Putting/Putts per GIR
- Par 5 Scoring/Scrambling
Champion's Profile
Muirfield Village is a complete test that is basically on par with major championship difficulty. It's a long course where length is rewarded. The rough is penal, but there's enough room to work the ball off the tees and still stay in the short grass. The top SG: Off-the-Tee players are going to be in an excellent spot to attack firm greens with shorter clubs, and also be able to reach all these par-5s in two shots. Par-5 scoring is very critical here and often represents the top players on the leaderboard come Sunday.
There's some similarities to Augusta with this course in the fact that the second shot is typically so important. The greens features a lot of slope which can bring the ball close to the hole, or much further away if you aren't careful. Expect the top ball-strikers who consistently are up there in majors to be in the mix this week at the Memorial. The one key difference to Augusta is that there is a lot of long rough around these greens, which will stop the ball from going far away from the hole if you miss on approach. Long rough around the greens also decreases some of the gap between the best and worst short-game players. If you are putting the ball in the right spots, you can make a lot of putts because the bentgrass surfaces are so pure.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Scottie Scheffler ($14,000)
Scheffler is $1,900 more than the second option this week of Xander Schauffele, and that gap is absolutely worth paying given how strong the course fit is. Scheffler is first on Tour in SG: Tee-to-Green this season at 2.17 strokes per round. Shane Lowry is second at 1.44 strokes per round. Scheffler has finished 3rd-3rd-Win in his last three starts at the Memorial, including gaining an unfathomable 24.08 strokes on approach over his last eight rounds at this course. Expect Scheffler to return to form on the greens after some struggles last week at Colonial when he finished "just" T4.
Patrick Cantlay ($11,300)
Cantlay missed the cut in his last start at the PGA Championship, but the ball-striking overall has been so strong this year. He ranks 29th in SG: Off-the-Tee, 10th in SG: Approach and second in GIR percentage this season. Cantlay has also been one of the best in par-5 scoring over the last few years, which will come in handy this week. Muirfield Village has always been a great spot for him with two wins among five total top-seven results.
Viktor Hovland ($11,000)
Hovland feels like he's really close to getting back to the form he showed a couple seasons ago when he captured the FedExCup. He is 27th in total driving, eighth in SG: Approach and 26th in proximity this season. The struggles continue to be with the short game, but he's much better with courses like this where there is long rough around the greens. Hovland has gained with the putter in four of his last five starts and has finished top-15 three times in six starts at Muirfield Village.
The Middle Tier
Si Woo Kim ($10,200)
Kim is trending in a very nice direction with four top-20s in his last six starts. He checks a lot of the key boxes this week including ranking 14th in SG: Tee-to-Green and leading the PGA Tour in par-5 scoring average. Kim's putting has always been his big weakness, but he's now up to 21st in putts per GIR this season. The Korean has been one of the most consistent players over the last five years at the Memorial with finishes of T18-T9-T13-4th-T15.
Tony Finau ($9,800)
Finau is a player I've largely stayed away from this year with just one top-10, which was a T5 at The Genesis Invitational. That said, there are some encouraging trends for the very talented bomber who has an excellent history at the Memorial with five top-15s in eight starts. Finau has gained strokes off the tee in his last nine starts, on approach in his last five, around the green in five of six and on the greens in his last three. I think he puts it all together this week.
J.J. Spaun ($8,800)
Spaun is coming off a T6 showing at Colonial which was his fourth top-six finish of the season. The ball-striking has been so strong at sixth in total driving, fourth in SG: Approach and 13th in proximity. He is also starting to putt it consistently, as Spaun has gained strokes on the greens in his last five starts. Watch out for him on a course that is so demanding from tee to green.
The Long Shots
Bud Cauley ($8,600)
Cauley collected his fourth top-six finish in his last seven starts at Colonial. He has played very well on difficult tracks and that bodes well for him going into Muirfield Village. There's really no holes to poke in his game, as he is at least 65th in every strokes gained category. At some point Cauley is going to get more respect in these type of fields ranking ninth in SG: Total and fifth in adjusted scoring average, but for now take advantage of his price.
Andrew Novak ($8,100)
Novak's play over the last couple months doesn't match this price. After a T11 last week at Colonial he now has five top-20s in his last six starts. Novak ranks top-10 in SG: Around-the-Green this season and the iron play has taken big strides over this recent hot stretch. This might be his first trip to play the Memorial, but he should find it to his liking. Novak ranks ninth in par-5 scoring average as well.
Matti Schmid ($7,400)
Schmid has been hot of late and nearly picked up his maiden PGA Tour win at Colonial. Ultimately he came up one shot shy, but it was his third top-10 in four starts. Schmid is a long-hitter who should thrive at Muirfield Village. He is ninth in birdie average this season and has gained strokes on approach in his last eight measured starts. Schmid also led the field in SG: Putting a week ago.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
It's another week where I feel like the $9K range is quite weak. Long-time readers of this column know that is typically the bread-and-butter range for me. It lends this week to being a much more stars and scrubs builds. You can go with a Scheffler and a $10K option, or a pair of players in the $11K range, and still be in a pretty decent spot for the rest of your lineup. One thing is for sure, this is not the week to take a leap of faith with anyone who is struggling from a ball-striking perspective. You just aren't going to get away with it at this course. We also have to remember that roughly only a quarter of the field is going to miss this cut, which means it's going to be even harder to cash if we don't go 6-for-6.
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