This article is part of our DraftKings PGA DFS Picks series.
THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT
Purse: $8.5M
Winner's Share: $1,615,000
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Dublin, Ohio
Course: Muirfield Village Golf Club
Yardage: 7,392
Par: 72
2015 champion: David Lingmerth
Tournament Preview
The Memorial is golf's indicator that summer is around the corner: It is the PGA Tour's first foray of the year out of the south. In an homage to host Jack Nicklaus, and with the U.S. Open just two weeks away, most of the top names in golf are in the select, 120-player field. The Big 3 of Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, each coming off a win in his prior start, headline a field that includes eight of the top 10, and 20 of the top 30 in the world (former champ Justin Rose pulled out on Monday with an on-going back issue). Muirfield Village features more than 75 bunkers, many causing havoc around the greens, and there's water on 11 holes. The course is home to long par-3s and short par-5s. No par-4 in 500 yards — a rarity in today's game — but two of them, Nos. 10 and 18, are the hardest holes on the course. Muirfield is a traditional Nicklaus design in which all facets of a golfer's game are required, holes get harder closer to the green, and the course itself gets harder closer to the clubhouse, with Nos. 16 to 18 treacherous closing tests. If No. 12 looks familiar, it's because the diabolical par-3 mirrors No. 12 at Augusta. Keep in mind that last year, scoring was a bit easier than usual, as the course yielded the fourth-most birdies per greens in regulation on tour (champion David Lingmerth notched 22 birdies en route to a winning score of 15-under). Don't expect that to happen again, but with smallish greens averaging only 5,000 square feet, a strong approach game goes a long way toward determining a champion. Weather-wise, there's a chance of rain in the forecast all four days — including Thursday afternoon, so if you're stuck between two golfers, an early Thursday/late Friday tee time might be a good tiebreaker.
Key Stats to Winning at Muirfield Village
• Greens in regulation
• Proximity to the hole
• Scrambling/sand saves
• Par-5 scoring
Past Champions
2015 - David Lingmerth
2014 - Hideki Matsuyama
2013 - Matt Kuchar
2012 - Tiger Woods
2011 - Steve Stricker
2010 - Justin Rose
2009 - Tiger Woods
2008 - Kenny Perry
2007 - K.J. Choi
2006 - Carl Pettersson
Champion's Profile:
Great putting will mask most ails, but Nicklaus asks that his champions have an all-course game. A glance at the past 10 winners is devoid of the biggest hitters. Of course, long drives are an advantage, but if you find trouble off the tee, it's hard to recover. Lingmerth does nothing exceptionally but everything pretty well, and that's a good way to approach this week. Last year's strokes-gained stats illustrate a blend of skill sets among the top finishers: According to PGATour.com, the top 12 golfers gained more than half their strokes either in approach shots (28 percent) or short-game shots (33 percent). Driving was at 16 percent and putting at 22 percent. Francesco Molinari, who tied for third with Spieth two strokes back, was first in fairways hit and first in GIR. Sangmoon Bae led the field in strokes gained-putting but tied for 49th. Getting on the green in regulation is paramount, but short of that, scrambling and strong sand play are invaluable. The four par-5s are there for the taking, with No. 15 traditionally playing as the easiest hole on the course. Six of the past 12 champions have been international players.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS (Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap)
DraftKings Tier 1 Values
Jason Day - $12,400 (Winning odds at golfodds.com: 13-2)
Jordan Spieth - $12,300 (7-1)
Rory McIlroy - $12,200 (13-2)
Hideki Matsuyama - $10,600 (15-1)
DraftKings Tier 2 Values
Matt Kuchar - $9,900 (20-1)
Charl Schwartzel - $8,800 (50-1)
Marc Leishman - $7,900 (60-1)
Daniel Berger - $7,800 (40-1)
DraftKings Tier 3 Values
Kevin Chappell - $7,500 (60-1)
David Lingmerth - $7,300 (80-1)
Ryan Moore - $7,300 (100-1)
Luke Donald - $7,200 (80-1)
DraftKings Long-Shot Values
Emiliano Grillo - $7,000 (125-1)
Ernie Els - $6,200 (Field, 7-2)
K.J. Choi - $6,000 (Field, 7-2)
Jason Bohn - $5,900 (Field, 7-2)
MY PICKS THIS WEEK
Lower-Risk Cash Game Lineup ($50K Salary Cap)
Matt Kuchar - $9,900
Patrick Reed - $9,400
Daniel Berger - $7,800
Bill Haas - $7,700
Russell Knox - $7,600
Kevin Chappell - $7,500
Staying away from the Big 3 here, but we feel pretty good about a lineup in which our cheapest buy is one of the hottest players on tour. From the top, Kuchar not only plays Muirfield well, with a win and four other top-10s, but he's coming off three straight top-6 showings on tour. The one pause is that this is his fourth consecutive week of action. Reed is among the best tee-to-green, with putting his Achilles' heel. We're banking on it not hurting him too much here. Berger missed the cut in his debut last year but quietly has been having one of the best springs around, with five consecutive top-20s. Knox has regained his form, finishing second at RBC Heritage and T19 at The Players. He also was top-20 last year at the Memorial. Likewise, Chappell has been on a big roll of late, with three top-10s the past two months, and he was runner-up at Muirfield in 2013.
Higher-Risk Tournament Lineup ($50K Salary Cap)
Jason Day - $12,500
Hideki Matsuyama - $10,600
Charl Schwartzel - $8,000
Luke Donald - $7,200
Jason Bohn - $5,900
Davis Love III - $5,800
Day has a poor history at Muirfield, but that was the case at TPC Sawgrass, too, and we saw what happened there. Matsuyama won the Memorial two years ago, and is among the best all-course golfers around. Schwartzel has four straight top-25s at the Memorial, including back-to-back T8s. Donald has made seven straight cuts at the tournament, 11 of 14 overall this season and is the seventh-rated scrambler on tour. Any time you take two high-priced golfers, you need to get creative and take some gambles the rest of the way. In this case, that means taking not one but two sub-$6,000 golfers. Bohn is coming off his best finish since returning from a heart attack. Love, at age 52, remains one of the most accurate drivers on tour and has missed only two cuts this season — albeit his past two.
