Fantasy Golf: The Memorial Tournament Preview

We had a somewhat impromptu gathering of old friends last weekend that went deeper into Sunday night than was prudent or anticipated. When you reach our age, hangovers are measured days, not hours, so this morning the question was asked, "who in the hell still drinks for 12 hours on a Sunday?" which I assume was rhetorical since it was asked by the same guy who's house was stocked with all of the booze that made it happen. 

The conversations at these things tend to veer off into unpredictable territory and that night was certainly no different. At one point, there was a heated debate over which crime is more heinous . . . the possession and use of illegal narcotics or the killing of a bird that is on a protected species list. Suffice it to say that I was outnumbered in part because the bird wasn't available to back me up. 

Once that topic ran out of fuel, we proceeded to solve a series of other world problems that were mostly geopolitical in nature. Unfortunately (and typically), no one took notes so all of work was lost and we'll have to start over from scratch next time.    

Eventually the red wine outpaced the adrenaline or someone reached their breaking point and knocked me unconscious (it's a toss-up) and my night ended. Six hours later I woke-up on a couch under a decorative blanket to a stunning waterfront view and my initial impression was "well that's lovely" but that thought was quickly kicked aside by "where the fuck am I?" Two hours later I was leading a meeting on reorganizing the safety department and this is where my life is now.  

GOLF ANALYSIS

I've always been a big fan of this event despite the constant homaging to and slurping of the host. I know he's probably earned it, especially on a golf broadcast from his home turf but good grief you'd think he led an early charge up the beach at Normandy in his Sansabelt pants the way he's stroked by the guys in the booth. (By the way, I just learned that "Sansabelt" is "sans a belt" as in "without a belt" and I feel like I just unlocked some kind of cosmic cheat code). 

Tiger won here five times so the tournament gets an "A" credit rating for that alone. Add in the fact that Scottie Scheffler is the two-time defending champ and the five winners before him were all at least Ryder Cup caliber players and The Memorial rates among the best non-majors. 

Ben Griffin checks all of the boxes this week. He's coming off a T3 at the Charles Schwab Challenge and a runner-up finish here last year. Note that these are the same boxes we've been checking throughout this train wreck of a gambling season that most recently had us scanning the leaderboard for five minutes in search of Rickie Fowler only to discover that he shot a 42 on the back nine of the second round. At this point that draws little more than a slight shrug and a barely audible sigh. 

But we press on and we're sticking with a lot of regulars. I mean if doubling down on the same numbers is sound strategy in a casino, it should work here so we give you Sepp Straka, Akshay Bhatia and Nick Taylor with a Corey Conners chaser. We could make a legitimate case for all of them but, as noted just one paragraph ago, logic and reason have left the building. 

Place	Player	Odds
Winner	Ben Griffin	+3900
Top 5	Sepp Straka	+860
Top 10	Akshay Bhatia	+460
Top 10	Nick Taylor	+510
Top 20	Corey Conners	+205

One and Done Pick: Ben Griffin

I'll give the goofy bastard credit.
He kind of makes the shades work.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Sepp Straka

Sleeper Pick: Nick Taylor

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Scottie Scheffler	$13,500
Matt Fitzpatrick	$9,600
Patrick Cantlay	$9,200
Ben Griffin	$9,000
Maverick McNealy	$8,300
Sepp Straka	$7,700
Akshay Bhatia	$7,400
Corey Conners	$7,100
Ryan Gerard	$6,900
Nick Taylor	$6,800

Our Historical Performance Chart honors the handful of ladies who suffered through an onslaught of washed-up lacrosse guy chatter over the weekend. It was frankly unprecedented and our ability to repeatedly reroute the conversation back to it was Cliff Clavinesque.

THE LACROSSE WIVES OF MARYLAND

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART 

Obvious omissions are Si Woo Kim, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler who is dead to us for at least a month. There must be consequences. 

	DK Price	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021
Scottie Scheffler	$13,500	1st	1st	3rd	DNP	3rd
Rory McIlroy	$11,500	DNP	T15	T7	T18	T18
Cameron Young	$10,300	T25	T50	MC	T60	DNP
Ludvig Aberg	$10,100	T16	T5	DNP	DNP	DNP
Xander Schauffele	$9,800	T25	T8	T24	T18	T11
Matt Fitzpatrick	$9,600	T31	T5	T9	MC	MC
Si Woo Kim	$9,400	T31	T15	4th	T13	T9
Russell Henley	$9,300	T5	T27	T16	DNP	MC
Patrick Cantlay	$9,200	T12	MC	T30	T3	1st
Tommy Fleetwood	$9,100	T16	T20	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ben Griffin	$9,000	2nd	MC	MC	DNP	DNP
Min Woo Lee	$8,900	T49	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP
Sam Burns	$8,800	T12	T15	T16	DNP	T50
Hideki Matsuyama	$8,700	38th	T8	T16	DQ	T62
Robert MacIntyre	$8,600	T20	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Rickie Fowler	$8,500	T7	MC	T9	T64	T11
Justin Thomas	$8,400	T31	T33	MC	DNP	T42
Maverick McNealy	$8,300	T5	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Chris Gotterup	$8,200	DNP	MC	MC	DNP	DNP
Adam Scott	$8,100	T31	DNP	T9	T67	T16
J.J. Spaun	$8,000	MC	DNP	T30	DNP	DNP
Alex Smalley	$8,000	DNP	DNP	MC	MC	DNP
Jordan Spieth	$7,900	T7	MC	T5	T18	T18
Harris English	$7,900	T12	MC	T52	MC	DNP
Justin Rose	$7,800	T44	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kurt Kitayama	$7,800	DNP	MC	MC	MC	DNP
Sepp Straka	$7,700	3rd	T5	T16	T45	MC
Nicolai Hojgaard	$7,700	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Shane Lowry	$7,600	T23	49th	T16	T32	T6
Jake Knapp	$7,600	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Aaron Rai	$7,500	MC	DNP	MC	T26	DNP
Jason Day	$7,500	DNP	T33	MC	31st	DNP
Akshay Bhatia	$7,400	T16	T22	MC	DNP	DNP
Jacob Bridgeman	$7,400	T31	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Wyndham Clark	$7,300	56th	MC	T12	T37	MC
Gary Woodland	$7,300	DNP	DNP	T24	MC	MC
Alex Noren	$7,200	T39	T22	T52	MC	T13
Ryo Hitsatsune	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Corey Conners	$7,100	T25	T20	MC	T13	T53
Mac Meissner	$7,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Keegan Bradley	$7,000	T7	T43	T30	T37	MC
Sahith Theegala	$7,000	MC	T12	T58	T5	T32
Ryan Gerard	$6,900	T23	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kris Reitan	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Pierceson Coody	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sam Stevens	$6,800	T31	DNP	T41	DNP	DNP
Nick Taylor	$6,800	4th	T27	DNP	DNP	T42
Harry Hall	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Daniel Berger	$6,700	MC	DNP	DNP	T5	DNP
Eric Cole	$6,700	T44	T45	T24	DNP	DNP
Alex Fitzpatrick	$6,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tony Finau	$6,600	T31	T8	DNP	DNP	T32
J.T. Poston	$6,600	MC	T22	T38	T37	DNP
Brian Harman	$6,600	MC	T33	MC	T18	DNP
Sungjae Im	$6,500	T16	T8	T41	T10	MC
Bud Cauley	$6,500	T39	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ryan Fox	$6,500	T20	DNP	T30	DNP	DNP
Denny McCarthy	$6,400	55th	T39	2nd	T5	MC
Andrew Novak	$6,400	T51	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Taylor Pendrith	$6,300	T12	T33	T60	DNP	DNP
Tom Hoge	$6,300	T7	T45	65th	MC	MC
Patrick Rodgers	$6,300	DNP	MC	T30	MC	MC
Michael Kim	$6,200	T44	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Billy Horschel	$6,200	DNP	T15	MC	1st	67th
Nico Echavarria	$6,200	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Matt Kuchar	$6,100	T25	T33	62nd	T45	DNP
Brandt Snedeker	$6,100	T7	MC	T41	T60	DNP
Mark Hubbard	$6,100	DNP	DNP	T30	DNP	T42
Lucas Glover	$6,000	MC	MC	MC	T60	T37
Jhonatten Vegas	$6,000	T44	DNP	DNP	T37	DNP
Brian Campbell	$6,000	W/D	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

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