Fantasy Golf: The Memorial Tournament Preview

Remember this scene from the original Top Gun where the officer from the tower is chewing-out Viper for Maverick's fly-by? Forget the subtext that could be drawn from his repeated demand for "SOME BUTTS!" which fits nicely into a popular theory of what many believe the movie is really about.* Anyway, the part of that scene that applies here is when Viper says, "well that'll just about cover the fly-by's" as if to say, "we're putting that in the past." 

And that's what I'm doing with my recent picks. It's like they never happened which is fitting because they might as well have never happened.   

TWEET OF THE WEEK

This picture also conveniently serves as a metaphor for me trying to make golf picks lately.

When you tryna plug ya phone charger in behind your headboard pic.twitter.com/NqEdcDuVpW

— Villain Allmighty 💰🚛💨 (@BruceAllmiighty) May 29, 2022

GOLF ANALYSIS

We head to Muirfield Village this week so Jack can get some quality airtime to hawk his ice cream and whine about cancel culture. Fortunately, he also hosts one of the best events of the season with a solid roster of champions so we'll cut him some slack.

As you may recall, Jon Rahm was running away with this thing last year when he was unceremoniously excused from the tournament after testing positive for COVID. And if there's one thing we now about Spaniards, it's that they never forget (see: Inigo Montoya). So Rahm is the pick based on sheer vengeance alone.

Jordan Spieth seems to have rediscovered his game so we'll throw him in the second spot, narrowly edging Xander Schauffele who we don't really trust anymore (yes it's true). The next three are the ball-striking version of Rush and Cream with Cameron Young in the Neil Peart/Ginger Baker role. Joaquin Niemann is Geddy Lee as if you even had to ask.

We haven't heard much from Patrick Reed in awhile which has been pleasant but the game really is better when he's a factor. I guess. 

And finally we're going to roll the dice on two guys who were on top of the golf world as recently as 2016 before slowly receding into the pack over the last five years. There was a time not so long ago when Jason Day and Rickie Fowler were discussed as half of a "Big Four" that also included Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy. It was ridiculous in retrospect because, at the time, they had combined for one major win but they're both likeable so the golf world was like "fuck it . . . why not?" If one of them is going to get Jim Nantz all sentimental, this is a place it could happen. Just as long as he doesn't start droning-on about Christian pickle ball retreats again.  

One and Done Pick: Jon Rahm

Sorry buddy. Your 
turn in the box.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Viktor Hovland

Sleeper Pick: Kevin Streelman

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Jon Rahm	$11,100
Jordan Spieth	$9,700
Viktor Hovland	$9,400
Cameron Young	$8,800
Joaquin Niemann	$8,300
Patrick Reed	$7,900
Jason Day	$7,600
Rickie Fowler	$7,200
Ryan Palmer	$6,900
Kevin Streelman	$6,800

Oh yeah, Kevin Streelman is such a lock as this week's sleeper that I almost feel guilty picking him. It's so obvious.

                                      THE NICK BRADSHAW** MEMORIAL

                                    HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART

You're not going to find a more instructive historical performance chart than this one. The only shame is that I can't fit ten year's worth of results on here so you can appreciate the past success of guys like Matt Kuchar, Hideki Matsuyama and David Lingmerth. (The WDAY is for the 2020 Workday Charity Open which was held on the same course the week before The Memorial as some kind of COVID related idea that I'm sure seemed like a good idea at the time).  

	DK Price	2021	2020	WDAY	2019	2018
Jon Rahm	$11,100	W/D	1st	T27	DNP	DNP
Rory McIlroy	$10,900	T18	T32	DNP	MC	T8
Patrick Cantlay	$10,700	1st	T32	T7	1st	4th
Collin Morikawa	$10,400	2nd	T48	1st	DNP	DNP
Xander Schauffele	$10,200	T11	T13	T14	T14	MC
Cameron Smith	$9,900	MC	T68	DNP	MC	MC
Jordan Spieth	$9,700	T18	T13	MC	T7	MC
Viktor Hovland	$9,400	T47	T48	3rd	DNP	DNP
Will Zalatoris	$9,400	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	MC
Hideki Matsuyama	$9,200	T62	MC	T22	6th	T13
Matthew Fitzpatrick	$9,100	MC	3rd	T27	T68	DNP
Shane Lowry	$9,000	T6	MC	T39	DNP	T52
Sungjae Im	$8,900	MC	MC	63rd	T57	DNP
Cameron Young	$8,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Max Homa	$8,700	T6	MC	MC	T37	DNP
Davis Riley	$8,600	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Daniel Berger	$8,500	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Corey Conners	$8,400	T53	T22	T39	T65	DNP
Joaquin Niemann	$8,300	MC	MC	T31	T27	T6
Abraham Ancer	$8,200	DNP	T58	DNP	T65	T57
Keegan Bradley	$8,100	MC	T68	T39	MC	T23
Mito Pereira	$8,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Seamus Power	$8,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Billy Horschel	$7,900	67th	T13	T7	T9	MC
Patrick Reed	$7,900	5th	T10	T39	DNP	T29
Bryson DeChambeau	$7,800	T18	MC	DNP	T22	1st
Matt Kuchar	$7,800	DNP	T32	T39	MC	T13
Adam Scott	$7,700	T16	DNP	DNP	2nd	T35
Chris Kirk	$7,700	T26	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Jason Day	$7,600	DNP	T4	T7	MC	T44
Si Woo Kim	$7,600	T9	T18	64th	T41	DNP
Aaron Wise	$7,500	T9	DNP	MC	MC	MC
Alex Noren	$7,500	T13	MC	DNP	T41	DNP
Marc Leishman	$7,500	T57	T40	MC	5th	T62
Cameron Tringale	$7,400	T26	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Gary Woodland	$7,400	MC	T22	T5	T52	T23
Tom Hoge	$7,400	MC	MC	MC	DNP	DNP
K.H. Lee	$7,300	T65	DNP	T35	T37	DNP
Keith Mitchell	$7,300	DNP	T22	MC	T48	MC
Anirban Lahiri	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	T52	T37
C.T. Pan	$7,200	T57	T44	T48	DNP	DNP
Cameron Davis	$7,200	MC	DNP	MC	DNP	MC
Rickie Fowler	$7,200	T11	MC	T22	T14	T8
Sepp Straka	$7,200	MC	61st	DNP	DNP	DNP
Brian Harman	$7,100	DNP	MC	DNP	T27	DNP
Harris English	$7,100	DNP	T13	DNP	DNP	DNP
Lanto Griffin	$7,100	MC	T44	MC	DNP	DNP
Luke List	$7,100	MC	T10	MC	MC	T37
Denny McCarthy	$7,000	MC	T58	MC	DNP	DNP
Russell Knox	$7,000	T57	DNP	MC	T27	T44
Stewart Cink	$7,000	T47	T62	T17	DNP	MC
Joel Dahmen	$6,900	T32	74th	MC	T68	DNP
Ryan Palmer	$6,900	DNP	2nd	MC	DNP	DNP
Scott Stallings	$6,900	DNP	DNP	T58	T48	DNP
Adam Hadwin	$6,800	MC	T54	T35	T52	T74
Cameron Champ	$6,800	MC	MC	67th	MC	DNP
Doug Ghim	$6,800	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kevin Streelman	$6,800	T13	T54	T7	4th	T44
Patrick Rodgers	$6,800	MC	T18	MC	DNP	T13
Matt Jones	$6,700	MC	DNP	T14	T41	DNP
Brendan Steele	$6,600	T37	T13	T52	T41	DNP
Lucas Glover	$6,500	T37	T38	DNP	T52	T52
Matthew Wolff	$6,500	DNP	T22	MC	DNP	DNP
Charles Howell, III	$6,400	MC	T48	MC	MC	T65
Carlos Ortiz	$6,300	T16	T48	T61	MC	DNP

Footnote

* Today was the first time I noticed that, as he storms-out, the officer collides with a guy in what could best be described as a not so imposing sailor outfit and ends-up with coffee all over his chest. I will let you draw your own conclusions.  

** This week's historical performance chart name is there to see if you're paying attention.

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