BettingPros PGA Show: 2026 Memorial Tournament Picks & Predictions

Welcome back to the BettingPros PGA podcast.

We’re about to give you a full betting preview of the 2026 Memorial Tournament. It’s a signature event played on a terrific course. It should be a lot of fun.

 

Memorial Tournament Preview

The 2026 Memorial Tournament is a signature event, so it’s always going to be tier one. It’s going to have a field of 72 players this year and there will be a cut in this one. Top 50 plus ties will play into the weekend, or anyone within 10 shots of the lead after Friday’s round.

As always, the Memorial Tournament will be played at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio. It’s ‘Jack’s Place’, designed by Ohio native Jack Nicklaus. Muirfield Village is a great test of golf. It’s a par 72 measuring 7,569 yards. It’s a pretty good tune-up for the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills coming up in a few weeks.

The fairways at Muirfield Village are generous – much wider than we’ll see at a U.S. Open. But otherwise, Muirfield Village does play a lot like a U.S. Open venue. It’s long. It has extremely thick Kentucky bluegrass rough. Missing these wide fairways could be very costly. Its bentgrass greens are extremely firm and extremely fast.

The best players in the world are going to have their short games put to the test this week. It’s one of the toughest scrambling courses on the Tour. Driving is going to be critical, too. You have to find fairways because the rough at Muirfield Village is so gnarly and you need to be able to spin the ball to hold these greens.

Distance is also critical because it really helps if you can come in with nice high approach shots. It’s tough to hold these greens with long irons. Seven of the ten par 4s at Muirfield Village are 455 yards or longer. The opening hole is 490 yards. The two closing par fours are 503 yards and 480 yards. That’s not fair.

The Par 3s are pretty long as well. Three of them are 200 yards or longer. The other is 180 yards over water in what’s supposed to be sort of a replica hole of Rae’s Creek No. 12, except Jack made it longer. It’s 180 yards instead of 150-ish.

Yeah, it’s designed after it, but it’s Jack’s hole 12. Jack’s hole 12 looks like Augusta hole 12 if they put the tee boxes way back where they allow the patrons to sit.

And speaking of Jack, the course does favor players who work the ball from left to right. Not surprising since Jack liked to hit the high fade and Jack’s course is often set up best for that ball flight.

The two-time defending Memorial champion is none other than Scottie Scheffler. Scottie finished 10-under last year to win by four shots. Scheffler also won in 2024. He was 8-under par that year, beating Collin Morikawa by one stroke. Viktor Hovland won the Memorial in 2023. He finished 7-under par and beat Denny McCarthy in a playoff. Billy Horschel won in 2022 with a score of 13-under par. Patrick Cantlay was also 13-under par when he won here in 2021, beating Collin Morikawa in a playoff. For Morikawa, he’s always a bridesmaid at the Memorial.

Temperatures are going to be in the low 80s this week in Dublin, with mostly sunny conditions Thursday and Friday. Got some rain possibilities on Saturday and some greater rain possibilities Sunday. Winds are expected to blow under 10 miles per hour every day except Saturday, when conditions could be slightly breezier.

Bo McBrayer on Muirfield Village

It’s the whole bag. I mean, driving is important here, of course, but we have seen 70 to 75% made fairway rate at this golf course. The fairways are ample and you have to be in position to attack approach shots. If you’re missing these wide fairways, you have no chance to hold these greens.

Strokes gained off the tee is really important. Driving distance is helpful. But mainly, second, third, and fourth shots on this golf course are paramount. If you’re in the fairway, you have a chance to hit into some of the most challenging greens on Tour, bar none. They’re sloped, they’re fast, they’re not receptive. Even if you’re coming from the fairway, if we don’t get any precipitation, you’re going to see some frustrated guys not be able to hold their landing spot.

That being said, it’s still a second-shot golf course. Recovery and scrambling when you do inevitably miss some of these greens, and then putting on really fast bentgrass greens. A lot of this is kind of modeled after Augusta, not just the 12th hole, but the way this course is routed favors Jack Nicklaus’s style of play. Left to right, high ball flight. You have to be able to play like Jack to win at Jack’s Place.

And it’s no wonder that he had so much success at Augusta with the same ball flight, the same everything. Everything’s fast, bentgrass, all the short game demands, wide fairways that you still don’t want to miss.

Hard Rock Best Bets of the Week

Now it’s time for our Hard Rock Best Bets of the Week, presented by Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook.

Pat Fitzmaurice’s Best Bet

My Hard Rock Best Bet of the week is Ben Griffin at 40-1. I’m going to keep riding the Ben Griffin Express.

He was hot at around the same time last year, now he’s heating up again.

Pat Fitzmaurice’s Memorial Tournament Picks

• Hard Rock Best Bet: Ben Griffin (+4000)
• Ben Griffin Top 5 (+700)
• Ludvig Åberg (+1600)
• Hideki Matsuyama (+4600)
• Nick Taylor (+10500)
• Nick Taylor Top 10 (+520)

Bo McBrayer’s Best Bet

My Hard Rock Best Bet of the Week is Sam Burns at 46-1. I think he’s just a slightly better overall player than Ben Griffin. Maybe not as hot. But I do like the odds there. 46-1 for a guy who’s going to putt the lights out, hopefully.

If he can get on approach nice and close, this is going to be the kind of event where Burns’ abilities kind of make up for his room-for-improvement areas like approach. I think he’s done so much better on approach this season that we’re starting to see the full game of Sam Burns come around.

Bo McBrayer’s Memorial Tournament Picks

• Hard Rock Best Bet: Sam Burns (+4600)
• Scottie Scheffler Outright + Griffin Top 10 (+1400)
• Ben Griffin (+4000)
• Mav McNealy (+5700)
• Mac Meissner (+11500)
• Michael Kim (+18500)