McIlroy has back-to-back top 20s at the Memorial, and Schauffele hasn’t finished outside the top 20 since Bay Hill.
After a week in the Lone Star State, the PGA Tour is in Dublin, Ohio, for the 2023 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.
The field is loaded and features the top five players in the Official World Golf Ranking: Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.
Scheffler enters as the betting favorite at +600 followed by Rahm at +750 and Cantlay — who’s a two-time Memorial champion — at +1000.
Billy Horschel is the defending champion thanks to his four-shot win over Aaron Wise last season.
There are a few players taking the week off, including Tony Finau and Max Homa. Players are allowed to miss one designated event this season.
Here are five prop bets and position plays for the 2023 Memorial Tournament.
The field at this week’s Memorial Tournament is stacked. The top five players in the Official World Golf Ranking — Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele — are all set to tee it up come Thursday morning.
Rahm won this event in 2020 while Cantlay has claimed the title twice, 2021 and 2019. Billy Horschel is the defending champion thanks to his four-shot win over Aaron Wise last season.
Scheffler is the betting favorite at +600 followed by Rahm at +750 and Cantlay at +1000.
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Although big names will be all over the leaderboard this week, we wanted to take a look at five sleeper picks with a shot to win come Sunday.
The best players in the world have made their way to Jack’s place in Dublin, Ohio, for the 2023 Memorial Tournament.
Muirfield Village will host an absolutely stacked field, including the top five players in the Official World Golf Ranking — Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. Rahm won this event in 2020 while Cantlay was claimed the title twice in 2021 and 2019.
Billy Horschel, who tied for 40th at the Charles Schwab Challenge last week, enters as the defending champion. The Florida Gator bested Aaron Wise by four shots last season for his seventh PGA Tour title.
Scheffler, unsurprisingly, is the betting favorite at +600 followed by Rahm at +750.
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Golf course
Muirfield Village Golf Club | Par 72 | 7,533 yards
Billy Horschel and Aaron Wise walk up the 18th fairway during the final round of the 2022 Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (Photo: Adam Cairns-The Columbus Dispatch)
Course history
Muirfield Village – Course History for #theMemorial
-Includes average finish position and Strokes Gained per round since 2015 – including Jon Rahm's 2021 forced withdrawal
“I’ve had a lot of special memories playing the British Open over the years starting in 2007.”
At the end of a 10-week stretch on the road last summer, Anna Nordqvist met Max, the family’s new English Cream Retriever. Fluffy Max got to drink out of the shiny hardware mom brought home from the AIG Women’s British Open at Carnoustie, her third major title.
This week, Nordqvist returned the trophy, which she jokingly called Max’s “water bowl,” on Instagram, at historic Muirfield, where the women will compete for a major title for the first time. There have been 16 British Opens staged at Muirfield, dating back to 1892.
“I’ve been looking forward to this week for a long time,” said Nordqvist. “It’s one of my favorite weeks out of the year. I’ve had a lot of special memories playing the British Open over the years starting in 2007 when I qualified, Monday-qualified as an amateur into St. Andrews.”
This was the championship the Swede grew up wanting most, and after marrying Kevin McAlpine, a Scot from Dundee, winning at nearby Carnoustie made it all the more special. Nordqvist says she’s still pinching herself that her biggest childhood dream came true.
Soon after this year’s British, Nordqvist will have a long-awaited wedding celebration that was postponed for two years due to COVID-19.
Nordqvist, 35, recently returned to Carnoustie to tee it up and played 15 holes.
“It was a two-ball wait on 16,” she said, “and it was already 9:30 at night and we kind of gave up.”
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Nordqvist is one of only two players who have won the British Girls’ (2005), British Amateur (2008) and British Open (2021), joining England’s Georgia Hall. Her Amateur victory came at nearby North Berwick, and earlier this week, she was reunited with all three trophies. Both Hall and Nordqvist also earned low-amateur honors at the Open.
A nine-time winner on the LPGA, Nordqvist has won three different majors dating back to her breakthrough title at the 2009 KPMG Women’s PGA as a rookie. She has four top-10 finishes at the British, including last year’s victory.
Last month, Nordqvist won the Big Green Egg Open on the Ladies European Tour.
“I don’t feel like I have any pressure on me this week,” she said. “I’m not trying to prove anything. I’m just trying to enjoy myself.”
Also among the favorites this week is Australia’s Minjee Lee, who hasn’t finished outside the top 11 in her last four appearances at the British Open. She said she loves links-style golf, particularly having grown up in windy Perth.
Earlier this year, Lee won the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles for her second title in four major starts. She tied for second at the Women’s PGA and took a share of 43rd at the Evian.
“I just really love like the hard conditions that we get and just how much creativity we have to sort of think about around these types of courses,” said Lee. “It could be really cool, and it would be a great honor to be able to win the British.”
Top American Nelly Korda, who was distracted early on in her Tuesday news conference by an unwelcome spider, said she also appreciates the creativity links golf demands. She felt the par 3s at Muirfield seemed particularly tough.
“I think the greens are a bit more undulated for British-style golf courses I’ve played,” said Korda. “If it gets windy, the greens are going to be really tricky. The par 3s are long. There’s definitely a lot of fall-offs on the front of the greens.
“Overall, I think the entire golf course, you have to strike it well. The fairways are not really too wide, either. Sometimes you just have to be aggressive and just take the shot in the fescue to be closer to the green. But yeah, I think the golf course is going to be a great test depending on the weather, too.”
Aaron Wise knew he needed a miracle, and for a moment, he thought he got it.
DUBLIN, Ohio — Aaron Wise knew he needed a miracle, and for a moment, he thought he got it.
Wise trailed leader Billy Horschel by three shots heading to the 15th hole at Muirfield Village Golf Club. The 546-yard, par-5 is the easiest hole on the course, with almost as many birdies (27) as pars (31) on Sunday.
Wise needed more than a birdie to put pressure on Horschel, but that looked unlikely after he put his tee shot in the sand and then had to chip out into the fairway, 101 yards from the cup. Meanwhile, Horschel hit on the green in two shots. Already slim odds of a comeback looked doomed.
But then Wise hit what looked like a perfect approach shot.
Maybe, just maybe…
“The way the crowd was reacting, I knew it was tracking right for the hole,” Wise said. “It was just a matter if it quite made it far enough down the hill or not. When they got loud, I thought it was going in.”
But it stopped less than two feet from the cup for a possible eagle. Horschel then hit the shot of the final round, draining a 53-foot putt for his eagle and a four-shot lead.
“The last four or five feet, you could tell it took a turn right for the cup,” Wise said. “It looked like it was perfect speed the whole time. That’s one of those things you do when you win a tournament.
“It was a great back and forth. I felt like I had a chance all the way up until about then.”
Wise tapped in for birdie but couldn’t get closer than three shots the rest of the way. He finished four back at 9 under after a meaningless bogey on No. 18 to complete his 1-under 71 on Sunday.
“I thought I put a really good round together,” Wise said. “It just wasn’t quite enough today.”
Wise knew he had an uphill battle from the start Sunday. He started five shots behind Horschel, who went 49 holes without making a bogey.
“We were playing a tough course,” Wise said. “I went out with the attitude I’m just going to do me and maybe hopefully Billy comes back to me. You can’t press out there too much because you can barely hold some of the greens, never mind attack some of the pins.”
Wise birdied the 10th and 11th holes to get within two shots before bogeying No. 13. No. 15 was his last chance to put pressure on Horschel.
Still, it was a superb week for the 25-year-old, who was born in South Africa and now lives in Florida. Wise has one PGA Tour win, which came in 2018 at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Two years earlier, he became the first player since 2008 to win both the NCAA men’s individual and team titles for the University of Oregon.
Wise earned $1,308,000 for finishing second at the Memorial.
“It means a ton,” he said. “This is a tournament you’ve watched on TV since you were a little kid.”
As a member of the final pairing, he got a handshake from tournament founder and host Jack Nicklaus coming off the final hole.
“Walking off 18, shaking Jack’s hand there, that’s something you watch everyone do in the final group,” he said. “And I got a chance to do it.
“I didn’t get the handshake, but I did shake his hand.”
The win is the seventh of Horschel’s PGA Tour career.
DUBLIN, Ohio – Billy Horschel does not idle well.
He walks fast, talks fast, plays fast and is one to get, well, angry fast. His middle name could be Impatient. Or Fidgety.
Always been that way for the veteran. From time to time, he’s overcome his lack of easing off the pedal and won six PGA Tour titles. But for some time now, his team has urged him on many occasions to slow his roll.
He’s finally taking their advice.
After a heart-to-heart with his caddie, Mark “Fooch” Fulcher, following last week’s missed cut in the Charles Schwab Challenge, Horschel deliberately eased his pace and took 10-15 more seconds to figure out what the two wanted to do on every shot in The Memorial, Jack Nicklaus’ annual gathering of the game’s best players at Muirfield Village Golf Club, the course the Golden Bear built.
Through three rounds, it worked and Horschel led by five with 18 holes to play.
But come Sunday, Horschel had to rely on a heavy dose of his new approach – and a ton of patience – in the final round to overcome a pedestrian start and shake Nicklaus’ hand in victory.
In winning for the seventh time on the PGA Tour, Horschel didn’t buckle when his consecutive bogey-free streak ended at 50 holes with a bogey on the sixth. Didn’t buckle despite his overnight lead falling to two with six holes to play. Didn’t buckle even after driving his ball on the 13th into the trees.
Staring collapse directly in its face, Horschel laid up to 102 yards on 13 and then canned an 11-footer for par to increase his lead to four.
After making a gutsy par from eight feet on the 14th, Horschel had the big moment he was waiting for by making a 53-foot eagle putt on the 15th.
Horschel signed for an even-par 72 to finish at 13 under and four shots clear.
Aaron Wise was playing alongside Horschel and pushed him best he could. He made big par saves and then big birdie putts on the 10th and 11th holes and another strong par save on the 12th to pull within two. But Horschel held him off.
Wise finished second at 9 under with a 71.
Defending champion Patrick Cantlay and Joaquin Niemann each shot 71 to finish in a tie for third at 7 under.
Max Homa (69), Will Zalatoris (70), Denny McCarthy (72), Sahith Theegala (71) and Daniel Berger (73) finished in a tie for fifth at 6 under.
Horschel has now gone 44 holes without making a bogey.
DUBLIN, Ohio – Where does one start with the superlative numbers Billy Horschel has put together through three rounds of The Memorial?
The 7-under 65 in Saturday’s third round under bright skies, which was two shots clear of the next best round turned in?
The five-shot lead he takes into the final round, just one shot shy of the largest 54-hole lead in tournament history held by Tiger Woods (2000) and Jon Rahm (2021)?
The 44 consecutive holes he’s played without a bogey on the rugged, Jack Nicklaus-designed layout at Muirfield Village Golf Club? His lone bogey of the tournament came on the first hole – his 10th of the day – in the first round.
Or his perfect 12-for-12 mark in scrambling, the 42 of 54 greens he’s hit in regulation or the 35 of 42 fairways he’s hit in regulation?
“I’m very aware of everything I’ve done on the golf course, and I just feel very comfortable right now with what we’re doing on the golf course,” said Horschel, who included his caddie, Mark “Fooch” Fulcher, as part of his success.
Horschel said he’s never had a five-shot lead before – “I’ve had it in my head plenty of times,” he said with a smile – so the 2014 FedEx Cup winner doesn’t expect to change his approach going to the first tee for Sunday’s final round as he tries to win his seventh PGA Tour title.
“I’m not going to be protective,” he said. “I’m not going to be overly aggressive. I’m going to play the way I have the last three days. We’re going to hit the golf shots that are required, and I know if we do that it’s going to give me the best chance to be victorious come tomorrow. I’ve been doing this for 13 years now out here, so I think I should have a pretty clear understanding of what I need to do and the feelings and the emotions I’m going to have tomorrow.”
Horschel is five clear of Aaron Wise (69) and overnight leader Cameron Smith (72). Another shot back are Berger (67), Francesco Molinari (70) and Jhonattan Vegas (71).
Horschel’s stellar play through three rounds stems in part from a conversation he initiated with Fulcher following last week’s missed cut in the Charles Schwab Challenge. The two emphasized the process they have to use that makes sure Horschel is calm and confident over every shot.
“I’m not really worried about score, I’m not really worried about the result of the golf shot, just worried about the process that Fooch and I are trying to do, and I think if we do that well, and I sound like a broken record, but if I do that it allows me to make better swings, and it’s been producing better results,” Horschel said. “I think just going through our process, making sure we have a number where we’re trying to land the ball, talking about the shot, the club selection, the wind. When we do that, it allows me to have a clearer picture and have a little bit more of a higher acceptance level over the golf shot.
“Everyone has told me on my team for years, when I have that, I’m able to make better golf swings on a regular basis. I’m sure I’m going to shock everyone when I say this. I move very quick, and I’m impatient, and so I’m ready to go without always being clear on everything. Sometimes I just want to get the golf shot over with. Yes, am I an idiot for not doing what I know works every time? Yes.
“But I need to do a better job of it. If I’m going to win the golf tournaments I want to win, and I feel like I can win, then I need to do a better job of it on a daily, weekly basis, especially when it comes to the bigger events.
“I’m an idiot for not doing what I need to do on a regular basis.”
It was nearly unbearable until Nicklaus and his team began a major renovation in 2020.
DUBLIN, Ohio – How difficult can the par-3 16th at Muirfield Village Golf Club, at a mere 200 yards at most, play during The Memorial?
In 2020 in the final round, Phil Mickelson laid up 43 yards short on the hole and then putted the ball for his second shot. When the hole measured 173 yards.
The same year, Matt Fitzpatrick, en route to finishing third, purposely tried to hit his tee shots into a greenside bunker the entire week.
“It was just playing that firm that day. I just remember the whole week, it was just really, really firm and it was downwind as well, and it was incredibly hard to stop the ball,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think there was only one man that hit it within 20 feet on the final day, and that was Tiger Woods.
“I think that says it all.”
Since 2011, the 16th has been pivotal in determining who gets to shake Nicklaus’ hand in victory as it has been the toughest hole on the course Nicklaus built in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2020. How tough? There have only been four aces on the hole since 2015. In the 2013 Presidents Cup, Ernie Els was the only player to birdie the hole in singles action as he knocked in a 25-footer.
The hole wasn’t always a terror. For the tournament’s first 37 years, it was a pleasant hole that was not much of a bother. But in 2010, with the Presidents Cup upcoming, the Golden Bear sunk his claws and dug out a lake abutting the green on the left that teamed with three severe bunkers on the right that instantly turned the hole into a monster with plenty of teeth. Especially when it played downwind.
It was nearly unbearable until Nicklaus and his team began a major renovation in 2020 and discovered the shallow green pitched from front to back, and with the surface usually firm, players had a hard time holding the green with tee shots. Especially from 200 yards with wind at their backs.
“Nobody could stop it on the green before,” Nicklaus said. “So we took seven inches out of the center of the green and added seven inches to the back of the green and now the green sits to you.
“It wasn’t fair before. They couldn’t stop the shot. It’s still not an easy shot, but the green will receive a good shot now.”
That’s what the players are hoping for this weekend. If the forecast holds – plenty of sunshine and heat on Saturday and Sunday – the green will be firm. But not a rock, as it was in the past, Nicklaus said.
Jordan Spieth putts on the 16th green during the second round of the 2013 Presidents Cup at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports
Jon Rahm has had his moments on the 16th. The 2020 Memorial champion made an ace on the 16th in the second round and survived a two-stroke penalty in the final round for his ball moving slightly as he addressed the shot in the rough that year. Rahm likes the redo and said the hole is fair but not a pushover. That was the case in 2021 when the hole ranked as the eighth toughest among the 18.
“The new redo makes it a lot easier than it used to be,” Rahm said. “But it all depends on the firmness on the greens, right. I mean, when the greens were as firm as they were in 2020, there wasn’t much you could do. You had to hit it as high as possible and hope for the best, and hope you got up-and-down from long, basically, if you didn’t hit the green.
“Now it’s a little more doable. Still a tough shot, right. Just got to be comfortable with the decision you make, right. I feel like you need to be decisive, choose the club, choose your shot and stick to it because it’s not a big target. It’s a small green, water and bunkers around it.
“But unlike in the past, those up-and-downs are slightly easier than they have been. So it’s not like it’s a hole you’re looking at to make birdie, but I’m pretty sure everybody in the field will take four pars and move on to 17.”
Or as Rory McIlroy said, “just hit it in the middle of green, two putts, take your three and run to the 17th tee.”
DUBLIN, Ohio – The mullet has become one of the most feared sights in golf.
Cameron Smith, the Aussie lad who’s let his hair go in honor of his rugby league boys down in Australia, has become a nearly weekly threat on the PGA Tour.
This week, he’s at Muirfield Village Golf Club for The Memorial.
And the Aussie is at it again.
The reigning Players Championship winner and world No. 3 is at the top of the leaderboard once again following rounds of 67-69 that left him at 8 under on Friday. Smith, who held a share of the lead after 18, is in control of all aspects of his game, from his mental approach to all the clubs in his bag.
He’s playing so well that he expects to be on the first page of the leaderboard.
“I think my game’s in a good spot. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be,” Smith said. “I’m playing some of the best golf of my life, and I feel I’m getting more consistent with the longer stuff. So just looking forward to everything coming up.
“I think mentally I’m in a really good spot. I feel as though I’m getting more and more consistent week in, week out. I just try to hit the right shots every time. Even if I’m uncomfortable, I know what the right shot is, and I’m committed to trying to hit that shot and that’s just a really good place to be in.”
It’s the latest strong effort from Smith. He won the 2022 opener in record fashion at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Then the man who loves to fish reeled in the whale otherwise known as The Players Championship for his fifth PGA Tour title, all coming since 2017.
He also tied for third in this year’s Masters and was in contention late before fading at the end to finish in a tie for 13th in the PGA Championship.
And Smith is the only player in Masters history to post all four rounds in the 60s, as he did in finishing runner-up to Dustin Johnson in 2020.
A large group is at 6 under, including Cameron Young (67-71), Davis Riley (67-71), Jhonattan Vegas (69-69), Luke List (67-71) and Billy Horschel (70-68).
At 5 under is Rory McIlroy, who is looking for his first Memorial trophy to add to his four pieces of hardware from major championships and two from his FedEx Cup titles.
Rory McIlroy plays his shot from the ninth fairway rough during the second round of the Memorial Tournament. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
“I’ve hit it in the fairway pretty often,” McIlroy said. “As it firms up, I think just the premiums on ball-striking, hitting fairways and hitting greens. If you can do that around here, you’re going to have a chance.
“I’m expecting by tomorrow it will probably get back to as firm as it was sort of those Monday/Tuesday practice rounds. It was surprisingly firm then. And I think that’s the way they want to play it around here, is to try to get it as firm and fast as possible. Looks like the weather forecast is going to allow that to happen.”
And if he were to add The Memorial to his resume?
“I think it’s a special moment in anyone’s career being able to walk up the hill and get that handshake (from Jack Nicklaus). I’d love to win here,” he said. “I won at Bay Hill at Arnold’s place, but I was never able to get that handshake because Arnold passed away a couple years before. It makes it extra special when you’re able to win a tournament, whether it’s hosted by Jack or Arnold or any of the greats in the game.”
Muirfield Village likely will firm up over the weekend, as the forecast calls for sun and heat, and let’s face it, a firm course is what Nicklaus wants. If conditions do toughen, Smith will be ready.
“I’d love a firm and fast golf course,” he said. “I think growing up in Australia, Aussies love that. I don’t think it’s going to be too windy over the weekend. So they can really kind of let this course get nice and firm.
“The fact that I was able to enjoy golf again even though I played terrible.”
DUBLIN, Ohio – Bryson DeChambeau’s first shot on the PGA Tour in 55 days was exactly what he wanted to see.
“I hit it down the fairway, I was like, all right, cool,” he said of his opening drive on the first hole in Thursday’s first round of The Memorial at Muirfield Village Golf Club. “Still have my game somewhat.”
His spirits remained high through the first 11 holes and he was 1 under heading to the water-protected par-3 12th. But he hit his tee shot into the water, then followed with three bogeys in his final five holes to turn in a 4-over 76, which put him nine shots out of the lead.
But for the most part, DeChambeau’s return to the PGA Tour for the first time since he missed the cut in the Masters was a positive sign as he moves on from wrist surgery earlier this year.
“The fact that I was able to enjoy golf again even though I played terrible,” DeChambeau said when asked what he was happiest about. “I know I have a lot of stuff to work on. Just being able to go out there, start to enjoy what this game has given me. It’s great seeing the fans out there, supporting me, pushing me on, even when I’m not doing great. Gives me some comfort that it’s fun again.
“From a golf perspective, no, I hated every minute of it. But from an emotional standpoint, it was nice to finally be back again in a competitive environment, putting well. Felt like I was putting really good. Wedging was not great. It was all over the place. But I haven’t practiced in a while. I’ve got to go work on that and talk to (coach) Chris Como and we’ll go figure it out.”
The eight-time PGA Tour winner and 2020 U.S. Open champion said this week is a stepping stone into his future.
“It’s a great test run to keep going, because really my eyes are set on the U.S. Open. That’s where I want to be full horse, all horses moving in the right direction. I’m just not there yet with everything,” he said. “But it just didn’t feel like the old me of 2018 like I used to, and so there’s a lot of work I have to do to get back to top form and climb that mountain again. I’m excited to do so.
“I’ve been working so hard to try and understand why the golf swing breaks down. It’s not as repeatable. And my time off, I haven’t been able to hit golf balls. It’s very difficult. You’re in your head the whole time. You have this thought process, and you go out there and it’s OK, but it doesn’t pan out the way you want to.
“So really having a positive attitude even though things aren’t going great out there is important for me. Now, I’ve learned that that’s what really matters for me. I enjoy the journey again. I’ve taken enough time off to where I’m comfortable going after it again; whereas before it was tough because it’s like, man, I was grinding so hard and I wasn’t figuring stuff out. It can just beat you down.
“But I was excited to get out there and play golf again and compete.”
