The Memorial picks: PGA Tour odds, predictions, best bets for Muirfield Village

There are a handful of PGA Tour events that can claim to be “the best of the rest” compared to the majors, but if you ask seasoned pros, the Memorial, held every year at Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village, tops the list as the most important tournament outside of the big four.Not only because this tournament is essentially an annual celebration of Nicklaus, but also because it often plays as one of the stiffest tests on the circuit every year.

It’s a perfect warm-up for the U.S.Open, which is two weeks on the horizon.Scottie Scheffler hasn’t won a tournament since the American Express in January, but he remains in his normal perch atop the odds board.

Scheffler, who is the two-time defending champion, is +310 to three-peat at Muirfield Village.Scheffler is the only player with single-digit odds, with Rory McIlroy (10/1), Cameron Young (15/1), Ludvig Aberg (15/1), and Xander Schauffele (17/1) rounding out the top five.Muirfield Village always attracts an elite field, and it’s a grueling course, so it’s no shock that most of the recent winners at this venue were heavyweights in their prime: Collin Morikawa in 2020, Patrick Cantlay in 2021, Viktor Hovland in 2023, and then Scheffler the past two years.Billy Horschel’s triumph in 2022 was the only surprise in that span, and he was far from an also-ran in those days.This isn’t the type of tournament where you want to get too cute with long shots, so we’ll focus most of our attention on the top of the board.It’s been nearly four years since Patrick Cantlay made it into the winner’s circle, but he looks to be trending towards his next win.

Since missing the cut at the Arnold Palmer in March, Cantlay has finished 12th or better in four of his last six starts, including at the Masters and two signature events (RBC Heritage and the Truist).And if there is a place where it would make logical sense for Cantlay to break his schneid, it would be Muirfield Village.Cantlay has two wins (2019, 2021) and fiv...