The Memorial Tournament (2024) 72-Hole Matchup Best Bets (Back Aberg and Noren)

We are one day out from the start of the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, at the prestigious Muirfield Village Gold Club. Muirfield Village opened in 1974, held the inaugural Memorial Tournament for the first time in 1976, and has held this event ever since.

Muirfield Village stands out as one of the most demanding courses on the PGA Tour. This fact adds an intriguing element to the Memorial Tournament.

Notably, it is the only course in history to have hosted the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, and Solheim Cup. Since its renovation in 2020, Muirfield has maintained the second-highest scoring average of any course played on tour, a testament to its difficulty. For a more comprehensive understanding of this course, refer to yesterday's event preview, including my top betting picks for this weekend.

Yesterday's preview didn't cover matchups due to slow sportsbook postings this week. With a small field, finding value in these markets was a challenge. However, I've identified two 72-hole head-to-head matchups worth discussing before the event kicks off on Thursday morning.

The Memorial Tournament Best Matchup Bets

• Alex Noren (-120) vs Cameron Young - Bet365
• Ludvig Aberg (-110) vs Patrick Cantlay - DraftKings

Alex Noren vs Cameron Young

The 41-year-old Swede Alex Noren has taken a long time to find consistency on the PGA Tour. Still, he is off to a phenomenal start in 2024, only missing the cut once in 14 events and has racked up eight top-30 finishes in his last nine events.

Noren is coming into the event ranking highly in many critical areas, such as ranking second in good drive percentage, first in scrambling and second in bogey avoidance over the last three months. While his approach numbers are not quite as good as those I just detailed, they are still very respectable, as he ranks 13th in strokes gained on approach over the last three months.

On the other side of this matchup is Cameron Young, who has struggled to find consistency. He recently finished outside the top 30 in four straight events and six of his last eight starts this season.

Young also ranks lower than Noren in all the critical stats mentioned above and has struggled at Muirfield Village. In the past two years, Young has yet to finish higher than T60 at this event, whereas Noren has three finishes better than that in his five trips to this event.

With Young's game in rough shape and knowing he has had trouble finding success on this course, I am comfortable backing Noren here, whose game appears to be in a great spot to tackle the challenge Muirfield Village presents.

Ludvig Aberg vs Patrick Cantlay

Aberg has been a force on tour since earning his membership after dominating college golf in 2023. Since earning his tour card, Aberg has played in 25 events. He has only missed the cut in two of them. Since leaving college, he has racked up 20 top-30 finishes and two victories in his first 25 professional events.

In this event, Aberg ranks sixth in driving accuracy, 12th in scrambling, third in bogey avoidance, and 17th in strokes gained on approach over the last three months.

While Cantlay is usually regarded as one of the most consistent golfers in the game, he has struggled recently, only having one top-20 finish in his last seven starts on tour. In contrast, Aberg has seven top-20 finishes in his previous nine events. In addition, Cantlay ranks worse than Aberg in all of the critical stats mentioned above.

The concern with this bet is that it will be Aberg's first time playing Muirfield Village in an event, and in this specific matchup, he is going against one of the most successful golfers at this venue.

Cantlay won this event in 2021 and has two other top-10 finishes at this event in the last five years, but with Cantlay struggling to find consistency striking the ball and ranking 59th in the field in strokes gained putting on bentgrass this season, I like Aberg to finish higher on the leaderboard this weekend who ranks third in strokes gained putting on bentgrass this season.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.