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The Memorial Tournament First Round Leader odds

By Iain MacMillan

May 14, 2023; McKinney, Texas, USA; Adam Scott plays his shot from the second tee during the final
May 14, 2023; McKinney, Texas, USA; Adam Scott plays his shot from the second tee during the final / Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports
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Are you sick of waiting for whole days to find out if you've won your bet on a PGA Tour event?

Well, allow me to introduce to you the First Round Leader bet.

Instead of betting on a golfer to win the event, this wager is a bet on which golfer will be leading after the first round. That way, it's all wrapped up quickly so you impatient bettors don't need to wait until Sunday to find out if you've won.

It's also a great way to get some longer odds on the top golfers at an event.

So, let's take a look at the first round leader odds for this week's Memorial Tournament and then I'll give you my pick for who will be leading after Round 1.

The Memorial Tournament 1st Round Leader odds

The Memorial Tournament 1st Round Leader Prediction

My favorite place to look when deciding who to bet on is the page on the PGA Tour website that lists Round 1 scoring average.

That way, you can see which golfers typically fare well in the opening round of the tournament. The top names on the list won't be a surprise to anyone. Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, and Viktor Hovland. But it's the fourth name on the list that I find intriguing.

Adam Scott, who is listed at +5500 to lead after Round 1, has the fourth best Round 1 scoring average on the PGA Tour at 68.4.

It also helps that Scott has a great history at the event. He has four top five finishes with the latest coming in 2019 where he finished runner-up to Patrick Cantlay.

He also enters this year's edition of the event in great form. He racked up a T5 and T8 finish at the Wells Fargo Championship at AT&T Byron Nelson, before admittedly stumbling a bit with a T29 finish at the PGA Championship.

Still, he has gained strokes on the field in five straight starts and even at the PGA Championship, he gained +0.96 strokes on the field with his approach game and +0.83 strokes off-the-tee.

Scott checks all three boxes for us; Great Round 1 scoring average, strong history at the event, solid recent form. That's enough for me to take a shot at him to be leading after Thursday at 55/1 odds.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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