Three Dark Horses That Can Win Memorial Tournament

The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village is set to begin on Thursday morning.

The 2020 winner of the event, Jon Rahm, is currently set as the +1000 betting favorite at WynnBET to win the tournament for the second straight year.

Rory McIlroy, who’s tied with Jordan Spieth with the second shortest odds at +1500, opted out of Wednesday’s pro-am and media appearances for “personal reasons," but all signs point to him teeing off in the first round tomorrow.

I’ve already given out my pick to win the event, but let’s take a look at a few dark horses who I’ll be wagering on as well.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout +7500

In my piece where I picked Tony Finau to win it all, I wrote about how important scrambling and play around the greens will be this week. If you want to bet on someone with long odds, but is a master around the greens, Bezuidenhout is your guy.

Plus, Bezuidenhout is fun to bet on based on his last name alone.

The South African ranks 3rd on the PGA Tour this season in strokes gained: around-the-green, and 39th in scrambling percentage. He’s made the cut in all nine of his starts in the 2020-2021 season, and he had a seventh place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.

While his approach game could use some work (171st in strokes gained: approach), Bezuidenhout’s short game will give him a leg up on his competition at Muirfield Village.

Not to mention, he ranks fifth on the Tour in strokes gained: putting.

Doug Ghim +15000

After exploding onto the scene at this year’s Players Championship by being in the second last group on Sunday, Doug Ghim has slowly put together a solid season on the PGA Tour.

In 20 events made, he’s made 14 cuts and has eight top-25 finishes.

Not only have his results been flying under the radar, but Ghim ranks 19th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: tee-to-green. The 25-year-old also ranks 16th in scrambling percentage, which will be key at Muirfield Village.

Ghim’s biggest shortcoming is with his flat stick, as he ranks 156th in Tour in strokes gained: putting, but as we’ve seen many times before, bad putters can figure it out for a weekend like Hideki Matsuyama did at this year’s Masters.

If Ghim is too big of a longshot for your tastes, he’s available at +365 at WynnBET to claim his seventh top-25 finish this season.

Charles Howell III +15000

Another golfer with 150/1 odds that is worth a look this week is Charles Howell III. No golfer in the field this week has played Muirfield Village as many times as Howell, as he’ll be making his 18th start there.

While he hasn’t had a lot of success here in the past, his statistics this season make him an enticing option. He ranks second on the PGA Tour in scrambling percentage, first in the field this week since Webb Simpson isn’t competing. So if you want to go all in on the theory that chipping will be what reigns supreme this week, it will be tough to do better than Howell III.

Like Ghim, you can bet on him to finish in the top 20 at +375 if you don’t want to wager on a 150/1 longshot to win.