PGA DFS Tournament Breakdown: the Memorial Tournament
Long-time grinder, stlcardinals84, breaks down his top PGA DFS tournament picks in various price ranges on DraftKings & FanDuel for the Memorial Tournament. Which golfers should you be targeting to try and take down the big DFS tournaments? Find out below!
Welcome to the beginning of June, and another week of DFS golf! This week marks a fun spot on the calendar, as Muirfield Village in Dublin, OH will host the annual Memorial Tournament, which is now an elevated event. That means we have a strong field assembled, with 72 golfers currently in the field. There will be a limited cut to the top 50 and ties (plus any golfer within 10 strokes of the lead) for the weekend. I must say that even a limited cut makes these elevated events much more exciting from a DFS perspective, since it adds more of a “sweat” component to the Thursday and Friday rounds that we lacked in many of these elevated events over the spring.
This tournament has been played at Muirfield Village for a long time, but some tinkering has been done to the course over the last 7-8 years. It has recently been playing as the hardest par 72 out of all the non-majors, and that has been consistent since the latest renovations. The course oftentimes plays over a stroke over par on average per round, and it will certainly be a challenge for these top golfers. Despite some renovations a few years back, there have been very few changes to the course in advance of this year’s edition.
While Muirfield Village is a long par 72 that stretches over 7,500 yards, it generally sets up as a second-shot venue. The bigger hitters will have an advantage on the par 5s, but a lot of the other holes mitigate the advantage of distance. As such, I will be focusing on ball striking and approach play as my preferred statistical metrics. It is very important to stay below the hole on a lot of the pin locations that are used. Sometimes it is better to be 30 feet short than 15 feet past the hole, and that will be even more of a factor with tricky pin placements in use. While approach play is paramount, I will take par-5 scoring into consideration, as scoring is a necessity on those easier holes. Distance does seem to get a little bit of a bump with the most recent course changes, and I will also emphasize scrambling given that the field usually hits just over 50% of greens in regulation. Basically, you have to be good at everything in order to succeed at Muirfield Village!
Let’s move along to take a look at some of my favorite GPP options!
PGA DFS Picks: DraftKings & FanDuel Tournament Breakdown for the Memorial Tournament
Cameron Young
DraftKings: $10,300
FanDuel: $11,500
I can’t seem to figure out why Cameron Young is fading from the DFS radar a little bit. He was always a popular choice even BEFORE he figured out how to win tournaments. He’s now won a pair of big tournaments this spring, and now he is fading in the public’s perception. If his ownership continues to dip, I’m happy to get back on board. Young hasn’t missed a single cut all season. His worst finish in his last 8 starts is 26th place. He leads this field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee this season and ranks in the top 5 in most tee-to-green metrics. His distance will help him on the par 5 holes, and the rest of his all-around game looks so much sharper these days. While the lack of positive course history is a bit nerve-wracking, I will side with the current form. Young is simply playing much better golf these days, and he’s capable of winning every time he tees it up.
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