It’s a great week to be a golf fan.
The LPGA is at Riviera for the Women’s U.S. Open, and the TOUR is headed to Jack’s place, Muirfield Village, where Scottie Scheffler will look to three-peat.
He would be the first golfer since Tiger to do so at Muirfield, and the first since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic to win 3 TOUR events in a row.
The reason why he’s won at Muirfield twice in a row is because the course places a ton of emphasis on approach play, and there is no better player in the world over the last few years in that category than Scottie Scheffler.
Muirfield also penalizes missed fairways more than any other course on TOUR.
Not because it’s narrow, but because the rough is thick, which makes approach shots into the small, firm greens particularly difficult.
This course was designed by the ultimate ball-striker, Jack Nicklaus, so we will be looking to target elite iron players this week.
Who’s In The Field?
Scottie Scheffler leads a loaded field this week. It’s a signature event, and pretty much all of the top players on TOUR will be there, including 9 of the top 10.
Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland are the two biggest names who are OUT this week.
Here are the key stats for The Memorial Tournament:
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Build cards around elite approach players first. SG: Approach has the strongest correlation with SG: Total here at 0.612, well ahead of off-the-tee. Bettors should prioritize players gaining heavily with irons, especially those strong from 150–225+ yards, because Muirfield Village produces a lot of mid/long-iron approaches.
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Don’t overpay for pure bombers. Driving distance shows only a 0.061 correlation with total performance, while driving accuracy is more meaningful at 0.306. The course is long at 7,449 yards, but it also narrows fairways, suppresses driving distance, and penalizes missed fairways more than average. Favor “long enough and accurate” over reckless distance.
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Difficulty increases the value of bogey avoidance, short game, and putting floors. Scoring is tough at +1.38, GIR is only 55.5%, and penalty strokes are elevated. With SG: Putting at 0.506 and Around-the-Green at 0.455, this is not just a ball-striking event; players who can survive missed greens and avoid doubles should be upgraded for matchup, top-20, and cut-line markets.
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Weekly Bets: 50th Memorial Tournament
We’ve partnered with Keith Stewart at Read The Line to share his weekly golf betting picks with the Caddyshanks crew. If you’re the type who enjoys breaking down matchups, spotting trends, and hunting for value, you’ll feel right at home in the RTL community. Use code CADDYSHANKS2026 for 20% OFF.
Keith Stewart’s Picks
Si Woo Kim (+2200 BetMGM)
In his last eight starts at The Memorial, Si Woo Kim has GAINED with the putter six times! Probably Kim’s best career putting course, he is on an incredible heater T2G in 2026. Ranked third on the PGA TOUR, Si Woo is gaining an average of 1. 5 strokes per round over 53 measured rounds this year. Only Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick have been better. Fresh off gaining eight strokes with his flatstick at the CJ Cup, Kim can more than contend on a course that has been very good to him throughout his career.
Ben Griffin (+3900 DraftKings)
We all saw Ben Griffin come close to defending his title at the Charles Schwab. Walking the practice tee at Muirfield Village, Griffin looks really good. Ben is a player perfectly suited for Jack’s place. Well-rounded T2G and an excellent putter on super smooth surfaces, Griffin finished runner-up to Scottie Scheffler last year. Gaining more than 11 strokes on the field at The Memorial in 2025, this is a perfect example of form colliding with a confidence-producing venue.
Caddyshanks Picks
Scottie Scheffler (+310 Draftkings)
The “bet Scottie every week no matter what” strategy hasn’t worked out well so far this year, but he could turn that around easily this week.
Justin Thomas (+40000 Draftkings)
We tried our hand with betting JT last week and it didn’t work out for us, but he’s finding his form again and the win is going to come. Muirfield Village tends to let the cream rise to the top, we like JT to be hanging around come Sunday.
Sepp Straka (+6000 Draftkings)
Sepp has back-to-back Top 5’s at The Memorial, and the number on him this week is too good to resist, considering he’s in good form and has proven he can contend here.
Last week, we had a birdie-fest.
This week, we should have something more challenging (depending on the weather).
The host venue this week, Colonial, has a rich history. Ben Hogan won five times here, and it’s the longest running tournament held at the same venue on TOUR.
They’ve been playing here for 80 years, yet since Hogan’s time, no one has ever won back-to-back. He did it twice, by the way.
Secondly, Colonial is narrow, with small greens – it’s not a bombers course.
Now, I am no golf course architecture expert, but I’ve noticed a theme.
At courses like Riviera, Harbour Town, and Colonial, all of the sudden how far the pros hit the ball doesn’t matter as much, and the golf seems to be way more enjoyable to watch.
What do those courses have in common?
They were all built before 1950, they are all old-school, strategic “shot-maker” courses that reward precision over power. They emphasize placing tee shots in the right spots, controlling approach angles, and hitting accurate irons into smaller or well-protected greens.
Here are the key stats for Colonial:
- Prioritize elite iron players and putters. The two strongest within-event correlations with SG Total are SG Putting at 0.648 and SG Approach at 0.610, well ahead of off-the-tee and around-the-green. For betting, that points toward players gaining consistently on approach who also have a credible putting spike in their profile.
- Build around the 125–175 yard approach window. The biggest approach buckets are 125–150 yards: 20.1% and 150–175 yards: 20.9%, so roughly 41% of approaches come from those two ranges alone. Proximity and scoring from short-to-mid irons should matter more here than generic long-iron or wedge-only splits.
- Don’t overrate driving accuracy by itself. Colonial is narrow, with 29.9-yard fairways and only 54.7% driving accuracy, but the correlation of accuracy to SG Total is just 0.169, while distance is 0.289 and total SG Off the Tee is 0.444. The betting takeaway: look for controlled drivers who can gain off the tee without being reckless, but don’t automatically downgrade longer players just because they miss fairways.
The Details
Previous Winners
How To Watch
Featured Groups:
Weekly Bets: 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
We’ve partnered with Keith Stewart at Read The Line to share his weekly golf betting picks with the Caddyshanks crew. If you’re the type who enjoys breaking down matchups, spotting trends, and hunting for value, you’ll feel right at home in the RTL community.
Use code CADDYSHANKS2026 for 20% OFF.
Keith Stewart’s Picks
Rickie Fowler (+2400 DraftKings)
Rickie Fowler has three top 10s in his last four starts. Rickie finished T60 at Aronimink because of his putter. Those greens are the toughest these guys will see all year on TOUR. All other aspects of Fowler’s game have been firing for the better part of 2026. He tied sixth and T16 in two of his last three starts at Colonial. It’s time for Fowler to finish one off. Gaining almost six strokes on average against the field at Hogan’s home over his last three trips to Fort Worth, Rickie won’t be the only Oklahoma guy winning in Texas this week.
Taylor Moore (+9400 DraftKings)
Innisbrook’s Copperhead course is a great comp venue for Colonial Country Club. Taylor Moore won the Valspar Championship (2023) and is coming off four straight top-40 finishes. Each result has improved by the week: T39-T20-T17-T14. Moore is a great close-range scorer who can drive the golf ball. When his iron game gets going, that’s when Taylor can win. Gaining seven strokes on the field in his last two starts and trending up for two months, I expect a little more from Taylor this week.
Caddyshanks Picks
Justin Thomas (+1800 Fanduel)
The last time we saw JT he was playing lights out on Sunday at Aronimink. Week by week, he’s been returning to major championship form. We like him to not only compete this week, but also at the two remaining majors this year.
Sungjae Im (+3500 Fanduel)
I am going with Sungjae in back-to-back weeks. He’s got 3 top 10’s this season, he’s finished Top 15 at Colonial three different times. It’s also worth noting that he was one of a handful of guys to go super-low last week, with a 61 in the 2nd round.
