Two rounds are through at the beautiful and difficult Muirfield Village Golf Club. The firm and fast design does an amazing job separating the best ball strikers in the field, and that is exactly what we are seeing. Sure, there will always be a handful of outliers here and there, but that should level itself out come Sunday.
Strokes gained off the tee paired with driving accuracy will continue to be the biggest key to success over the weekend. From there, we will look at some of the better iron players through two rounds. We should have some great live betting opportunities on this odds board to cash on Sunday afternoon.
Below, we will take a look at both the odds board and the betting board. Here are my Memorial Tournament Round 3 picks.
1) Scottie Scheffler -9 (-190)
T2) Viktor Hovland -6 (+650)
T2) Adam Hadwin -6 (+2500)
T4) Keegan Bradley -5 (+2200)
T4) Christiaan Bezuidenhout -5 (+3000)
6) Ludvig Åberg -4 (+2000)
Rory McIlroy to Win (+1800)
It is awesome to see McIlroy playing well yet again. More than anything, I love the fact that he is gaining strokes in every category. Around this golf course, there is no place to be lacking. McIlroy usually does most of his damage with his driver — and while that is true, everything else is cooking as well.
McIlroy is surely looking for some revenge after he blew this event on Sunday last season. Look for him to post another solid round Saturday and cement himself into the mix come Sunday. No one loves to win events the week before a major more than McIlroy. Something about peaking a tad too soon always gives McIlroy fits. Why not take advantage of it.
Ludvig Åberg Top 5 (+175)
Åberg is in a great position heading into the weekend and I am sure he will be around come Sunday afternoon. Åberg was striping his irons midway through round two but could not get a 10-foot putt to drop. The holes where his iron play was not as sharp, his putter was there to save par. That tells me he has all the pieces to win on this golf course.
We knew this going into the weekend but he has confirmed it through the first 36 holes. His driver has honestly not been great and that is his biggest strength. I expect him to regress in the right direction with that club and start hitting more fairways. From there, the iron play has been awesome and he is on the verge of going on a nice birdie run. He has multiple avenues to stay at the top of the leaderboard and it should be no problem to cash this bet.
Sepp Straka Top 10 (+210)
Straka sits at -2 after two rounds — 72-70 is a very steady and solid start. His stat profile is truly elite and it tells me he is ready to burst. Straka is striping the ball from tee to green but the putter is really holding his back. He has been hitting the ball so well for the last two months of the season, which tells me the golf swing is in auto pilot. By no means is the putter bad, it is just a matter of time before it really heats up.
Ball striking always prevails on a golf course like this, and it will be no different this time around. Straka should be a lock for a top 10 and it is a great number. If you want to dive in for more, I do not mind the top five at +700.
