As the U.S. Open approaches next week, golf fans turn their attention to one of the most exciting tournaments of the PGA Tour season this weekend: the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio.
This is the ninth signature event of the PGA Tour season, and it poses an incredible challenge for players of all caliber. The field is absolutely loaded, which means some golfers with the upside to win have longer outright odds than normal this week.
With Bentgrass greens and punishing rough all over the course, there's a premium on accuracy off the tee, approach shots and recovering from disaster at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Consequently, all three longshots this week are accurate off the tee, gain strokes on approach and are comfortable scrambling from the rough. The field includes 72 players this week, and some of the very best in the world will be teeing it up.
Let's take a look at my 2024 Memorial Tournament Sleeper Picks & Longshots below who have a chance to shock the golf world at Jack's place.
2024 Memorial Tournament Sleeper Picks & Longshots
Sepp Straka 65-1 (DraftKings)
At 65-1, we are stretching the definition of a longshot this week, but Sepp Straka is by far my favorite value on the board, which will qualify him as a sleeper at the Memorial Tournament.
Straka is absolutely dialed in over his last few starts. Any way you slice it, he is playing fantastic golf with five top-20 finishes in his last six starts. He has finished in a tie for 10th or better in three of his last four individual events, including a tie for fifth in his last start at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
The Austrian is playing the best golf of his career, and this price is simply too generous to pass up.
He grades out well in all the key categories for Muirfield Village, the most important being accuracy off the tee. Straka ranks second on the entire PGA Tour this season in Driving Accuracy, so he should thrive this week.
He also ranks above average in both Scrambling and Strokes Gained: Approach the Green. Golfers must find greens in regulation to win here, but even if he finds himself in a challenging spot, Straka will be comfortable trying to get up and down from disaster.
Expect his brilliant form to continue, and this is the best sleeper value on the board this week.
Justin Rose 110-1 (bet365)
Justin Rose won the Memorial back in 2010 and has a great track record since then as well. He finished 13th in 2019, sixth in 2018 and second in 2015. He has consistently hovered near the top of the leaderboard here but has not played at Muirfield Village since 2020.
This season, Rose has been far from his best but has been trending lately with a tie for sixth two starts ago at the PGA Championship. He also is coming off of his two best weeks of approach play in his last two starts at Valhalla and Colonial.
More importantly, Rose ranks well in all of the key stat categories this week. He is above average in finding the fairway and recovering from poor spots because he ranks 39th in Driving Accuracy this season, 36th in Scrambling and 25th in Scrambling from the Rough. Whether his in prime position or not, he will be able to attack this week.
Rose is a veteran at this event with a phenomenal track record. Out of every player in the field this week, Rose is 10th best in Total Strokes Gained at Muirfield Village. At 110-1, he is worth a longshot outright bet.
Victor Perez 200-1 (bet365)
Victor Perez finished third at the RBC Canadian Open this past weekend, which tied his best result of the season. He also tied for third at the Puerto Rico Open earlier in the season in an opposite-field event.
Perez was dialed in at Hamilton Golf & Country Club this past weekend and even showed a flare for the spectacular late on Sunday when he made a charge by hitting heroic shots and pouring in clutch putts.
At 200-1, there are only 10 players in the field this week with longer odds, and none of them are even close to the form that Perez showed last week in Canada.
Perez, like Rose and Straka, grades out well in our key stat categories this week. He is 13th on Tour in GIR%, meaning he nearly always finds greens in regulation.
He ranks 23rd in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green, and if he can find fairways this week, he should be able to hunt birdie opportunities in a way that most others will not.
Finally, he ranks 54th in Scrambling from Rough this season. He will have a shot to save himself from disaster if he is out of position. At 200-1, this is nearly double the price that I'd be willing to bet Perez after his strong showing this past weekend.
