The Memorial Tournament, Muirfield Village, Dublin, Ohio

With Steve Stricker winning last years tournament, and me a nice little earner from it, i am trying to pick the winner again this year. Stricker was one of my regular picks last year and although ive dropped him to pick Kuchar and Mahan this year i do think he has a good chance of retaining his title. Matt Kuchar dosnt play here this week and thats a shame as he has a great record here and i would have no problem backing him. Hunter is struggling after his early season wins and im going give him a miss for this one...

The course is a Jack Nicolas design and although that dosnt mean its the hardest it certainly means you have to think your way around. The big hitters are not certain of getting up to the green in two as the course is set up more for placement than brutality. Also the greens arnt the hardest to score on with the last 3 years all taking -16, -18 and -12 to win here. What is needed is fairways hit as the course still ranks 19th hardest on the tour in terms of difficulty, so accuracy is probably what is needed most. A longish course at 7,265 but its got its well positioned bunkers and dog legs to stop the monster hitters scoring heavily on the reachable par 4's and blitzing the par 5's...

So Luke Donald is fav at 9/1 followed by Woods 14/1 with Rory also a 14/1 shot, but i dont think any of these will win here this week. Woods and Rory are woefully out of form and Donald only got back to the states after his win over here and i dont like the coming and going of cross sea trips on the players. Not many win after doing so... Of the others Micky has a chance, but dosnt he always, but at 16/1 i am giving him a miss...

So to some of the longer odds ones and the my picks ive gone with Jim Furyk, Bo Van Pelt, Ryan Moore and Mark Wilson.

Furyk a past winner and runner up in 2009 came back last week with a 4th place and although well behind the top 2 it was his first tournament back after a mini break and he may well be back to his match sharpness with that run out...

Bo Van Pelt is one that ive been watching and wondering when his time will pop up and that ive backed him, it could be this one. Ranks 5th on tour for greens hit and his 3rd in 2010 is enough for me to think he knows his way around here...

Ryan Moore has a good record around here with 3 top 10's and 3 top 20's in his last 6 appearances. His putting is good at the moment and paired with his good driving accuracy must have a chance...

Mark Wilson is a real long shot but a 3rd place finish in 2009 with a T7th last year gives me hope that he can get into that top 6 minimum. Ranks 9th on the tour for driving accuracy and is having one of his better seasons currently number 36th in the world...


J. Furyk @ 25/1...
Bo Van Pelt @ 35/1...
R. Moore @ 50/1...
M. Wilson @ 125/1...

All £2.50 e/w...

PadPow pays out 1/4 odds for top 6... Good luck if you play this week...

 

Hey Red

Goodluck with your picks.

I wont bother with much of a write up but i have gone for

Tiger Woods @ 14/1 - A course he does well on, surely only a matter of time before he finds his feet (and form) again
Geoff Ogilvy @ 55/1 - A regular pick of mine this season, still to get any return from him...maybe this week?
Rickie Fowler @ 18/1 - Been playing exceptional, hope he can continue here
Justin Rose @ 16/1 - Won this before and hoping he can do so again

I realise mine are pretty short prices but come the final round i would hope to have something to cheer on

Goodluck all!

 

My 4 picks, after studying racing post Byrd , Huh ,English and Osthuizen

 

Leaderboard after the 1st round...

Leader - S. Stallings -6.... WHO...??? didnt see that name being the 1st day leader...

R. Moore -2........... red
M. Wilson -2.......... red
T. Woods -2.......... smokin
G. Ogilvy -1........... smokin
R. Fowler -1.......... smokin
J. Byrd -1............. harry
J. Huh -1.............. harry
H. English -1......... harry
J. Furyk E............. red
B.Van Pelt +1........ red
J. Rsoe +1............ smokin
L. Oosthuizen +3... harry

Absolutely all to play for with a load of players stacked up behind a bit of a unknown on the tour in Scott Stallings. I can't see him lasting the pace as he has missed his last 5 cuts but there are some good players and past winners just waiting to pounce... Brewing up nicely...

 

Big Phil withdraws from the comp after shooting his worst ever score at Muirfield, +7...!!!


That would have been hard for him as he is a very proud golfer... but being +7 over prob made it a easy choice...

 

Leaderboard after the 2nd round...

Leader - R. Sabatini -6... Where have you been for all this time...!!!

T. Woods -5 ........... smokin
J. Furyk -4 ............. red
J. Byrd -3 .............. harry
B.V. Pelt -2 ............ red
R. Fowler -2 .......... smokin
R. Moore -1 ........... red
J. Huh +1 .............. harry
J. Rose +1 ............ smokin
G. Ogilvy +2 .......... smokin
M. Wilson +2 ......... red
Missed cut....
L. Oosthuizen +11... harry

So Tigger is back to some sort of form, and good to see to. The only thing is that if you do watch the golf this weekend you will see every shot that Tigger plays and nowt of anybody else... Thats the good ole US broadcasters for yer... Shame as this may well turn out to have loads of twists n turns towards a great finish but the cameras will all be on Woods...

All to play for ant a lot of golfers still in the hunt...

 

Hmm, interesting day's golf for Sunday eve now, Levin will do well to stay at the top , Sabbatini can explode anytime, Woods' form has been patchy and Fowler can definatly produce another good round so it's gonna be a close 1 i think. I'll go for the Tiger to claw his way to victory in a play-off with Sabbatini..it's written in the stars isn't it!?

 

Leaderboard after the 3rd round...

Leader - S. Levin -8... Third leader in 3 days but can he hang on...

R. Fowler -5 ............ smokin
T. Woods -4 ........... smokin
J. Byrd -3 ............... harry
R. Moore -2 ............ red
J. Furyk -1 ............. red
J. Rose E ................ smokin
B.V. Pelt +1 ............ red
J. Huh +5 ............... harry
G. Ogilvy +8 ........... smokin
M. Wilson +10 ......... red

With only a few of the top 10 players knowing how to finish off a big tournament win it is going to be interesting watching to see if Levin can hold on or which player will make the early move to get to the top leaderboard... Very much all to play for this sunday...

 

i have a few quid each way on Fowler and Woods ( as stated earlier in this thread!)

i'm probably going to have egg on my face in 12/14 hours time but i am really confident one of these can grab first. Spencer Levin started to rock a little towards the end of his round, and lets not forget on another day some of his chip ins woulda flew past the hole. The biggest threat is Rory S, but again he is prone to errors at costly times.

Even though i would make more from Rickie, (both 2.50 ew at 14s and 18s) i would love to see Tiger win.

A couple of 2 ball accumeys i have are

Sabbatini, Woods , Ishikawa (£4)
Singh, Moore, Reifers, Summerhays (£3)

Goodluck to all who play today!

 

Tiger wins, and the 2 ball comes in as well

Great stuff!!

2nd shot on the 16th was the best ive seen. I think he is back!

 

Nice bet Smokin. Great shot, 1st shot in a long time made the hairs on my neck stand up, delighted to see Woods win.

 

Final scores....

Winner - T. Woods -9........ smokin
J. Byrd -4 ....................... harry
J. Rose -3 ....................... smokin
B.V. Pelt -1 ..................... red
J. Furyk +1 ..................... red
J. Huh +2 ....................... harry
R. Moore +4 .................... red
R. Fowler +7 ................... smokin
G. Ogilvy +9 ................... smokin
M. Wilson +11 ................. red

Well done the Tigger, good to see him back to almost his best... Congratulations Smokin for picking him out...