the Memorial Tournament
Course: Muirfield Village Golf Club (7,569 yards, par 72)
Purse: $20,000,000
Winner: $4,000,000 and 700 FedExCup Points
Tournament Preview
2026 marks the 50th edition of the Memorial Tournament, all of which have been hosted at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Even before the start of the Signature Event era, everyone knew that the Memorial Tournament was without question one of the premier events on the PGA Tour schedule. It always had an incredible field where the top talents in the game can showcase their skills on one of the most demanding courses out there.
That will be no different in 2026 as 72 elite players ascend on Dublin, Ohio to try and win at the home of Jack Nicklaus. Believe it or not, this is the first non-major that both World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and World No. 2 Rory McIlroy have teed it up in together since THE PLAYERS Championship. That is a whole other issue in itself, mostly to do with an overcrowded PGA Tour schedule this year. Nevertheless, these Signature Events were designed to get all the best players to compete against each other more often. Safe to say that hasn't been the case of late. After this week there will only be one more Signature Event this season; the Travelers Championship (June 25-28).
Scheffler will be looking to become the first player to win the same PGA Tour event in three straight years since Steve Stricker from 2009-11. Scheffler previously had chances at this feat at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open and the 2025 PLAYERS Championship but failed to make it a three-peat. It'll be quite the challenge doing it against this stellar field that features nine of the top 10 players in the OWGR, the lone exception being Collin Morikawa. World No. 2 Rory McIlroy won The Masters this year, World No. 3 Cameron Young has a PLAYERS Championship and Signature Event title, World No. 4 Matt Fitzpatrick has three PGA Tour wins this year and World No. 5 Russell Henley won last week at Colonial.
The Memorial really marks the end of the PGA Championship hangover and the start of the run up to the U.S. Open. Many top players elected to skip the last two tournaments in the Dallas-Fort Worth area but will tee it up this week in Ohio, including your winner at Aronimink, Aaron Rai. The Englishman was previously committed to both Texas events, but understandably took some time off to celebrate and digest the gravity of his win at the PGA Championship. After the final putt on Sunday drops, some players in this field along with the majority of the PGA Tour membership will be competing in U.S. Open final qualifying on Monday in "Golf's Longest Day". After that, many will be in the field at the RBC Canadian Open, a national open before the biggest national open there is in the U.S. Open to be held at historic Shinnecock Hills.
The weather for much of the U.S. over the last couple weeks has been hit or miss, but this week in Dublin, Ohio things look pretty promising. We should see a very firm test right away with no precipitation this week expected until Saturday and Sunday where some scattered thunderstorms could be in the area. Wind should be pretty minimal, especially in Thursday's first round, but this course is tough enough in perfect conditions. Scheffler is the only player in the last three years at the Memorial Tournament to shoot better than seven-under-par over 72 holes.
Recent Champions
2025 - Scottie Scheffler (-10)
2024 - Scottie Scheffler (-8)
2023 - Viktor Hovland (-7)
2022 - Billy Horschel (-13)
2021 - Patrick Cantlay (-13)
2020 - Jon Rahm (-9)
2019 - Patrick Cantlay (-19)
2018 - Bryson DeChambeau (-15)
2017 - Jason Dufner (-13)
2016 - William McGirt (-15)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage/Proximity 175-225 Yards
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Total Driving
- SG: Around-the-Green/Scrambling/Bogey Avoidance
- Par-5 Scoring
Champion's Profile
Muirfield Village is one of the top ball-striking tests on the PGA Tour. You simply cannot fake it around this course and get away with it. Great shots will be rewarded, while mediocre and poor shots will be punished. A ton of separation can be created on this course through ball striking, and in particular elite iron play. Last year en route to victory Scheffler ranked second in both SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Approach. He was also T2 in GIR's. Second-place finisher Ben Griffin and third-place finisher Sepp Straka both ranked inside the top 5 for the week in SG: Off-the-Tee and GIR's as well. In 2024 Scheffler won this tournament behind one of the most dominant approach play performances we've ever seen, as he gained nearly 13 strokes with his irons while also leading in GIR's. Second-place finisher that year Morikawa was also top-5 in SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Approach.
Because of the difficulty at this course from tee to green, there is going to be a lot of scrambling opportunities meaning the top short game players should be able to gain strokes. Last year Scheffler ranked third in SG: Around-the-Green and led in scrambling for the week. There's not really a consistent type of shot players will face if they miss a green as Muirfield Village features deep green-side bunkers, shortgrass collection areas and very thick rough around the greens. Bogey avoidance in general would be a pretty important stat to consider, especially if we get a really firm and fast test like it appears we will.
Lastly, par-5 scoring will be a key factor to deciding this tournament. There are four par-5s on this course that should be reachable by pretty much every player in the field. Players will need to take advantage of those holes because the par-3s and par-4s on this golf course are very tough to score on.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Scottie Scheffler ($13,800)
This isn't the most expensive we have seen Scheffler this season, and you wouldn't expect that with this being a Signature Event. Nevertheless, he's still $2,100 clear of the second choice on the board, but it's hard to say that's not worth it. Scheffler was miles clear of any other player in the model I created this week and he hasn't finished worse than solo third at Muirfield Village in his last four starts. Scheffler has also finished third-or-better in four of his last five starts overall.
Ludvig Aberg ($11,400)
Aberg was second in my model this week due to his stellar ball striking numbers. Aberg is No. 1 on Tour in approach proximity from outside 200 yards, which could be a big separator this week on a firm course with lots of mid-to-long irons. The Swede is second only to Scheffler in SG: Ball Striking over the last six months. Aberg is on a stretch of nine straight events in which he has finished in the top 25. Five of those were top-5 finishes. That first win of 2026 is coming and Muirfield Village is a great course for him to do so, as he has finished T5 and T16 in two career starts.
Matt Fitzpatrick ($11,100)
Young, Si Woo Kim, McIlroy and Fitzpatrick were all in contention for this spot, but I'm going to go with the Englishman. He leads all players in the field in SG: Approach this season and is also eighth on the PGA Tour in SG: Around-the-Green. Add in that Fitzpatrick ranks top 10 in bogey avoidance, par-5 scoring and total driving. He checks all the boxes we are looking for and should have a great opportunity for his fourth win of the season. Fitz has three career top-10s at Muirfield Village.
The Middle Tier
Adam Scott ($9,600)
Scott I think could get overlooked this week after he missed the cut at the PGA Championship. Prior to that he had logged seven top-25s in nine starts. Scott profiles very well this year for Muirfield Village as he ranks second among players in this field in SG: Approach, eighth in GIR percentage, third in proximity from 150-200 yards, fourth in proximity from 200+ yards and ninth in SG: Ball Striking. We are still waiting for the putter to heat up, but he has gained strokes on the greens at the Memorial in 10-of-15 starts. Scott has connected for seven top-20 finishes in that stretch.
Alex Smalley ($9,200)
Another week, another tournament where Smalley is underpriced. He is coming off a T3 last week at Colonial which followed that runner-up at the PGA Championship. Smalley hasn't finished outside the top 25 in his last seven starts. He is gaining the sixth-most strokes total of any player in this field over the last three months behind some very stellar iron player and a hot putter as well. There isn't much history at Muirfield Village to speak of for Smalley, but he's obviously playing the best golf of his career right now.
Sepp Straka ($8,800)
Not many have been better than Straka at Muirfield Village recently, as he's gone T16-T5-3rd the last three years. He profiles beautifully for this kind of test ranking top 10 in this field in SG: Approach, Prox. 150-200 and Prox 200+. Straka certainly isn't the longest hitter, but he does find the short grass a lot, which will be important given how thick this rough is. He's had an up-and-down season, but does have five top-15 finishes already in 2026.
The Long Shots
Nick Taylor ($7,800)
Taylor has played well recently on difficult setups going T9 at Doral, T14 at Quail Hollow and then T26 at Aronimink. The latter Taylor should have finished much higher but nevertheless, his game appears built for this tough courses. Taylor is a pretty accurate driver, but his combination of iron play and short game is what does it for me. The Canadian finished solo fourth at the Memorial last year.
Ryo Hisatsune ($7,700)
Hisatsune is a player I have leaned on in DFS a lot this year. Part of that is his reliability, like the fact he has made his last 15 cuts on the PGA Tour with six top-20s thrown in during that stretch. The ball striking numbers make him an excellent fit for Muirfield Village as he is top-40 on Tour in SG: Off-the-Tee, total driving, SG: Approach, GIR percentage and proximity. Hisatsune has shown the ability to pop at times with the putter, and if he does that this week he should finish top-10.
Alex Fitzpatrick ($7,500)
Why not put both Fitzpatrick brothers on the pick sheet? Alex has been playing extremely well this year with nine top-25 finishes already along with those two victories. The 27-year-old also nearly won at Quail Hollow, which is usually a pretty good course comparison for Muirfield Village. Fitzpatrick ranks 12th among players in this field in SG: Ball Striking and should be able to use that to his advantage.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
With this being one of the three player hosted Signature Events, we will see a 36-hole cut this week. The cut will be Top 50 and ties, or anyone within 10 shots of the lead after two rounds. Not many will be heading home Friday night, so this would be a very painful weekend to miss for both PGA Tour players and DFS players.
The one thing I do really like about Signature Events is that even the players in the $7K range are going to be very strong options, as evidence by the fact that I have three of them listed above. That will certainly give DFS players plenty of options about how they want to construct lineups. You can quite easily lock in three players from the $11K range and still have plenty of choices in the $7K-$8K range to work with. Other players not mentioned above who really popped in my model this week are J.J. Spaun ($9,800), Jordan Spieth ($9,700), Nicolai Hojgaard ($9,300) and Kurt Kitayama ($8,900).
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