2022 The Memorial Tournament DFS Strategy and Picks

With a star-studded field teeing off at “Jack’s Place”, one of the more challenging courses that golfers will face all year, there is a viable path to a “Stars and Scrubs” approach this week. The upper-tier is loaded and, based on course history, it is very hard to dismiss any of them. Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa each have stellar track records here while both Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele have also had past success in Dublin and are also in great current form.

The $9k range down into the upper $8k range is also loaded with high-upside players. Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama, Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young and the player that tops my model this week, Shane Lowry, are all excellent choices this week. With so many viable players on top, ownership should be very spread out. Other than a few players approaching 20% that indeed appears to be the case.

With this event being an “Invitational” and only a 120-man field, a higher percentage of lineups will once again make it through the cut-line. That, along with mostly world-class players winning this event, is the biggest reason pushing me towards the “Stars and Scrubs” approach this week. Golfers like Aaron Wise ($7.5K), Tom Hoge ($7.4K), Rickie Fowler ($7.2K), Brendan Steele ($6.6K) and even Danny Willett ($6.2K) are some of the excellent value plays to matchup with the more expensive options. Muirfield Village has always had a “major” feel to it thanks to the strength of the field and the tough “U.S. Open” type conditions. With the exception of a three-year stretch from 2015-2017, it has been the elite talents in the game that have won this event.

That being said, there is a ton of win equity in the mid-range as well. Between Fitzpatrick, Lowry, Max Homa, Daniel Berger, and Joaquin Niemann a balanced build could be the way to go in single entry and 3-max type of tournaments.

For my core this week, I am jumping all over Morikawa and his sub-12% ownership. With Lowry sucking up over 20% ownership, I love taking Fitzpatrick for $100 more. I believe he is on the verge of winning and has enormous value at only $9.1K. I’ll round out my core with Joaquin Niemann who is one of the most consistent and complete players in the field.

Keys to Success

Coming on the heels of the Schwab Challenge last week and the PGA Championship two weeks ago, the Memorial has a common theme with both – that being the importance of the approach game into these ultra-firm, smaller-than-average greens. I know it sounds like it gets repeated for almost every event, but this week Strokes Gained Approach really matters. Muirfield Village is the 5th toughest course on Tour to gain strokes in that area. And because greens in regulation are only hit at a 58% clip, plenty of approaches end up in the 4-inch rough. Scrambling is only successful on these greens 53% of the time making it the 2nd toughest course to gain around the green. These are the two metrics I have focused on with my player selection as ball-strikers and short game wizards have contended with high frequency on past leaderboards.