Jack Nicklaus helped kick off the 2024 Masters tournament as one of the former champions selected to take an honorary tee shot ahead of the first tee time. It turns out he wasn’t satisifed with merely one swing at Augusta.
The golf legend spoke to reporters in Dublin, Oh. this week ahead of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village and revealed he stuck around Augusta after Scottie Scheffler won to play a few rounds. Nicklaus said he played three times and shot an 88, 90, and 91. He gave a good quote about it, too. Per Golfweek’s Todd Kelly:
“I shot 88, 90 and 91. That’s a 269 for three rounds, which is a pretty good four-round score,” he said. “That’s what I play anymore. They don’t have any forward tees at Augusta. I can’t play 6,400 yards. I hit the ball 190 yards anymore, if I kill it. I played once last year, once the year before, and I’ve played four times this year already.”
Not too shabby for an 84-year-old to break 90 in tournament conditions at one of the hardest courses in professional golf. And it’s hard to imagine there aren’t too many folks of a similar age still able to pipe it nearly 200 yards down the middle off the tee. Not to mention having the skill required to break 100 at Augusta in April, something great amateur golfers 50 years younger than Nicklaus struggle with.
The U.S. Women's Open is set to begin Thursday at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania.
As expected, Nelly Korda is a massive favorite to win her second Major of the year after having won five of her last six starts. If you want my best bets to win this weekend, you can find my full betting preview here.
In this article, we're going to focus on the opening round. If you don't have the patience to wait for all four rounds to see if your bet is going to win, consider betting on the "First Round Leader" market. It gives us something to cheer for on Thursday so can make the opening round more exciting.
Let's take a look at the first round leader odds and then I'll break down my best bet.
When targeting a golfer to lead after the first round, we want someone who can rack up birdies in a hurry who maybe we don't trust to do it all four rounds. Minjee Lee fits that description perfectly. She leads the LPGA in strokes gained approach (+1.69) but her short game is bound to let her down at some point during the tournament, which keeps her from the winner's circle.
Lee has also had her best stuff in the opening round this season. She's seventh on the LPGA in total strokes gained in Round 1.
Finally, she has historically excelled at the U.S. Open. She won this event in 2022 and finished T13 at the U.S. Open last season.
I'll back her to be the first round leader at 35-1.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Robert MacIntyre was victorious North of the Border and now the PGA Tour heads to Muirfield Village for the penultimate signature event of the season, the Memorial Tournament.
The top golfers on the PGA Tour will be competing this week in preparation for next week's U.S. Open, meaning the No. 1 golfer in the world, Scottie Scheffler, is back in the field and understandably set as the significant favorite.
Let's dive into everything you need to know to bet on this event, including my best bets.
Scottie Scheffler: The No. 1-ranked golfer in the world returns to action this week after finishing T2 at the Charles Schwab Challenge two weeks ago. He has yet to win the Memorial Tournament but finished third at this event the last two times he's played here. If he even brings his "B" game, he's going to win.
Viktor Hovland: The defending champion is going to be in an interesting spot this week. Not only is he heading to a course where he'll feel comfortable, but he's coming off a solo third at the PGA Championship, his best finish of the season. If he can bring that momentum into this week, he has a chance to go back-to-back in Muirfield Village.
Memorial Tournament best bets
Corey Conners +5500
Corey Conners made a run at last week's RBC Canadian Open, finishing solo sixth. He's quietly been playing some good golf, finishing T13 or better in three of his last four starts along with a T26 finish at the PGA Championship. In his last three starts, he has been striking the ball better than almost anyone else on Tour, gaining at least +1.13 true strokes per round with his irons.
The most notable change has been his putting. Conners gained +1.73 strokes putting per round last week, one of the best putting performances of his career. If he finally figured something out on the greens, he's going to get his third PGA Tour win sooner rather than later.
As a cherry on top, he finished 13th here in 2022, so he's proven he can play well at Muirfield. He's my favorite bet on the board this week at 55-1 odds.
Tom Kim +7000
Tom Kim has had a down season, but now might be the time to invest. He has improved in each of his last five starts going T52, T47, T26, T24, and then T4 at last week's RBC Canadian Open. Last week was by far his best performance of the season so if you want big odds on a guy whose game has consistently trended in the right direction, Kim could be your guy.
Some times you just have to take a shot on a golfer with long odds who's a horse for a course. Billy Horschel won this event in 2022 and has two other two other top-10 finishes here over the past decade in 2020 and 2019.
He has also been statistically much better this season than he's been getting credit for, ranking 11th in total strokes gained heading into this week. Also, at a difficult course like Muirfield, it doesn't hurt to bet on a guy who's 16th in scrambling percentage and 11th in bogey avoidance.
He's worth a bet this week at 80-1.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
If you don't have the patience to wait for all four rounds of a PGA Tour event to conclude to find out if you've won your bet, or if you just want to make watching the first round more exciting, than betting on who will be the first-round leader may be the move for you.
You can find my favorite full-tournament outright picks in my betting preview here, but in this article, we're going to focus on who's going to be leading after Thursday's opening round.
Collin Morikawa has been trending in the right direction lately, finishing T4 at the PGA Championship and then solo fourth at the Charles Schwab Challenge where he gained strokes in all four major areas. He struggled through February and March but now it seems like not only are his irons back in form, but his short game has been great as well. He has gained strokes on the greens in four of his last five starts in individual stroke play events.
Morikawa has also had plenty of success at Muirfield Village. He won the Workday Charity Open here in 2020 when the course hosted back-to-back events due to the COVID-19 schedule and then followed it up with a solo second finish here in 2021.
If we're going to bet on anyone to be the first-round leader, we need to look to see how they have scored in opening rounds this season and Morikawa passes that test with flying colors. Only Scottie Scheffler has a better Round 1 scoring average than Morikawa, who has an average opening round score of 68.08. That's by far his best average score amongst all four rounds.
He's averaging a score of 70.50 in Round 2, 69.70 in Round 3, and 71.00 in Round 4. That paints the clear picture that if you want to bet on the 27-year old, the time to do it is on Thursdays.
Pick: Collin Morikawa First Round Leader +1600
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
