PUMA Golf teams up with SI to get a behind the scenes look at one of their newest collabs between PUMA x Palm Tree Crew which were inspired by PGA Tour player, Rickie Fowler and world renowned DJ, Kygo. Between their friendships and bringing their two worlds together, the PUMA x PTC team brings fans golf and lifestyle products that promote a hustle hard but relax easy mentality. In true spirit, the teams debuted the product at this year’s WM Open which is known to be the biggest party on grass.
Gear up on the latest PUMA x Palm Tree Crew Collection HERE.
If you're a golf bettor like I am, wagering on the final round of this weekend's Memorial Tournament may seem like a fruitless effort. Do you really want to lay -450 odds on Scottie Scheffler to maintain his four-shot lead? Probably not.
I have good news for you. There are other ways to bet on the final round of a PGA Tour event. Consider placing a few matchup bets. Also known as "2-ball bets", these wagers are on a golfer to finish with a lower score than the golfer he's paired with.
Not only does it give us something to cheer for on Sunday, but it gives us a reason to watch some of the early tee times. I've locked in two for Sunday's round that I'll share for you in this article.
We took Nick Dunlap at +150 against Matt Fitzpatrick on Saturday and it was a sweat-free winner. I see no reason why we shouldn't go back to Dunlap again on Sunday. He has been quietly been playing some fantastic golf this tournament and I expect that to continue in the final round.
The 20-year-old is second to only Scottie Scheffler in strokes gained: approach this week, averaging +2.41 per round. He's also been hot with his putter, gaining +1.56 strokes on the green. If he can just straighten out his putter, he could go low in Round 4.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout has gained strokes in all four major areas, but he hasn't been extremely impressive in any. He lost strokes with his irons on Saturday which doesn't bode well for him heading into Sunday.
I absolutely love this bet at the +140 price tag.
We're going to fade Rory McIlroy in the final round as he tees it up with his fellow Irishman, Shane Lowry. Lowry gained +4.44 strokes with his approach play on Saturday, which was the second most of the round next to only Scheffler. Meanwhile, Rory had a tough day with his irons, losing -0.56 strokes.
This bet is simply trying to take advantage of two golfers who are trending in opposite directions. If Lowry can carry the momentum from Saturday into Sunday, he's going to be in a great spot to beat McIlroy.
With both of these bets being at plus money, we just need one to hit to walk away with a profit. If both win, we're laughing.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
We are three rounds into the Memorial Tournament and it looks like Scottie Scheffler is set to return to the winner's circle to capture his fifth win of the 2024 season.
Despite an ultra-rare triply bogey by Scheffler on the ninth hole, the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world still shot one-under par on the day to extend his lead on the field by one. If the live odds are any indication, the three golfers who are tied for second have little hope of catching him on the final day.
If you translate Scheffler's -450 live odds to implied probability, there's an 81.82% chance he wins the Memorial Tournament. Knowing Scheffler, those odds may be too long. It's tough to imagine a scenario where he coughs up his lead on Sunday.
Collin Morikawa (+1000), Sepp Straks (+1800), and Adam Hadwin (+2800) are the three golfers who sit four shots back of Scheffler at six-under par.
Xander Schauffele (+3000) and Ludvig Aberg (+4500) are the only other two golfers who have a remote chance of pulling it off. They both set at four-under par, six shots back from the Masters champion.
If you want to place a live bet on the Memorial Tournament but you don't want to go against Scheffler or lay the -450 juice on him to win, BetMGM is offering odds on "winner without Scheffler". Unless Scheffler lets the tournament slip from his hands, this will be a bet on which golfer finishes second.
If you want to get in on that market, I suggest Hadwin at +550 for a lot of the same reasons why I thought he was worth a sprinkle to win ahead of Round 3.
The Canadian has been showcasing elite ball striking so far this week, ranking third in strokes gained: approach through the first three rounds at +2.34 per round. His putter has caused him to fall behind Scheffler, but at a course like Muirfield Village, I want to take the guy who's had sharper irons than most of the field.
Pick: Hadwin (winner without Scheffler) +550
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
DUBLIN, Ohio – The PGA Tour said in a statement Saturday morning that its meeting with representatives of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia on Friday was a continuation of “accelerated’’ talks “where more progress was made.’’
A year ago this week, the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF entered into a “framework agreement’’ that has yet to be consummated as a way to bring unity to the men’s professional game.
The PGA Tour and LIV Golf League—which is funded by the PIF—are both playing events this weekend, the PGA Tour at the Memorial Tournament and LIV Golf in Houston.
Last month Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott were named to a “transaction committee’’ that is to deal directly with the PIF as part of a plan to get investment in the new PGA Enterprises.
The others on the committee are PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan; former Tour player and board liaison Joe Ogilvie; Joe Gorder, who is an executive with Valero and the chairman of PGA Tour Enterprises; and John Henry, a principal with Fenway Sports Group and part of the Strategic Sports Group, which earlier this year invested $1.5 billion in PGA Tour Enterprises.
The group met in New York on Friday with representatives of the PIF, including its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan. McIlroy, who is playing in the Memorial Tournament, participated via video conference.
“I certainly don’t see in the next couple of years LIV slowing down,’’ McIlroy said during an interview Thursday. “They’re buying office space in New York. They have over 200 employees. I don’t see a world where—and I haven’t heard any of those guys say that they don’t want to play over there either, right? You’ve got guys who are on contracts until 2028, 2029.
“Looking a few years down the line, LIV is going to continue to sort of keep going down its path. But hopefully with maybe more of a collaboration or an understanding between the tours. Maybe there is some cross pollenization there where players can start to play on both. I guess that will all be talked about it in the coming weeks.’’
McIlroy said the transaction committee has met a few times amongst themselves and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with representatives of the PIF for the last few weeks.
It’s been a year since the “framework agreement’ was announced, with no deal made and plenty of conjecture back and forth. The SSG commitment stalled talks with the PIF, but seemingly have resumed with plenty of ground to cover. This was the first time the transaction committee met in person with Al-Rumayyan.
“Representatives from the PGA Tour Enterprises Transaction Subcommittee and the PIF have been meeting multiple times weekly to work through potential deal terms and come to a shared vision on the future of professional golf,’’ the Tour said in a statement Saturday. “On Friday evening, an in-person session in New York City included the entire Transaction Subcommittee and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and his team, where more progress was made.
“We remain committed to these negotiations, which require working through complex considerations to best position golf for global growth. We want to get this right, and we are approaching discussions with careful consideration for our players, our fans, our partners and the game’s future.’’
The first two rounds of the Memorial Tournament are in the books. It's time to look ahead to the weekend.
If you want to find out the live odds to win ahead of Round 3, as well as a couple of golfers I'm aiming at, you can find those here.
In this article, we're talking about a few Round 3 matchup bets, otherwise known as 2-ball bets. These are one-round wagers on a golfer to finish Saturday's round with a lower score than their playing partner. Let's dive into it.
If you're looking for an underdog to bet on Saturday, there's none I love more than Nick Dunlap against Matt Fitzpatrick. Dunlap has been sharp with his irons through the first two rounds, gaining an average of +2.59 strokes per round with his approach play through the first two rounds, the fourth-best in the tournament.
Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick's irons continue to be a low point of his game. He's losing -0.24 strokes per round with them in this event. His short game has dragged him into the weekend but Dunlap's irons are a lot more sustainable.
At +150, Dunlap is absolutely worth a bet to get the job done.
Rory McIlroy -185 vs. Tony Finau Prediction
If you want to bet on Rory McIlroy but if you think Scottie Scheffler has this event in the bag, you can take McIlroy to finish with a lower score than his playing partner on Saturday, Tony Finau.
Both golfers enter the weekend at T7, but Finau hasn't been playing as well as his current standing may suggest. His success has come from strong play around the greens, gaining an average of +1.52 strokes per round around the greens, which is almost unheard of. Meanwhile, he's gaining just +0.78 per round with his approach and +0.21 per round with his putting.
McIlroy is playing a much more sustainable style of golf and his irons seem to be dialed in. -185 is a hefty price to pay, but he still holds plenty of great value against Finau on Saturday.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
We are halfway through the 2024 edition of the Memorial Tournament and low and behold, the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world, Scottie Scheffler, has a commanding lead heading into Saturday's Round 3.
He has a three-stroke lead at nine-under par after the second round. Viktor Hovland and Adam Hadwin are tied in second place at six-under par. Keegan Bradley and Christiaan Beuidenhout round out the top five, each at five under par.
If you haven't placed a bet on the event yet or if you want some more action heading into the weekend, you've come to the right place. Let's take a look at the live odds via DraftKings Sportsbook and then I'll break down two golfers you should consider betting on before the leaders tee off on Saturday.
Scottie Scheffler enters the weekend as the -190 favorite, which means he has an implied probability of 65.52% of capturing his fifth win of the 2024 calendar year.
Ludvig Aberg +2000
Ludvig Aberg is a driving and ball-striking machine, but that's been his weakness through the first two rounds. It's his short game that has helped him sit at four-under-par, good for solo sixth place ahead of Saturday's round. He has gained over a stroke per round both around the greens and on the greens so far in this event.
There are questions surrounding the health of his knee, which could be the cause of his ball-striking not being as sharp as we normally see it. If his knee holds up and he starts striking the ball on Saturday and Sunday as well as he can, he's one of the few people in the top 10 who have the firepower to catch Scheffler.
He's five strokes off the lead ahead of Round 3.
Adam Hadwin +2500
Adam Hadwin is T2 ahead of Round 3 but is still available at 25-1. The Canadian is an interesting golfer to handicap because he doesn't have any kind of consistent form, but when he randomly finds his game in a tournament, he contends. To illustrate that point, just consider the fact he has only finished inside the top 30 five times in 2024, but those five finishes were T14, T6, T4, T5, and solo 10th. When his game is on, it's on.
We could be seeing another example of that at the Memorial. He is second to only Scheffler in strokes gained: approach in this tournament, averaging +3.22 strokes per round with his irons heading into the weekend.
Don't underestimate the Canadian. He's worth a sprinkle at his current live odds.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
DUBLIN, Ohio — The last time Scottie Scheffler walked off a golf course feeling bad about the way he played was . . . well, he couldn’t quite remember on Friday.
Scheffler shot 73 that day at Valhalla Golf Club, the first time in 2024 that he failed to shoot par or better. Must be rough.
The second round of the Memorial Tournament was more of the same for Scheffler, who has been on an impressive roll that sees him near the top of leaderboards nearly every time he plays.
Scheffler birdied the 18th hole at Muirfield Village Golf Club to shoot 68, which followed a first-round 67, giving him a three-shot advantage through 36 holes at Jack Nicklaus’s tournament.
“I try to forget those days, and so I'm pretty fortunate right now that I can't really remember,’’ Scheffler said when asked about those rare tough days. “The only one I can really remember was Saturday at the PGA, but that was another caddie, so we'll blame him for that.’’
But the bottom line is there have been few poor outings for Scheffler all year. He’s won four times, including the Masters and the Players Championship. He finished second at two recent starts, including the Charles Schwab Challenge two weeks ago. His “worst’’ event in the last three months was the tie for eighth at the PGA Championship.
And now he’s leading a $20 million Signature Event.
“I think at this point you're almost expecting him to do those things, so it's almost like I can only do myself and can control what I can control,’’ said Ludvig Aberg, who played with Scheffler the first two rounds and is in sixth place, five shots back. “Obviously he's playing very, very good golf and it doesn't look very difficult when he's playing, but all I can do is try to keep up and make sure I'm not too far behind, I guess.’’
Scheffler is making it look easy, even if he disagrees.
“No, easy is definitely not the right word,’’ Scheffler said laughing. “I feel like what I love about this game is how difficult it is. I love coming out here and competing against the best players in the world on the best golf courses, and this is obviously a pretty challenging track. I really just love competing out here, and I don't really think about whether or not it's easy or hard, and some days I play good and some days I don't, and outside of that, I'm just out here trying to compete.
“Sometimes it feels really good and then sometimes it doesn't feel as good. I don't really know how to describe it other than that. I'm going to try not to really think about it much, to be honest with you.’’
Scheffler is three shots ahead of first-round leader Adam Hadwin, defending Memorial champion Viktor Hovland and four ahead of Keegan Bradley and Christiaan Bezuidenhout. Rory McIlroy is six shots back in a tie for seventh.
The tournament is one of three Signature Events—along with the Genesis Invitational and the Arnold Palmer Invitational—that has a 36-hole cut, which came at 148, 4-over par, with 51 players in the 73-player field advancing.
Among those who missed the cut were Jordan Spieth, defending U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay and Rickie Fowler, who shot 82 on Friday.
Scheffler has his fifth 36-hole lead of the year and is atop the field in strokes gained approach to the green and strokes gained tee to green. He’s trying to become the first player since Justin Thomas in 2017 to win five times in a season.
The Louisville Metro Police Department released a series of photos Friday depicting the aftermath of officer Bryan Gillis's encounter with golfer Scottie Scheffler outside of Valhalla Golf Club on May 17.
The photos featured a picture of Gillis's left knee, which was slightly scraped, a rip in the back of the officer's pants, and a small cut near his wrist.
Gillis also had a wrist injury. he said he didn't need EMS but another office said it was protocol. pic.twitter.com/PWPQCIugi7
On that morning of May 17, Scheffler was commuting to the golf course to prepare for the second round of the 2024 PGA Championship when he attempted to drive around traffic caused by a fatal accident. Cops at the scene—including Gillis—told Scheffler to pull over and arrested him.
Scheffler was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding traffic signals from an officer directing traffic. Scheffler said in a statement shortly after the incident that it was all a big misunderstanding, and on May 29, all charges against the golfer were dropped.
The police report filed on the day of the incident alleged that Scheffler refused to comply with an officer's request to stop and continued to drive forward, dragging Gillis to the ground. Gillis was taken to the hospital to treat minor injuries. The report also stated that Gillis's $80 pants were "damaged beyond repair."
After the charges were dropped last month, Gillis filed a statement and finished it off by referencing the pants.
"Yes, the department has us buying freaking $80 pants," Gillis wrote. "To those concerned, they were indeed ruined. But Scottie, it’s all good. I never would’ve guessed I’d have the most famous pair of pants in the country for a few weeks because of this. Take care and be safe.”
Scheffler finished tied for eighth place at the PGA Championship. He tied for second place the following weekend at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
DUBLIN, Ohio — Rory McIlroy considered heading to New York following the second round of the Memorial Tournament on Friday but will instead take part via video conference in the first in-person meeting of the PGA Tour’s transaction committee and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
Saying that players Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and himself will be more in the background because “this is big boy stuff,” McIlroy said it is about the PIF—which backs LIV Golf—and a possible investment in PGA Tour Enterprises and what that could mean for the future of the men’s professional game.
And as part of that, McIlroy believes that LIV Golf will continue to operate, regardless of how a deal might look.
“I certainly don’t see in the next couple of years LIV slowing down,” McIlroy told a small group of reporters following an opening-round 70 at Muirfield Village Golf Club. “They’re buying office space in New York. They have over 200 employees. I don’t see a world where—and I haven’t heard any of those guys say that they don’t want to play over there either, right? You’ve got guys who are on contracts until 2028, 2029.
“Looking a few years down the line, LIV is going to continue to sort of keep going down its path. But hopefully with maybe more of a collaboration or an understanding between the tours. Maybe there is some cross-pollenation there where players can start to play on both. I guess that will all be talked about in the coming weeks.”
McIlroy along with Woods and Scott were named last month to a “transaction committee” that is to deal directly with the PIF as part of a plan to get investment in the new PGA Enterprises and bring peace to the game.
The others on the committee are PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan; former Tour player and board liaison Joe Ogilvie; Joe Gorder, who is an executive with Valero Energy and the chairman of PGA Tour Enterprises; and John Henry, a principal with Fenway Sports Group and part of the Strategic Sports Group, which earlier this year invested $1.5 billion in PGA Tour Enterprises.
The group is meeting in New York on Friday afternoon with the PIF, including its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
McIlroy said the transaction committee has met a few times amongst themselves and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with representatives of the PIF for the last few weeks.
It’s been a year since the “framework agreement” was announced, with no deal made and plenty of conjecture back and forth. The SSG commitment stalled talks with the PIF, but seemingly have resumed with plenty of ground to cover.
“There’s going to be people in that room on the PGA Tour side who are going to take the lead,” McIlroy said. “And it’s not going to be Adam, Tiger or I. That’s going to be Jay, Joe Gorder, Joe Ogilvie, John Henry. It’s going to be the business guys. We’re there to maybe give a perspective from a player’s point of view.
“This is a negotiation about an investment in the PGA Tour Enterprises, this is big boy stuff. And I’ll certainly be doing more listening than I will be doing talking.”
McIlroy said it is unknown at this point what PIF’s role might be going forward.
“I think depending on what the DOJ (the U.S. Department of Justice) allows, it might have to be a very passive investment,” McIlroy said. “I don’t know what’s in their head. I don’t know if that is something that they are willing to do. We’ll find out.”
McIlroy added: “There’s a lot of stuff that goes beyond my knowledge and expertise in terms of the investment side of things. And certainly the regulatory side of things as well. We’re on this transaction committee to sort of give a perspective from a player. But that’s going to be a conversation between SSG and the executives of the Tour.”
Asked if he believes the PIF—which was attempting to get into golf long before LIV Golf was launched—is looking at PGA Tour Enterprises as something aside from its LIV investment, McIlroy said:
“First and foremost, Yasir is the governor of the PIF and the chairman of Aramco (Saudi Arabia’s lucrative oil company). Those are the two titles that he holds. His biggest thing is making returns on his investments and to do good by the Kingdom. That’s his whole purpose in what he is doing. If he thinks that investing in PGA Tour Enterprises is a good investment and he can make return on his money and also get a seat at the table, as it were, he may see that as a win.”
McIlroy noted that collaboration going forward is tricky. The DOJ rejected original language in the framework agreement which said LIV Golf could not poach players from the PGA Tour. “It was anti-competitive; antitrust,” McIlroy said.
That, and so many other things, make for a complicated situation, he said.
“My stance on some of the LIV stuff has softened,” McIlroy said. “They’re contracted to play 14 events, but the other 38 weeks of the year you’re free to do what you want.
“The only thing is there are so many tours and so many golf tournaments. There are only a certain amount of weeks in the year. That’s the complicated part. Trying to figure out which tournaments go where, when do we play them, how many players, what players.”
DUBLIN, Ohio — There should be plenty of good memories to draw on, especially what was perhaps the biggest victory of his career. But Billy Horschel’s mind drifted elsewhere Thursday and it’s been on his mind all week at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
Despite winning the Memorial Tournament here in 2022, Horschel thought only of the 84 he shot in the opening round a year ago, a day that he said had him at the lowest point of his career.
Playing as the defending champion, Horschel said he was hitting shots from places he couldn’t believe, lost in the abyss of a swing change—and later, he learned, an equipment issue—that saw him part of an emotional, tearful news conference afterward.
“My confidence is the lowest it’s been in my entire career,” he said that day.
Things were much better during this opening round as Horschel shot a 3-under-par 69 at the Memorial Tournament, where Adam Hadwin led with 66 and No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffer was a shot back after a 65. Reigning PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele shot 68.
“Every hole I played this week, I’ve been thinking, God, how bad I played that hole on Thursday last year,” Horschel said. “The last couple of days I’ve been thinking about it and even today, I was nervous waking up because obviously I’ve won here and I’ve played fairly well here in previous years.
“But that 84 still lingers a little bit. It’s that one little thing I needed to get over. And to play well today, hit quality golf shots and hopefully get over the hump of what happened here last year. There’s a little scar tissue from last year. Hopefully I got over that today.”
Horschel began the process of building back after that interview. He received an outpouring of support from fans and fellow players, and the low point became a turning point.
He dropped outside of the top 90 in the Official World Golf Ranking earlier this year then returned to winning ways by capturing the Corales Puntacana Championship, an opposite-field event that was played the same week as the RBC Heritage.
It was his eighth PGA Tour victory and first since capturing the Memorial in 2002.
“I think any tournament you win, when you come back, you want to have a respectable showing,” Horschel, 37, said. “Obviously the goal is to win, but you want to have a respectable showing as defending champ. Coming in, I had played some really bad golf. I had hit golf shots that I just haven't hit in my entire PGA Tour career. So that was fresh in my mind and that was a concern coming here. It was just sort of the tipping point.
“Shooting 84 when you're defending champ, it was sort of the lowest of the low points for me, and then from there, I can start moving on, and as I've said since, I had talked to my team about where my confidence was coming into this event last year, but to sort of share how—where my confidence was and share how vulnerable I was, just impromptu, after being asked a question, I think that next morning I woke up and I felt relief, just sort of getting it off my chest and everything, and then from there, I could sort of start moving forward again.”
The day was rough. Horschel made no birdies, six bogeys and three doubles. He had been struggling with his swing for months and it all went horribly bad that day.
The impromptu session with reporters actually helped him turn things around but not before he also discovered an equipment issue that he and his coach, Todd Anderson, had missed.
Horschel had testing done that showed the lie angle of his irons were as much as 3 degrees too upright, which caused his shots to go left. That’s why the cut he kept trying to hit wasn’t working. The work that he had been doing on his swing seemed so good and yet the ball wasn’t going where it was supposed to go. And now he had some answers.
“Then it was just some of the emotional side,” he said. “It was like saying, hey, I've played some really bad golf this year and I've hit some shots that I'm not accustomed to and where I've been over the last 10 years on the PGA Tour, I'm not where I want to be. I don't feel like I'm anywhere close to that.
“It really came down to the lie angles, and then once that got figured out right before the U.S. Open, it was more or less just getting rid of all the scar tissue, getting rid of all the bad shots that I had hit from January to early June and replacing those with quality shots and believing that we can swing a club again.”
It took some time, but Horschel had a fourth-place finish in August at the Wyndham Championship. That wasn’t good enough to get into the 70-player FedEx Cup playoffs—but Horschel played three times on the DP World Tour.
He did struggle with three missed cuts earlier this year before finding some form prior to his victory. That win helped him get a start at the Wells Fargo Championship via FedEx Cup points. He got into the Memorial on a sponsor’s exemption because he was not otherwise eligible for the signature event.
But Horschel has played well enough to get into next week’s U.S. Open via FedEx points and he’s in a good spot on the leaderboard here—and in a far better place both literally and figuratively than a year ago. He had five birdies and two bogeys in his opening round.
“I think I'm in a good position with three rounds to go,” he said. “Hopefully, I can just focus on hitting quality golf shots, be positive out there on every shot. As you guys know, this course requires a lot of precision. When the wind's blowing, it's even tougher.
“I never want to get too far out in front of my skis, but I think I'm in a really good spot where I am mentally and physically to continue to push forward to this weekend and see (if I can) do something special again.”
