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.
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Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
Last week: Jake Knapp won the Mexico Open at Vidanta.
Notes: The tournament again leads off the Florida swing under a new name. Cognizant takes over as title sponsor of what previously was the Honda Classic. ... Rory McIlroy is playing to beef up his pre-Masters schedule. He last played the tournament in 2018. ... Six of the seven winners on the PGA Tour this year were outside the top 50 in the world ranking. The exception was Wyndham Clark, No. 10 when he won at Pebble Beach. ... This is the last tournament for the leading top 10 in the FedEx Cup and the leading five players in “swing category” to earn a spot in Bay Hill next week. ... Since turning pro after winning The American Express, U.S. Amateur champion Nick Dunlap finished in last place at Pebble Beach and missed the cut at Riviera. He is in the field this week. ... NCAA champion Fred Biondi, who turned pro last year, received a sponsor exemption. ... The field features five of the top 25 in the world ranking.
Last week: Patty Tavatanakit won the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Notes: This is the second of three straight weeks in Asia. The HSBC Women’s World Championship dates to 2008 and typically gets a strong field. ... Jin Young Ko is going for her third straight title in Singapore. ... Lorena Ochoa set the course record of 268 in 2008, the inaugural year of the tournament. ... The field features eight of the top 10 in the women’s world ranking, missing only Nelly Korda and Charley Hull. ... Atthaya Thitikul, No. 11 in the world, has an injured left thumb and does not plan to return until the end of March. ... Former U.S. Women’s Open champion In Gee Chun is playing on a sponsor’s invitation. ... Minjee Lee is in the field, playing for the first time this year on the LPGA Tour. ... Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis has named Paula Creamer, Angela Stanford, Brittany Lincicome and Morgan Pressel as assistants for this year’s matches in Virginia.
Last tournament: Dustin Johnson won LIV Golf Las Vegas.
Notes: Brooks Koepka is going for his third straight LIV victory in Saudi Arabia. The tournament was played in the fall the last two seasons. ... Anthony Kim is expected to make his LIV debut as an individual. Kim has not competed anywhere since May 2012 at the Wells Fargo Championship. He is now 38. ... Dustin Johnson’s victory in Las Vegas makes him the first player to win in each of the three seasons of LIV Golf. Among those with a chance to match him this week are Koepka and Cameron Smith. ... Johnson, Graeme McDowell, Harold Varner III and Abraham Ancer have all won in Saudi Arabia outside the LIV Golf League. ... Jon Rahm’s new team is leading the standings after two events. ... Joaquin Niemann was the only LIV Golf player who received a special invitation to the Masters based on his European tour performances in the offseason. ... Patrick Reed is no longer among the top 100 in the world.
Last week: Darius van Driel won the Magical Kenya Open.
Notes: The tournament is co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour of South Africa. ... This is the second of three straight tournaments on the African continent. ... The field features only four players from the top 100 in the world. The highest-ranked player is Rikuya Hoshino, who is at No. 81. ... South Africa only has five players in the top 100 in the world. Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who plays the PGA Tour, is the top-ranked South African at No. 59. ... Only two players from Nos. 126-200 in the FedEx Cup last year are in the field, Matthias Schwab and Jonas Blixt. Dylan Frittelli was in that category until winning earlier this year to get full European tour membership. ... Keita Nakajima, a former world No. 1 amateur, is in the field. He is eligible from winning the Japan Golf Tour money title last year. ... The tournament only became part of the European tour schedule last year.
Asian Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia: New Zealand Open, Millbrook GC (Coronet and Remarkables), Arrowtown, New Zealand. Defending champion: Brendan Jones. Online: https://asiantour.com/ and https://pga.org.au/.
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.
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