Welcome to Power Rankings, a weekly feature on SI Golf from our partners at KeyCompete. This week the PGA Tour shifts to Muirfield Village and the Memorial Tournament. Here’s how our model sees the event event shaping up:
2024 The Memorial Tournament Preview
Founded by Jack Nicklaus in 1976, the Memorial has consistently attracted top-tier talent throughout its rich history. Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler leads the pack in our power rankings. Here’s the full list of players our model likes this week:
KeyCompete’s 2024 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings
1. Scottie Scheffler (+360) - Consistent performances during his dominant season can’t be ignored. The betting favorite, and our favorite here as well..
2. Xander Schauffele (+900) - Always a threat, and now riding high after his first major title.
3. Ludvig Aberg (+2200) - A rising star and due for a big-time win soon.
4. Rory McIlroy (+900) - Hasn’t had success here like at other venues, but a winner this year and his game seems to be clicking.
5. Viktor Hovland (+1800) - After drifting for most of the season, finished solo third at the PGA. Defending champion here and suddenly dangerous again.
6. Collin Morikawa (+1400) - Played in the final group in each of the season’s first two majors with nothing to show for it. Good fit for Muirfield.
7. Sahith Theegala (+4500 ) - Fearless approach, fun to watch and ready for a signature title.
8. Wyndham Clark (+4500) - Feels under the radar, despite being perhaps the second-best player on Tour for much of this season. Price is a bargain.
9. Sungjae Im (+5000) - Consistent performer with a penchant for rising to the occasion. Well-rounded game should fit well here.
10. Patrick Cantlay (+2500) - The 2021 Memorial Champion. T23, T29, and T53 in his last three starts.
2024 RBC Canadian Open Recap
Robert MacIntyre emerged as the unlikely hero, securing a feel-good victory at the RBC Canadian Open with his father serving as his caddie.
KeyCompete had a solid week that brought our yearly record on match-up bets to 96-62.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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Rhys Hoskins returned to Philadelphia on Monday for the first time since parting ways with the Philadelphia Phillies this offseason, and the City of Brotherly Love welcomed him back with open arms.
Hoskins, who signed with the Milwaukee Brewers in free agency, spent the first seven years of his career with the Phils, and he received a warm reception from fans during his return to Citizens Bank Park on Monday evening as Philadelphia hosted the first of a three-game set against the Brewers.
The Phillies played Hoskins's old walk-up song, "Slide" by Calvin Harris, for his first at-bat of the game, something they very rarely do for opposing hitters, and the crowd rose to his feet to show their respect and admiration for the 31-year-old.
With his bat in one hand, an emotional Hoskins waved to the adoring crowd during an ovation that lasted for around a minute.
Although he popped out in his first at-bat during the second inning, he managed to ignite the crowd later on with a solo shot, which was Milwaukee's lone run of the game.
Despite the fact that Hoskins no longer dons the Phillies' white and red uniform, Monday's reunion made clear that there's no love lost between the veteran slugger and the fan base.
In 2001, a 21-year-old Adam Scott played in the British Open. He hasn’t missed a major championship since—a run of 91 consecutive—but will now need a little luck to extend his impressive streak.
Scott made a par to fellow Australian Cam Davis’s birdie on the third playoff hole Monday at Springfield Country Club in Springfield, Ohio, losing in a playoff for a qualifying spot at next week’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. A total of 44 spots were up for grabs at 10 courses across the U.S. and Canada after marathon 36-hole qualifiers.
PGA Tour members Zac Blair and Beau Hossler took two of the top four spots in Springfield, shooting 9 under and 8 under. Carson Schaake also shot 8 under, while Scott and Davis shot 7 under and went to the playoff.
Scott will be an alternate (the USGA uses an undisclosed system for allocating alternates across all sites), but chances are that won’t get him into the U.S. Open. He can still get in if he’s in the top 60 of the World Golf Ranking on June 10, the Monday of the tournament. He sits at No. 60 in the world but is not playing in this week’s Memorial Tournament on the PGA Tour, whose results could shuffle that top 60 cutoff.
Another notable player not advancing is LIV Golf’s Joaquin Niemann, who along with fellow LIV player Anirban Lahiri finished one shot out of a playoff in Jupiter, Fla. The Chilean had earned special invitations to the Masters and PGA Championship and has a spot in the British Open but will not play in the U.S. Open. Fellow LIV golfer Dean Burmester will be at Pinehurst after claiming one of the five available spots in Jupiter, as will Matt Kuchar and Daniel Berger.
Berger missed the cut at the 2022 U.S. Open and did not play again on the PGA Tour until last January due to persistent back pain.
“This is the first time I’ve walked 36 holes in like three years,” Berger said after advancing at the Bear’s Club, his home course.
Seven LIV golfers in all failed to advance from the Jupiter qualifier, including 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell.
LIV’s David Puig advanced from a qualifier in Daly City, Calif.
Webb Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open champion, will play in his home state next week after advancing from a qualifier at the Duke University Golf Club in Durham, N.C. Also qualifying was Harry Higgs, who won back-to-back events recently on the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour pro Chesson Hadley and Sam Bennett, who won the 2022 U.S. Amateur and was in the hunt as an amateur at the 2023 Masters.
Full U.S. Open final qualifying results can be found here.
The Indiana Fever have been the hottest ticket in women's basketball, having hosted the largest audiences in the WNBA throughout the first few weeks of the season.
Since drafting former Iowa Hawkeyes superstar Caitlin Clark with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, the Fever have been selling tickets at unprecedented rates. In fact, the Fever's home attendance through five games this season has already surpassed their total home attendance from last year, according to Front Office Sports.
Data from Across the Timeline indicates that Indiana is averaging a league-high 16,571 fans at their home games. They've already had a total attendance of 82,857 in their first five home games, which is more than their 2023 season total of 81,336, which was the second lowest in the league.
No team in the WNBA averages more fans home or away than the Indiana Fever.
Caitlin Clark's Fever has already broken its franchise attendance record set last season—in just five games.
The impact Clark has had on ticket sales is undeniable. The Fever averaged an attendance of 4,066.5 fans last year, a figure which has more than quadrupled in '24.
That impact extends to the road, too. The Los Angeles Sparks hosted the league's largest crowd at a single game this season when 19,103 fans poured into the Crypto.com Arena for a matchup against Clark and the rest of the Fever.
In fact, in all but one of the Fever's road games this year, the home team has had their highest attendance of the season. The only exception was the Las Vegas Aces, as their home opener had a slightly larger turnout than their matchup against Indiana. At road games this year, an average of 15,315 fans have turned up to see the Fever, coming in well ahead of the Sparks (11,104).
The Atlanta Falcons' offense figures to look plenty different in 2024, with a slew of adjustments coming to the franchise during the offseason.
Kirk Cousins is set to take over as the team's starting quarterback, despite the organization's surprising decision to draft Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick, and he'll work under new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson.
Last year's first-round pick, Bijan Robinson, expressed excitement Monday over what's to come in Atlanta, indicating that he and his new coordinator had already discussed how the team intends to use him this season.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the running back detailed how the goal is ultimately to utilize his skills in a fashion similar to that of how the San Francisco 49ers deploy Christian McCaffrey.
"I'm gonna be more of a runner that does everything else. I don't know what the plan is, but it's like run first, like I did in college, but still having that access to go to receiver, still having that access to do creative things out the backfield," Robinson said.
#Falcons RB Bijan Robinson says the plan is for him to be used like Christian McCaffrey in the new offense under OC Zac Robinson.
"More so like how they use Christian [McCaffrey] down there in San Francisco. Something like that, that's kind of what the plan is," he added.
The Falcons ranked 26th in scoring last year, averaging just 18.9 points per game. During his rookie campaign, Robinson scored eight total touchdowns and ran the ball 214 times for 976 yards. He also made 58 receptions for 487 yards, showing his versatility as a pass-catching back.
He's hoping to see his workload in both categories increase in 2024, and McCaffrey, who had a historic year in '23, is certainly a figure worthy of emulating. That’s easier said than done, but the former No. 8 overall pick may be the rare back who can realistically aspire to do so.
The Edmonton Oilers have won the Western Conference Final, beating the Dallas Stars in six games, and now advance to the Stanley Cup Final to face the Florida Panthers.
Despite the Panthers being favored to win the Stanley Cup, Connor McDavid opens as the top option to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the NHL Playoffs. Let's dive into the list of odds.
McDavid is set as the +250 betting favorite to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, which is an implied probability of 28.57%. He's leading the playoffs in points with 31, three more than his teammate, Leon Draisaitl, whose odds are set at +650.
It's rare for the favorite to win playoff MVP is a member of the team that's set as underdogs, but it makes sense when you consider how even the race is amongst the Panthers' top players. If it's the Oilers who win the cup, there's almost no question it's going to be McDavid.
It's also possible for a member of the losing team to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, as it's happened five times before. With that being said, four of the five times its happened, including the most recent (Jean-Sebastian Giguere in 2003), it was awarded to the opposing goalie. The only skater to win the trophy as a member of the losing team was Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976.
Aleksander Barkov and Sergei Bobrovsky are the top options for the Panthers at +400 odds each. Barkov is tied for eighth in the playoffs with 17 points and Bobrovksy enters the final with a save percentage of .908.
The best value bet on the board might just be Carter Verhaeghe of the Panthers, who leads the team in goals with nine. He also has the same amount of total points of Barkov, whose odds are at +400, while Verhaeghe's odds are set at +2400.
A $100 bet on Verhaeghe would profit $2,400 if he's named the winner of the award.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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Welcome to the Rookie Roundup, a weekly look-in on baseball’s best and most interesting first-year players. Last week, we checked in on under-the-radar rookie pitchers in the National League. This week, we’ll take a peek at American League squads currently floundering in last place in their respective divisions, and which rookies are providing the most hope for better tomorrows.
We’re now two months into the season, and by week’s end every team will have fewer than 100 games remaining on the schedule. That’s certainly more than enough time for fortunes to shift dramatically in the standings. But for a select few particularly dismal clubs, the writing is on the wall: 2024 just might not be their year.
For our basement-dwelling teams in the American League, now’s as good a time as any to start searching for silver linings. Let’s take a look at one rookie on each of the four last-place teams (we have a tie in the AL East) that’s providing reasons for optimism—maybe not for this year, but for the summers ahead, when hopefully the outlook is rosier than it is today.
All stats are updated through Sunday’s games.
Top rookie: Bryan Ramos, 3B
Ramos made his major league debut on May 4, and though he scuffled in his first taste of The Show (and has since been optioned back to the minors), the fact that he reached the big leagues at just 22 years old is reason to be hopeful in what’s been a truly terrible season for the South Siders.
Ramos is an all-around player who projects to be good in most areas but maybe lacks the high ceiling of the game’s blue-chip prospects. He posted an .826 OPS at Double A in 2023 and had six hits in four games since being optioned to Triple A last week. He’ll almost certainly be back with the big-league club at some point this season given that the White Sox are on pace to lose over 120 games.
Top rookie: Rafael Soriano, RHP
Chicago’s historically abysmal start has overshadowed what’s been a miserable season for the Angels. Mike Trout hasn’t played since April 29 and will likely miss at least a couple more months, and the team sits in last place behind an Oakland A’s team that many expected to be among baseball’s worst.
Soriano walks off the field after the final out of the first inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. / Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles has several rookies on the active roster, in no small part because of the organization’s woeful lack of depth necessitating quick promotions. As a result, players like Nolan Schanuel and Kyren Paris have struggled, though Soriano has provided a bright spot in the rotation. After originally signing with the Angels in 2016 at 17 years old, Soriano underwent two Tommy John surgeries during his minor league career before debuting in ‘23. He showed promise as a relief pitcher and has made the move to the rotation this season. Across 10 starts, Soriano has posted a 3.78 ERA with 51 strikeouts. His transition as a starter is beginning to pay off from a durability standpoint, as he’s logged at least six innings in each of his last three outings.
Top rookie: Curtis Mead, 2B/3B
The typically development-savvy Rays have fallen on hard times to begin 2024, posting the fourth-worst run differential (minus-53) in the American League. As such, there aren’t many impact rookies to choose from: outfielder Jonny DeLuca—currently batting .182—is the only rookie hitter on the roster, while Tampa Bay has had only 7 2/3 innings logged by rookie pitchers on the season.
Given that context, we’ll go with Mead as the Rays’ best source of hope. The 23-year-old posted a .900 OPS at Triple A last year to earn his first call-up, hitting a .253/.326/.349 across 24 games—not spectacular, but serviceable enough to earn himself a pair of starts in Tampa Bay’s two playoff games last October. He made the team’s Opening Day roster and struggled to find a groove at the plate, and the Rays optioned him to Triple A on May 6.
Since the demotion, Mead has picked things back up, posting a .262/.340/.459 slash line in 23 games. Given the commendable production from Isaac Paredes, Richie Palacios and Amed Rosario, it might take some attrition for Mead to get another shot at regular playing time. But continued improvement in the minor leagues would be encouraging for a player who seems to have a high ceiling.
Top rookie: Davis Schneider, 2B/OF
Schneider quickly became one of the best feel-good stories of the 2023 season in his brief big-league debut, and he hasn’t slowed down in ‘24.
Selected by the Blue Jays in the 28th round of the 2017 draft, Schneider wowed in a 35-game stint last year, posting a .276/.404/.603 slash line. He’s provided Toronto with strong production this season (134 OPS+) even after his BABIP has regressed from the unsustainable .369 it was in ‘23 to a more stabilized .305 this year. Schneider still strikes out a lot, but his 12.2% walk rate ranks among the league’s highest. The longer he maintains his current production, the more he’ll prove that last season’s breakout wasn’t just a flash in the pan.
The Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics will be squaring off in the 2024 NBA Finals, meaning star guard Kyrie Irving will be up against one of his former teams with a championship on the line.
Irving spent two seasons with the Celtics from 2017-19, and his exit from the franchise was anything but ceremonious. After joining the rival Brooklyn Nets in '19, the relationship soured further over the next few seasons, including one infamous moment in which Irving could be seen "flipping the bird" at a fan in the TD Garden crowd after a Game 1 loss back in the 2022 playoffs.
"...when we played in the playoffs and everyone saw me flip off the birds and kind of lose my s--- a little bit–that wasn't a great reflection of who I am and how I like to compete on a high level," said Irving, via ESPN. "It wasn't a great reflection on my end towards the next generation on what it means to control your emotions in that type of environment, no matter what people are yelling at you."
Since pairing up with Luka Doncic in Dallas, Irving has earned nothing but rave reviews from teammates, who often look to him as the team leader. His leadership culminated in the franchise's first NBA Finals appearance since 2011, and it's a trait he feels he truly honed in on while with the Celtics, who were a young and upcoming team during his tenure.
"...the greatest thing I learned from Boston was just being able to manage not only my emotions or just what's going on on a day-to-day basis of being a leader of a team or being one of the leaders, and having young guys around you that have their own goals, but you have to learn how to put the big picture first," he said.
Four wins separate Irving from the second ring of his career, and although his past with the Celtics figures to be a prominent storyline in this NBA Finals matchup, he'll look to demonstrate the growth he's made as a leader and help guide Dallas to a championship.
Many heated WNBA discussions began after Chicago Sky's Chennedy Carter committed a hard foul on Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark during Saturday's game.
Even though this situation has been at the forefront of fan and media conversations, the players haven't said too much about what happened. Carter refused to answer questions about Clark after the game, and Sky rookie Angel Reese even skipped her media session, which earned her a $1,000 fine from the league.
Reese spoke out on Monday, though, in regards to conversations surrounding her being seen as a "villain" in contrast to Clark, the No. 1 WNBA draft pick. No matter how people talk about her, Reese admitted she's just happy that the WNBA is getting more recognition. But, she highlighted how there's more stars than just Clark in the league right now.
"People are talking about women's basketball, you never would think they'd be talking about women's basketball," Reese said. "People are pulling up to games. We got celebrities coming to games, sold out arenas. ... Just looking at that, I'll take that role. I'll take the bad guy role, and I'll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates. I know I'll go down in history. I'll look back in 20 years and be like, the reason why we're watching women's basketball is not just because of one person. It's because of me, too. I want y'all to realize that."
Angel Reese:
"We got celebrities coming to games. Sold out arenas...The reason why we're watching women's basketball is not just because of 1 person. It's because of me, too. I want y'all to realize that."
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.
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