PGA Picks - Finding a Winner at the Memorial

Tee-off:  6/4/2009

Among the rumors that Phil Mickelson will return to the PGA Tour next week in the St. Jude Classic as a warm-up for the U.S. Open, is the fact that Tiger Woods will definitely return this week in The Memorial at Muirfield Village.

Woods needs a good tournament in order to get his game ready for the U.S. Open in roughly two weeks.  Can he do it?  Of course, he can, but there will be some other golfers ready to stand in his way.

Let’s analyze the chances of some golfers to win The Memorial.

1. Paul Casey +1200 - - Casey already has three victories on the year, one of those was on the PGA Tour in the Shell Houston Open, and is ranked in the top ten in par-3, par-4 and par-5 scoring average.  He’s also finished in the top twenty in 6 out of his 7 PGA Tour starts.  His 5th place finish at the Crowne Plaza last week, where he shot no worse than a 67 on any single round, should set him up well for this.

2. Tiger Woods +275 - - Woods will be looking to have a really good tournament, take St. Jude’s off next week, and then come back irons blazing for the U.S. Open.  He could get his wish and was actually driving the ball very well before floundering and shooting a 73 in the 4th round of the TPC Sawgrass.  He’s a definite player in this.  Six top 5 finishes and 3 straight victories from 199 to 2001 make him a tough golfer to look past.

3. Steve Stricker +2500 - - Stricker came back in the playoff to win the Crowne Plaza last week.  It was his first victory of the year.  He also finished 6th at the Masters earlier this year.  He is ranked 2nd in putting average and 6th in proximity to the hole.  Back to back victories aren’t out of the question.

4. Kenny Perry +2000 - - Since the Masters meltdown, Perry has been the nowhere man.  That could all change this week because Kenny Perry is the defending Memorial champion has won the tournament three times and has finished in the top 25 in over half of his 20 starts at the event.  He will have to turn his game around in a hurry to contend in the U.S. Open in two weeks.

5. Vijay Singh +1800 - - Singh hit 61% of his fairways in the Crowne Plaza last week and ended up finishing 6th.  The fact that he did well on his fairways should bode well at Muirfield Village as the fairways are easier to hit on the course.  Singh has a good shot to win this.

6. Sean O’Hair +2000 - - O’Hair has finished in the top 15 twice in 4 starts at Muirfield Village.  He ranks 3rd in ball striking and hits the greens in regulation 76% of the time which will help him in this.  O’Hair has won the Quail Hollow, finished 2nd in the Arnold Palmer and 10th at the Masters this year.

Best Long Shot

Steve Marino +5000 - - Marino finished 2nd in the Crowne Plaza last week.  He is ranked 14th in greens hit in regulation and 9th in ball striking.  He has a shot at big odds to take the momentum from last week and carry it over to a victory this week.