Welcome to our weekly PGA Tour gambling-tips column, that includes picks from GOLF.com’s professional prognosticator, Brady Kannon. A seasoned golf bettor and commentator, Kannon is a number and common visitor on SportsGrid, a syndicated audio community dedicated to sports activities and sports activities betting, and is a golf betting analyst for CBS Sportsline. You can observe Brady on X at @LasVegasGolfer, and you may learn his picks beneath for the 2026 Memorial Tournament, which will get underway Thursday in Ohio.
The PGA Tour’s “Legend Swing” finishes with a bang this week in Dublin, Ohio. It was three weeks in the past that we acquired began with Byron Nelson’s occasion at TPC Craig Ranch. That was adopted by a visit to Ben Hogan’s house, Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. And now we land at Jack’s Place, Muirfield Village, for Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament, the seventh Signature Event of the golf season.
As the legendary standing has elevated, so has the event issue. Wyndham Clark blistered the Byron Nelson with a profitable rating of 30 beneath par. Russell Henley beat Eric Cole in a playoff final week after each completed in regulation at 12 beneath. This week at Muirfield, even with what appears to be like to be a reasonably calm climate forecast, the profitable rating proposition wager at Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook is Under/Over 278.5, that means 9.5 beneath par. And if that isn’t powerful sufficient, subsequent week is the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
Temperatures are heating up and so is the golf. Along with the Genesis Invitational at storied Riviera Country Club, I really feel that the Memorial at Muirfield Village is the very best PGA Tour occasion on the schedule outdoors of the 4 main championships.
Nicklaus constructed the golf course in 1974 and it debuted on Tour 50 years in the past in 1976. He named it after his favourite Open Championship venue, Muirfield, and far of the design is impressed by his love for Augusta National, the place Jack received the Masters six occasions. It is a standard par 72 that now stretches to just about 7,600 yards after the final main overhaul was carried out on the course after the 2020 version of the event.
The fairways should not particularly slender however a miss could have one punching out of very thick and penal tough. The Bentgrass greens are comparatively small. They are Augusta-like: quick, undulated, and agency. There are 68 sand bunkers on the golf course and it’s attention-grabbing to notice that the proximity to the opening is without doubt one of the worst (hardest) on Tour for photographs tried from the sand. Yes, the check Mr. Nicklaus has put forth is a whole one that may make a participant perform a little little bit of every little thing at a excessive degree.
I leaned closely on Strokes Gained: Approach and Scrambling this week. Iron play should be actually sharp and a deft contact across the greens is actually a requirement. I additionally checked out Strokes Gained: Off The Tee, Par 5 Scoring, Bogey Avoidance, and Hole Proximity from 175-200+ yards.
As for the correlated programs, I checked out different Nicklaus designs. The Concession (2021 Workday Championship), Sherwood Country Club (2020 Zozo Championship), Montreaux (Reno-Tahoe Open), and Valhalla (2024 PGA Championship). I additionally checked out TPC Deere Run, Augusta National, and the Country Club (2022 U.S. Open).
Jordan Spieth (53-1)
I used to be not fully conscious, previous to doing my analysis this week, that Spieth has been fairly good at this event previously. Before the newest overhaul in 2020, Spieth recorded two Thirteenth-place finishes on the Memorial, a seventh and a 3rd. Since the 2020 adjustments, he’s been 18th twice, seventh and fifth. We know what he’s executed at Augusta and he’s received the John Deere Classic twice. Spieth has performed in 14 tournaments to this point this season. In half of these tournaments, he’s completed between eleventh and nineteenth. All of the instruments are firing in 2026, they only want to take action for 4 consecutive days. If and once they do, he’ll win.
Chris Gotterup (60-1)
The younger gun already has two wins this season and is coming off a top-10 end on the PGA Championship. He is the full bundle, being among the best within the sport off the tee and he ranks 53rd on Tour for SG: Approach, 68th in Scrambling, thirty first in Sand Saves, and fortieth for SG: Putting. In his Masters debut earlier this season, Gotterup completed twenty fourth. He was fourth on the John Deere Classic in 2022.
Adam Scott (70-1)
The Australian sage has made his approach round these elements efficiently many occasions over time. This shall be his seventeenth time enjoying the Memorial and Scott has completed high 10 5 occasions. There should not many higher within the sport proper now with the irons as he’s second on Tour in SG: Approach and likewise second in Hole Proximity from 175-200 yards. Scott ranks sixtieth in Scrambling, twenty fifth in Bogey Avoidance, and is twentieth in Par 5 Scoring.
Adam Scott on the 2025 U.S. Open.
Getty Images
Nicolai Hojgaard (75-1)
Much like Gotterup, Hojgaard is one other younger star on the rise who’s lengthy off the tee and {couples} it with a superb brief sport. He was third to Gotterup in Phoenix earlier this season after which sixth on the Cognizant Classic, one other Nicklaus design. He was runner-up in Houston after which once more final month at Quail Hollow. Hojgaard was runner-up at Torrey Pines again in 2024, additional proof that he can deal with big-boy golf programs, after which was sixteenth in his Masters debut in that very same season.
Gary Woodland (80-1)
Let the pattern proceed of massive hitters who can even get it executed across the greens. Woodland was one higher than Hojgaard earlier this season in Houston the place he received. He completed sixth final week at Colonial the place in that discipline, he ranked fifth for SG: Off the Tee and was third for SG: Putting. He’s been high 10 right here at Memorial twice and high 25 4 occasions. Woodland received the Reno-Tahoe Open at Montreaux in 2013 and completed tenth on the 2022 U.S. Open on the Country Club.
Nick Taylor (90-1)
Like Gotterup, Taylor has additionally received the Sony Open and the WM Phoenix Open. He has solely missed one reduce all season and has completed 9-14-26 in his final three begins, two Signature Events and the PGA Championship. He isn’t the most important of hitters like the remainder of the cardboard this week however he’s confirmed he’s as much as the duty, having completed fourth right here final yr, the place he ranked first in Sand Saves, second in Greens in Regulation, and tenth in Scrambling. He ranks thirty first on Tour for SG: Approach, nineteenth in Hole Proximity from 175-200, and is 14th in Scrambling.