The Memorial Tournament Tips: Niall Lyons Preview, Odds & Tee Times

The tour moves onto Muirfield Village in Ohio for the Memorial where we once again see a reduced field like last week. This is a ball strikers paradise where if any part of your long game is missing you'll find it very difficult to score. High rough awaits wayward drives although the fairways certainly aren't among the hardest to hit on tour.

Nevertheless though, stray from the cut and prepared and you'll find plenty of trouble here. It is certainly more of a second shot golf course where approach play is key to finding the small targets. Inevitable greens missed puts increased emphasis on scrambling also.

Around the green is a fair part of the tee to green equation here with three of the last four leaders in that statistical category for the week making the top five in the past four renewals. Other Nicklaus designs like PGA National, Glen Abbey and PGA West are always worth a glance. 

Scottie Scheffler nearly landed a back door win on Sunday as plenty crumbled around the final 18 holes at Colonial. That said, this will be his fourth week on the trot and I'd question whether that's a good idea at this stage of the season. He is relentless, however, but it's difficult to get excited about 13/2 in a field of this quality.

Cantlay is another relentless sort, especially on this track as he tees it up in quest of his third victory here in five years. 10/1 is a fair offer and he probably appeals a little more than the two ahead of him in the market.

Rory McIlroy to win at 15/1

Rory McIlroy has huge one task left to accomplish in his career and time is certainly not on his side at this stage. Outside of the Masters he has ticked almost every other box, including his home Open of course. To shake Jack Nicklaus' hand by the 18th whilst winning the Memorial at Muirfield Village is one box left unticked and he will be keen to land this event before he hangs up his spikes.

On the face of it this course is ideal for him. Room off the tee as well as a premium on approach play gives McIlroy the perfect opportunity to show off his skills. Four top 10s and a further three top 20s here show his fondness for the course and on almost every one of those occasions one part of his game has not been firing.

The one constant throughout has been solid driving around this track and it'd be a surprise should he not be in position off the tee most of the week. After poor weeks with the irons at Augusta and Quail Hollow he bounced back in fine style ranking 4th on approach at Oak Hill. This was his best performance with the irons since the St Jude Invitational back in August of 2021.

His gutsy effort in the USPGA was extremely admirable given he didn't have his game early on in the week. He hung tough, a trait not often associated with the Irishman. 7th place was a fine effort and marked a huge step in the right direction as we enter crunch time in the season. Scheffler now plays his 4th week on the trot and surely may be fatigued come the weekend whilst Rahm looked somewhat out of sorts at the PGA a few weeks ago.

This looks like a huge chance for McIlroy to get back in the winners circle and put his name alongside the greats of the game who have won this event.

3pts WIN R.McIlroy  15/1 (enhanced win Bet365)

Xander Schauffele has been inside the top 20 in each of his last four visits here to Muirfield Village and with his iron play in tremendous nick looks one to keep an eye on. 22/1 was available with bigger place terms a few weeks ago in the USPGA though and the 14/1 available here makes little appeal in what is a similar field bar the LIV recruits.

Sungjae Im has missed two cuts on the trot for the first time in nearly a year and looks to have gone off the boil with his iron play. Hovland didn't quite hit the heights with his approach play last week than what he did at Oak Hill and he has failed to break the top 40 here in Memorial conditions. 

Shane Lowry at 45/1 (Eight Places)

Irish eyes weren't smiling after Stricker pipping Harrington on Sunday evening in the Senior PGA but it could be a different outcome this Sunday with the Irish contingent looking particularly strong this week. Shane Lowry has played reasonably well here down the years with one top six finish and a further top 20 in six efforts.

Unfortunately 2023 has been extremely frustrating for Lowry as he has endured a horrible spell with the putter. Ranking 180th on tour in that category represents a miserable old time for former Open Champion but as we know form on the greens is extremely fickle and can turn at any moment. He had a decent week on the greens at Oak Hill and hopefully can build upon that at Muirfield Village.

He was 7th in the field on approach at Oak Hill, having been 7th in the same category five starts before that at Sawgrass. His long game is in imperious form and that bodes well for a big effort this week. The question is can he manage a good putting week, and with the price on offer I think it's safe to say we can pay to find out.

1pt each-way S.Lowry  45/1  1/5 8 (Bet365 each way extra)

Corey Conners at 45/1 (Eight Places)

We have known for a while now just how special a ball striker Corey Conners is and heading into the final day at Oak Hill he looked like a serious candidate to land his first major victory. His usual impeccable driving deserted him though and he hit less than 50% of fairways on the final day there.

Being further back than the rest that put pay to his chances but he'll learn from that once again and this sweet swinger looks destined to contend further majors. Muirfield is just the type of venue where he can display that tee to green excellence and with an upturn in putting stats over the last few months looks set to add to his tally this season after winning the Texas Open at the start of April.

He has putted well here down the years making the cut on all four appearances and last years 13th placed finish was largely down to a tremendous week with the irons. He is producing excellent efforts from tee to green and should he manage to continue to hole putts then he'll be a serious contender here.

A few at the top of the market are surely getting a little jaded with the amount of starts and as the season progresses there is a possibility the results become slightly more skewed as we look further down the market for some value.

1pt each-way C.Conners  45/1  1/5 8 (skybet, bet365 each way extra)