There was major drama at the Memorial on Saturday, as Ben Griffin at one point held a six-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler. He then proceeded to bogey Holes 9, 10, 11 and 12 and completely unravel. Scheffler shot a ridiculous bogey-free 68 after making birdies on four of his final five holes, and now holds a one-shot lead heading into Sunday.
It’s never wise to attack the outright market when Scheffler is up there, so instead we will pivot to some placements. Below are my two favorite bets for the final round at the Memorial.
Sepp Straka to finish Top-5 +105
When Straka is dialed in like this he’s shown that he’s one of the best players in the world. Already having won twice this year at the Truist Championship and the American Express, the big Austrian will look to make it a hat trick on Sunday at Jack’s Place. Straka shot a blistering six-under 66 on Saturday and is currently five back of Scheffler.
While it would take another mammoth performance to chase down the World No. 1, it won’t be nearly as hard for him to finish inside the top-five, which we can get a plus-money right now. Straka currently sits T4 at three-under par for the tournament.
Straka led the entire field on approach during his third round, gaining 4.33 strokes with his irons, while also ranking first for the week in putting. After finishing T16 and T5 each of the past two years at Muirfield, it’s clear he’s figured out how to play this course.
Bud Cauley to finish Top-20 +210
Cauley has gained the second-most strokes on approach for the week so far, only trailing Scheffler. He’s be absolutely brutal with his short game, though, losing a whopping 4.5 strokes around-the-green and additional 2.5 putting. Both of those are fickle, however, and it’s the ball-striking that’s more of a predictive measure.
After shooting a three-over 75 on Saturday, Cauley sits T26 at the moment, just two shots back of T20. Conditions usually get harder as the week goes on at Muirfield, so the fact that Cauley is so dialed in with his irons right now is a big plus. As long as he’s close to average with his short-game on Sunday, Cauley could easily vault way up the leaderboard, and getting him at +210 here is nice value.