The Memorial: Trend Table
Jack's Place
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Quick recap of last week:
Man, I cannot describe tilting at someone who is just doing their job correctly. Ben Griffin did almost nothing all tournament, and yet here he comes on Sunday when nobody wanted to pull their heads out of their ass, and nearly got himself into a playoff and chance to win when I called him bad chalk. Thankfully, Russell Henley had different ideas.
Jackson Suber had gotten all the way to -6 as our value play of the week and was cracking the top 10 on Friday. We were cruising. Then he inexplicably made two doubles on his final four holes, lets in something like 11 or 12 other golfers after he moved the cut line, and then completely ejected himself on Sunday.
It’s not all bad, though. Smotherman was solid as a value play, we talked about Meissner, identified Rickie as bad chalk. Let’s continue the momentum.
While this is still a signature event at the Memorial, Jack at least has the decency to have a cut, which is top 50, plus ties, and anyone within 10 shots of the leader.
Muirfield is an incredibly tough test and demands lots of shot making. We’ll dive more into that tomorrow in the player pool, but for now, let’s look at the trends.
No shock at all to see Eric Cole up top. You saw last week, and here he is at the top.
I have to be honest, I didn’t even realize Mark Hubbard was in the field.
Smalley & Thomas have been playing good golf, as everyone has seen, so no shock to see them here.
McCarty drove me insane last week, too, but he is still up top.
Keeping a keen eye on Patrick Cantlay.
Scottie climbing towards the top is probably not a great sign for the rest of the Tour. He’s still insanely priced, but it’s easier to fit him in this week than it has been recently. He’s also gone 3rd, DNP, 3rd, 1st, 1st in the last five years. Absolutely a monster on this course.
I have no idea if Jake Knapp is going to eventually WD or not as he’s still been battling the thumb injury, so need to monitor that closely. I’d say there is going to be a fair amount of rust as well, as he hasn’t played since RBC Heritage.
From an average standpoint, everyone from Russell Henley and up are above average compared to the field. Which means if Xander is rounding into shape, he has the type of game that can contend here and he’s only the fifth highest salaried golfer.
Rickie & Sungjae are cascading down the list.
Sungjae, I feel like, is going to potentially catch some clicks and attention based on the fact he’s $6,700. Not sure that’s worth chasing.
There’s several names here: Matt Fitzpatrick, Spieth, Gotterup, Fleetwood, Bobby Mac, that I am curious if they show up in tomorrow’s player pool.
I think a lot of people like Straka this week, and we’ll see if that works out for them.
Nothing super noteworthy here besides seeing where Hideki comes in, but we’ll see how tomorrow shakes out.
Last note: good lord, remember when Jacob Bridgeman was super legit beginning of this season?
See you tomorrow for the player pool!