The Memorial Tournament odds, picks 2018: Tiger Woods projection from model that nailed four majors
The 2018 Memorial Tournament, one of the biggest stops on the PGA Tour, tees off Thursday morning in Dublin, Ohio at the Muirfield Village Golf Club. Tiger Woods is making his 10th appearance of the year on tour, but the Vegas favorites heading into the Memorial are Jason Day and Dustin Johnson at 12-1. Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Justin Thomas are all going off at 14-1.
Before you make any bets or enter a daily fantasy golf tournament on DraftKings or FanDuel for the 2018 Memorial Tournament, you'll want to hear what the team at SportsLine has to say.
SportsLine's prediction model, which was built by DFS pro Mike McClure, was all over Brooks Koepka last week at the Fort Worth Invitational. Despite being a 25-1 long shot, the model projected him as a top contender. The result: Koepka shot 67 or better in his final three rounds and finished in second place.
This same model has also nailed four of the past five majors heading into the weekend, including Patrick Reed's career-defining win at the Masters this year. Anybody who used their model had plenty of great value selections to choose from.
Now that the field for the 2018 Memorial Tournament is locked, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times, and the results were surprising.
One huge surprise the model is calling for at the Memorial Tournament this week: Tiger Woods, a five-time champion, makes a strong run, but falls short of winning the title.
Woods, who has four top-12 finishes in his last six starts, is making his 16th appearance in this tournament. He has dominated the Memorial Tournament with wins in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2009 and 2012. Woods ranks 13th on tour with a 69.988 scoring average and is No. 10 on the PGA Tour in strokes gained overall.
And in a surprise, Matt Kuchar, a former Memorial champion, doesn't sniff the Top 10.
Kuchar has back-to-back top-five finishes at the Memorial, but he's failed to finish better than T-17 in his last seven starts on the PGA Tour this season. Over the past nine years, the winner of the Memorial has shot 12-under par or better on eight occasions. That doesn't bode well for Kuchar, who's 3.65 birdie average ranks 86th on tour. He's somebody to completely steer clear of at Muirfield Village.
Also, the model says five golfers with odds of 20-1 or longer will make a deep run at the Memorial Tournament title. Anyone who bets on these underdogs could hit it big.
So who wins the 2018 Memorial Tournament? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the odds below and visit SportsLine now to see the full Memorial Tournament projected leaderboard from the model that's nailed four of the last five majors heading into the weekend, and find out.
Dustin Johnson 12-1
Jason Day 12-1
Justin Rose 14-1
Justin Thomas 14/1
Rory McIlroy 14-1
Jordan Spieth 16-1
Rickie Fowler 20-1
Tiger Woods 20-1
Henrik Stenson 25-1
Bubba Watson 28-1
Hideki Matsuyama 33-1
Patrick Reed 33-1
Phil Mickelson 40-1
Emiliano Grillo 40-1
Marc Leishman 40-1
Adam Scott 45-1
Matt Kuchar 45-1
Branden Grace 45-1