Cameron Young, Matt Fitzpatrick Top Fantasy Golf Picks at The Memorial Tournament
The PGA Tour heads to the 'Jack's Place' this weekend for the Memorial at Muirfield Village Golf Club. The golf course has undergone various changes in recent years, and it is expected to be very difficult to play.
Scottie Scheffler is the tournament's 2-time defending champion. In 2025, Scheffler won with a score of 10-under-par, and the win in 2024 was 8-under-par. The tournament shall see single digits, more likely than not.
The signature event brings the PGA Tour's best stars to the limelight. Scheffler is the minus-310 favorite, followed by Rory McIlroy at plus-1200 and Ludvig Aberg at plus-1500. No one is left out, and they will all begin teeing it up on Thursday.
Key Course Metrics
Muirfield is meant to be very difficult. The course has been brought to an excellent standard under the legendary 18-time major winner, Jack Nicklaus. He desires that Muirfield requires patience over power. Much like Augusta National demands, it will not just be about skilled golf, but thinking golf as well. What are the best angles to take off the tee? Should the golfer fade or draw the golf ball? Should they play for bogey avoidance? It is a thinking man's golf course.
The rough is expected to be moderately up and with very small green sizes; scrambling will become a key metric. Like Winged Foot and Bethpage Black, distance will also be a huge bonus off the tee. Gaining enough distance over the competition can take out the accuracy needed. For example, a 120-yard shot out of the rough may still be better mathematically than a 160-yard shot out of the fairway with a still-tough angle.
Per Datagolf, the most important skills required at Muirfield Village will be scrambling, approach shot, and driving accuracy. However, every aspect of a player's game will be tested, and they must come in sharp to win. Favor the best golfers over the sleepers in fantasy golf this weekend at The Memorial.
Tournament History and Weather
Here are the last 5 tournament winners:
- 2025: Scottie Scheffler (-10)
- 2024: Scottie Scheffler (-8)
- 2023: Viktor Hovland (-7)
- 2022: Billy Horschel (-13)
- 2021: Patrick Cantlay (-13)
The weather will be the biggest factor in how this tournament scores out. Any dampness to the golf course will shorten it and surely make it multiple strokes-to-average harder than usual.
Thursday and Friday will have zero precipitation with tremendous heat in the mid-80s at the daily high temperatures. The wind will be moderate, with air flowing at around 6-10 miles per hour and gusts of up to 14 miles per hour on Friday afternoon. That will be manageable for the players.
Saturday remains equally hot, but with rain becoming something to watch out for in the afternoon. A chance of thunderstorms rises to about 50% after 2:00 p.m. ET. The same forecast is in store for Sunday, but with rain increasing to 80% likely after 2:00 p.m. ET.
Given the timing of any rain, it will affect all of the leaders, thus not handicapping the fantasy golf slate equally.
Best Fantasy Golf Picks
Cameron Young
Young is in the peak game of his entire career. He had 2 wins in 2026, including a victory at The PLAYERS, a course that demands high-IQ golf and shot-shaping, much like Muirfield. He has no round worse than tournament average in total strokes gained since the 2025 Open Championship. Young is up to 3rd in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Matthew Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick's skill set very closely aligns with the course demands. See the correlation below between course fit relative importance and Fitzpatrick's skill profile:
Fitzpatrick is a 3-time winner on the PGA Tour this season, including a team win with his brother, Alex, at the Zurich Classic. Including the DP World Tour, Fitzpatrick has 4 victories since October 2025. At The Memorial, Fitzpatrick has 2 top-5 results in 8 starts.
Ben Griffin
The season began iffy for Griffin, who has been so dominant in his 2025 breakout season. Last year, Griffin won 3 times on the PGA Tour, and he had 15 top-10 finishes. Fast forward to 2026, Griffin is back in that same elite form.
Griffin finished 3rd at last week's Charles Schwab Challenge and 3rd in May's Cadillac Championship, a signature event with a higher caliber of competition, much like The Memorial will have. When Griffin was on fire last season, he finished 2nd at The Memorial.
Gary Woodland
We are all so happy to see Gary Woodland back in great golf form. Woodland has dealt with brain cancer and an array of tough symptoms from it in recent years. Yet, he has gotten himself back into the weekly swing of the PGA Tour.
Woodland emotionally won the Texas Children's Houston Open this past March, and he has had another 2 top 10 results since. Knowing Muirfield is definitely a huge bonus for any golfer, given its high-IQ demands. Woodland has played here 14 times, including 3 top 10 results. Priced below half of this incoming field, Woodland has the upside well beyond others.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.