The Memorial Picks

Memorial

One of the better non-major fields of the year gathers at Jack’s place this week for the Memorial. This week kicks off a stretch of golf that includes the U.S. Open, the Canadian Open, and U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying.

Here’s a look at how we’re doing overall this season:

(2019 – 15 Events) Correct Incorrect
Shamburger 3 15
Hauser 2 16
Two Inches Short *2 13
Bridget Whelan 0 1

We clearly aren’t experts.

* Two Inches Short won our bracket challenge even though he didn’t pick the WGC-Match Play winner.

Now, on to this week’s picks…

Dan Hauser (@DanHauserGolf)

A few weeks back I picked Jordan Spieth to win the Nelson on account of the fact that he was playing at home and it appeared that he was close to turning it around. While he didn’t win that week, since making that pick he has gone T29, T3, and T8.

It’s safe to say that Spieth has turned things around, with a win the only thing left to make his turn around officially complete.

Over the past two weeks, in particular, Spieth has played too good of golf to not win again soon. Nobody was catching Brooks at the PGA, making his T3 finish look even better in comparison. Last week, he only one shot off the lead heading into the final round before a blow up round Sunday ended his chances of winning.

If Spieth can just figure out how to avoid the bad blow-up holes, he can win again this week. His putting has largely come back to form, which is the biggest part of his game. He’s right there and I think this is the week everything finally comes together again and he gets the win.

Two Inches Short (@TwoInchesShort)

The PGA Tour’s condensed schedule has taken such a toll on us, we opted to take last week off following the PGA Championship.

After some much needed R&R, we are jumping right back on the Tiger train this week at the Memorial. Next stop, tying Sam Snead’s record 82 wins.

Tiger’s won at Jack’s place a record FIVE times and we see no reason why he can’t do it again, even if it’s *just* prep for the U.S. Open. Plus, Muirfield Village is basically the Augusta National of the midwest. in case you forgot, Woods won the Masters this year.

Tiger stats are always fun to reminisce about. Remember when he won the Memorial 3 consecutive years by a combined 14 strokes (1999-2001)?! Yeah, that happened, lol.

Despite a MC at the PGA, the 43-year-old with a fused back has it 74% of his greens this year and still is the best iron player on Tour. Plus he knows this golf course like the back of his hand.

Michael Shamburger (@mshamburger1)

This week I’m going with Tony Finau.

Finau finished solo second in his last event, the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial. He’s made a few changes to his putting stroke that helped propel him to that second place finish. He was also solid tee-to-green.

He finished T13 last year, T40 in 2017, T11 in 2016, and T8 in 2015.

Finau’s had an ok season with three top 10s in 16 events, but is still looking for his first win since the 2016 season. It feels like he’s always right on the edge of a win, but someone else just has a better day.

Eventually, it’s going to happen for him.

Author: Dan Hauser

Dan is the co-founder of The Stiff Shaft and the website's Senior Writer. A South Florida native, Dan has been covering golf since 2013 and playing it his entire life. He is still waiting for his first hole-in-one.