Golf Tips: Best bets for Memorial Tournament and KLM Open

Memorial Tournament tips and predictions

The Punter's Preview: In-form Griffin backed at 43/144.00

Steve Rawlings: The world number one, Scottie Scheffler, has won the last two renewals and Billy Horschel, who was 90.0 chance four years ago, is the only outsider to win in the last eight years. That suggests we should concentrate on the top of the market but I like a couple of long-shots here that I'll highlight in the Find Me a 100 Winner column.

Of those trading at less than a three-figure price, Matt Fitzpatrick looks a reasonable price given his wellbeing, and Ben Griffin has hit form at the same time as he did last year.

As highlighted above, Griffin traded at odds-on during round three last year and his defence of his Charles Schwab Challenge title last week was eye-catching.

His 65 on Sunday at Colonial to finish tied for third, and just one shot shy of the playoff, was equalled only by Steven Fisk. Griffin returns to Muirfield Village, where he finished second last year, in fine fettle.

Griffin is no bigger than 33/1 on the High Street so the 44.0 he currently trades at on the Betfair Exchange is more than fair and I was happy to back him modestly at that price.

Each-way Picks: Back Sepp to strike at 35/136.00

Dave Tindall: Sepp Straka was 14th on his first very first start at Muirfield Village. That was when it hosted the Workday Charity Open in the Covid-hit season of 2020. Two 69s and a pair of 70s landed him a top 15 and since then he's really hit his straps at Jack's place.

In 2023 he was eighth at halfway before finishing 16th. Two years ago a third-round 68 put him in second with a lap to go before he stuttered to finish fifth. And last year he held firm on Sunday, ending in third spot after firing 66-70 on the weekend.

Straka hasn't been a consistent force this season but we've seen him shine in some big events. The Ryder Cup star was runner-up at Pebble Beach, fourth at the Cadillac and eighth in The Players Championship - all big events with high-quality fields.

At Pebble and Sawgrass he'd tipped us the wink with finishes of 18th (Phoenix) and 13th (Bay Hill) the week before. So although the standard was lower, last week's 12th place in his home Austrian Open could be a good marker.

First-Round Leader Tips: Back bucket list Rory

Dave Tindall: I didn't play him in the outrights at 10s (too short for my each-way preview) but I do fancy a pro-Rory McIlroy bet this week and FRL could work well.

The theory is based on the idea from McIlroy himself that the latter part of his career is about completing his bucket list.

And winning at Jack Nicklaus's Muirfield Village must surely be something he wants to tick off.

While five top 10s and a best of fourth in 13 starts at Memorial is nothing special for Rory, he has actually held the first-round lead here twice.

Even more compelling is that he's had a piece of the 18-hole lead in three of his last nine worldwide starts. The latter two also came on iconic courses: Riviera and Augusta.

Course and current form stats

Course Form Pick:

Matt Fitzpatrick was 31st here 12 months ago but fifth in 2024 and ninth in 2023. Skip a couple of intervening missed cuts and he was third in 2020. A fortnight off after finishing 14th at the Aronimink mean he should arrive refreshed.

KLM Open tips and predictions

The Punter's Preview: Get with Gouveia at 89/190.00

Steve Rawlings: Although Ricardo Gouveia is yet to win on the DP World Tour, the 34-year-old Portuguese has tasted success on the HotelPlanner Tour seven times and there are plenty of reasons to think he could finally break his duck this week to emulate last week's winner, Kota Kaneko, who won in Austria, one week after finishing second in Belgium.

Gouveia hit a low of 1.8810/11 when he gave himself a chance to eagle the par five 10^th on Sunday morning in Austria and that would have seen him go two clear with eight holes to play. But after settling for a birdie four, he missed a par putt on 11 from just three feet.

He parred his way in after that to finish tied for second, beaten by two, and he'll have to lift himself this week to overcome the disappointment, but he's a very fair price to do so at 90.089/1.

Gouveia now has four top 10 finishes to his name in 2026 and, with current figures reading 7-13-24-2, he's in a rich vein of form, thanks mainly to a hot putter.

Find Me a 100 Winner: Migliozzi can bounce back at 129/1130.00

Steve Rawlings: The Italian, who kicks off the event in the first group off the 10^th tee on Thursday morning, has missed both his cuts since finishing second at the Turkish Airlines Open when a column pick at 160.0 (matched at a low of 5.0) but that doesn't unduly worry me.

Only really interested in winning, Migliozzi is a bit of an in-and-out performer anyway, and he's won on numerous occasions when seemingly out of form, although he did signal his wellbeing when winning this event at this year's venue, The International, two years ago at 40.0.

Migliozzi had finished eighth in the European Open two weeks earlier, but he won his first DP World Tour title, the Kenya Open, with form figures reading MC-MC-63-MC. He won his third title on the Alps Tour before that after four straight missed cuts.

He had form figures reading 25-32-35-33 before he won the Belgium Knockout in 2019 and current figures reading 38-35-13-34 prior to his victory in the Open de France in 2022 didn't really telegraph his wellbeing.

Course and current form stats

Another Scottish winner this year? If it is going to happen, Ferguson may be the most likely candidate to deliver. He was fourth last year and made the top 20 in Austria last week.

Now read US Open 2026: Three picks from Dave Tindall in his early look at Shinnecock