Golf Tips: Best bets for Memorial Tournament and Scandinavian Mixed

• Classy Kim gets Steve's Memorial money at 64/165.00

• Morikawa likes Nicklaus courses so Dave backs him at 14/115.00

• Get Steve's big-price picks for Muirfield Village up to 270.0269/1

Memorial Tournament Tips and Predictions

Telegrapher Tom a great bet at 64/1

Steve Rawlings: "Last year's winner, Viktor Hovland, ranked 17^th for Driving Distance and only 51^st for Driving Accuracy but 12 months earlier, Billy Horschel had ranked only 59^th for DD and seventh for D.A. Rory McIlroy who hit it further thananyone else last year and the straightest driver in the field, Si Woo Kim, both finished inside the top eight places but neither driving metric is especially important.

"Hovland only ranked 20^th for Greens In Regulation last year but Scottie Scheffler in third ranked first, the four course winners before Hovland ranked sixth, third, first and first, and the average GIR ranking for the last 15 winners is 9.5...

"Tom Kim won seven times in Asia before making the move to the States and his finishing positions before those seven victories were fourth, fourth, fifth, sixth, second, sixth and seventh.

"He then moved on to the PGA Tour where he finished seventh in the Rocket Mortgage Classic before winning his first PGA Tour title at the Wyndham Championship, and he finished sixth in the Open de France before winning the aforementioned Shriners title.

"He also finished sixth in the Scottish Open last July before finishing tied second in the Open Championship, so we really do need to take notice when the 21-year-old springs into life. He's far too classy not to be able to play Muirfield well so I'm happy to dismiss last year's weekend off and side with this time around after last week's eye-catching effort in Canada."

Each-Way Tips: Picks from 14/1 to 66/1

Dave Tindall: "Collin Morikawa already has a win (2020 Workday Charity Open) and a second (2021 Memorial) at Muirfield Village while he's also tasted victory on two other Nicklaus courses: Montreux (2019 Barracuda) and The Concession (2021 Workday).

"He's been excellent Off The Tee all season (16th) while he's 4th in the field over the last eight weeks for SG: Approach. Add in some good performances with the putter and it explains why his last six starts show a trio of top fours and nothing worse than 23rd.

"If there is a niggle, it's been his round four scoring which has been poor for a few months and cost him in the US PGA. But last time out he closed the Charles Schwab Challenge with a 68, moving from seventh to fourth in the process on a day when just two others in the eventual top 11 broke 70."

First Round Leader Tips: Picks from 40/1 to 80/1

Dave Tindall: "Course form repeats at Muirfield Village but so does first-round leader form as no less than four players have twice held the 18-hole lead here in recent times.

"Davis Riley has had a piece of the R1 Memorial lead in both of the last two years while Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa have all twice been top of the leaderboard after round one at Muirfield Village.

"In that respect it's a little reminiscent of Augusta where Justin Rose has been FRL on four occasions, Jordan Spieth three (in the space of four years!) and Bryson DeChambeau twice (this year and 2019).

"With that in mind, I'll play Tony Finau at 40/141.00. Finau shared the day one lead here in 2020 with Morikawa after both shot 66s. He went on to finish eighth, a finish he's achieved twice along with 11th and 13th, so Finau clearly likes Muirfield Village.

"The second element to the Finau bet is recent fast starts: he opened with 65 in the US PGA and 66 at Colonial. That put him tied second after the opening lap in both and we landed some each-way FRL cash on the latter.

"Let's hope he can go one better here from his 11.45 tee-time."

Find Me a 100 Winner: Three chanced at Muirfield up to 269/1

Steve Rawlings: "South Africa's Christiaan Bezuidenhout has enough class to win a big event on the PGA Tour and he's come close a couple of times previously, finishing runner-up at the John Deere Classic two years ago and second at the American Express back in January this year.

"In three previous visits to Muirfield Village he's finished 22^nd, 37^th and 38^th so he doesn't have a terrific bank of course form. But ranking inside the top-20 for Scrambling and as high as fifth for Par 4 Scoring on the PGA Tour, he looks a good statistical fit for the venue.

"Having finished 13^th at the Players Championship and ninth in the Valspar Championship, he's played well during the Florida Swing in March, something many a winner here has done previously.

"Bez missed the cut at the US PGA Championship last month but either side of his weekend off at Valhalla he's finished 16^th at the Wells Fargo Championship and 17^th in the Charles Schwab Challenge, so he's been in fair form. He's drifted to a price I thought was big enough to chance."

Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.09/1 & 12 Us @ 2.01/1

Course and current form stats

Andy Swales: "Putting surfaces are undulating and extremely quick, and there is a plentiful supply of sand. Although water comes into play on 11 holes, many of these hazards appear in the shape of ditches, rather than large lakes.

"Accurate iron-play is paramount for all wannabe winners at Muirfield Village. As with many Nicklaus courses, a little generosity is afforded off the tee, but therein pin-point accuracy takes centre stage as pros attempt to locate lightning fast Bentgrass greens that are smaller than the PGA Tour average. Muirfield Village is the epitome of a second-shot layout...

"Having seen his mate Xander Schauffele win last month's PGA Championship, Patrick Cantlay 22/1 is probably the best golfer over the age of 30 yet to win a major.

"The American has not had the greatest of years, by his standards, in 2024 but his record in the Memorial is excellent. He is a two-time winner of the tournament (one of these victories aided by Rahm's withdrawal following a positive Covid test after 54 holes), and has had two other T4s as well."

Scandinavian Mixed Tips and Predictions

Will the men dominate again?

Steve Rawlings: "The last two winners have won very easily and there was very little drama in-running. But Australia's Jason Scrivener, a pre-tournament 40.039/1 shot, was matched at a low of 1.68/13 during round three of the inaugural edition in this format and the runner-up, Adrian Otaegui, hit a low of just 1.444/9 three years ago.

"It's unusual to see just one player go odds-on in these sort of low grade affairs, where nerves come into play, and laying anyone that goes odds-on very often pays off.

"If you can get two players layed at odds-on you'll be in profit regardless of who goes on to win and it's often a great way to play these sort of events.

"If you're new to the Betfair Exchange, this is a good little guide into how to place a lay bet.

"Matt Cooper makes a great case for Vincent Norman in his each-way piece (see below), and I've had a tiny bet on him at 48.047/1, but with so little to go on, I'm more than happy to leave this event alone before the off and take a look in-running.

Each-Way Tips: Return home can fuel 40/1 Norrman

Matt Cooper: "The 26-year-old US-based Swede Vincent Norrman enjoyed a fine second half of 2023 that included victory in the DP World/PGA tour co-sanctioned Barbasol Championship in July, and within two months he'd added a second win in the Irish Open.

"He'll have had big hopes for this year, yet it's not quite happened. He has made eight cuts in his 14 starts on the PGA tour, but is yet to finish higher than T39th - and that was in the New Orleans pairs event.

"But there are plenty of good reasons to believe that his journey back home could fuel a good week.

"The first is the simple notion of home comforts.

"The second is that he wouldn't be the first golfer to plug away on the PGA Tour and then fire when up against a lower level of opposition on the DP World Tour.

"Moreover, he has a fine record on the latter circuit, one that takes in ten top 30 finishes in 16 starts, eight of them top 20s.

"And, in addition to two wins, he has contended when second at halfway in the 2021 Cazoo Open, third at halfway in last year's Barracuda Championship, the first round leader in November's Nedbank Challenge.

"He's played this event just the once, when a tidy T14th in 2021 following a first round 66 that had him just two shots back of the early pace.

"The clincher is that he claimed that first win last year at Keene Trace on another Arthur Hills layout."

Form stats for this week's unique tournament

Andy Swales: "Vasatorps is a 54-hole golfing complex comprising holes that combine parkland in places, with others that resemble a typical links course. The Classic Course was originally opened in 1974 and redesigned 11 years ago. The Arthur Hills-designed Tournament Course was completed in 2008, while the complex also offers two nine-hole layouts...

"As you'd expect, the Scandinavians are out in force for this week's tournament in southern Sweden. At No 98 in the World Ranking, Sebastian Soderberg 14/1 is one of only two men to be currently ranked inside the top 100.

"Although he missed the cut at the recent PGA Championship in the United States, his three previous starts all yielded podium finishes. Dane Niklas Norgaard Moller [20/1] has posted a brace of top-four finishes these past couple of weeks, which just happen to be the best two performances of his DP World Tour career."

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