The Memorial Tournament 2024 Each-Way Tips: Picks from 14/1 to 66/1

• Dave Tindall is looking to back up last week's 70/171.00 winner

• 14/115.00 Collin Morikawa has a great record on Nicklaus tracks

• 66/167.00 Sepp Straka's long game is suited to this test

• 55/156.00 Tony Finau is showing some positive signs

The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village has always been one of the great stops on the PGA Tour.

And yet shoving it right next to a Major and cutting the field to 73 seems to take something away even though Jack Nicklaus's event being given Signature Status is supposed to enhance it.

Still, there's a load of wonga on offer so that's the main thing.

Although a wonderful standalone event, it does, admittedly, fulfil the task of acting as a good warm-up for next week's US Open.

The par 72 Muirfield Village was revamped three years ago and scoring has gone up as a result.

The smallish bentgrass greens are hard to hit and they're super-speedy when you get there. Four-inch rough also adds to the test.

Scottie Scheffler was very Scottie Scheffler last year when finishing 1st for SG: Off The Tee, Tee To Green, Approach and Around The Green but only 65th for Putting.

But widening the lens to look at all the top 10 reveals that Off The Tee was an important stat. So was Approach, the usual expectation on a course designed by Jack.

There's the odd cheat code - runner-up Denny McCarthy made up for being 51st Off The Tee by being the best putter of the week - but overall driving it well and hitting crisp irons is the best route to success at Muirfield Village.

Course form definitely stacks up well here too.

Last year's winner Viktor Hovland was fourth on debut, Billy Horschel had finishes of seventh and 13th in two of his previous three Muirfield Village starts before winning in 2022 and Patrick Cantlay boasts two wins (2019 and 2021) along with a third, fourth and seventh.

Back Collin Morikawa @ 14/115.00

Collin Morikawa seems to jump off the page this week and the 14s is thanks to the presence of 7/24.50 Scottie Scheffler, 15/28.50 Rory McIlroy and 9/110.00 Xander Schauffele, who all have strong claims too.

But Morikawa really does stand out here.

The double Major winner was my trends pick in the US PGA at Valhalla a few weeks ago and shared the lead after 54 holes before dropping back to finish fourth.

But that was more evidence that he excels on Nicklaus courses where there's a real emphasis on elite iron play.

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.

Morikawa admits the beginning of the year was a struggle but at Colonial two weeks ago he revealed: "It's coming together and that's what's great.

"It's just motivating to see all these other guys play well, these guys winning tournaments to be just like, okay, this is a big little stretch of golf coming up before playoffs and heading into playoffs, and we want to make a good run for it and start finishing at the end on top of the leaderboard on Sunday."

This looks a perfect opportunity to do just that.

Back Sepp Straka @ 66/167.00

Sepp Straka didn't make the weekend at Valhalla but his one Korn Ferry (then Web.com) Tour win came on one of Jack's layouts when he landed the 2018 KC Golf Classic at the Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate in Missouri.

To add to that he's twice finished in the top 16 Muirfield Village, last year opening 71-69 to sit eighth at halfway and very much in the hunt.

After that Friday 69, he noted: "Hit a lot of fairways. I didn't miss a whole lot of 'em. I hit my driver really well and that's a must out here. Then my iron play was pretty good."

That taps into OTT and Approach being the two big stats here and he's certainly showing up strongly in those two departments recently.

Straka, whose mother knew Nicklaus from when Jack was building a course in Austria, has ranked in the top 10 for Approach in each of his last three regular strokeplay events.

Those dialled in irons helped him finish fifth at the RBC Heritage, eighth at the Wells Fargo and fifth at the Charles Schwab Challenge.

He gained strokes Off The Tee in all of those and that run was fuelled by a solid 16th at the US Masters where he ranked 11th for both OTT and Approach.

The Austrian was 4th for Approach in last year's Memorial and let's remember he has a win in each of the last two seasons on the PGA Tour.

Despite being able to get over the line (2022 Honda, 2023 John Deere), he's a bigger price than some of those looking for a first win Stateside. Take the 66s.

Back Tony Finau @ 55/156.00

There were plenty of contenders for the final spot in the staking plan.

Patrick Cantlay loves this place while Justin Thomas put on a superb ball-striking display at Valhalla. They're 25s and 28s respectively.

But I'll jump to double those odds and go with Tony Finau at 55/156.00, quite a price in such a small field.

Finau loves a Jack Nicklaus bentgrass course and his career is littered with top 25s on such layouts.

That includes four top 15s at Muirfield Village, two of those eighth places. You'll also a find a fifth at Glen Abbey and four top 20s in his last five starts on Jack tracks.

The languid American hasn't played Memorial for the last couple of years but has all the tools to make a success of it on his return.

Finau has had a somewhat skittish season by his own standards but there have been better signs since he finished runner-up in Houston at the end of March.

Twelth at Hilton Head, his last two starts show an 18th on Nicklaus's Valhalla and 17th at Colonial last time when he was second, seventh and sixth at close of play after 18, 36 and 54 holes.

Three bogeys in his last four holes sullied Finau's final score. Pars and he'd have finished top five.

As for long game, he was 1st for Approach in the US PGA at Valhalla and in the top 20 for both OTT and Approach at Colonial.

There's a negative blinking away quite clearly when delving into all his numbers and that's putting. The blunt stats show him losing strokes on the greens in his last six events.

But three of those, including the last two, have been marginal losses and he gained over a stroke SGP in two of his first three rounds at Colonial. Perhaps the tide is turning.

Finau certainly isn't the type to dwell on any negatives. Here he is talking at Valhalla: "I never feel like I'm far off. I'm a very hopeful person. You just keep stacking up wins on days, and they'll start to go your way eventually. You can only do as good as you are. I'm just trying to be the best I can."

Thatta boy Tony. Let's hope he can get in the mix at 55s.

Now read Steve Rawlings' Memorial Tournament preview here