It was a good week at the Colonial with a terrific finish.  It looked like no one was going to catch Jordan Spieth shooting 63-66-66 over the first three rounds but a 73 on Sunday opened the door from Jason Kokrak to take down the title.  While it’s nice to see Jordan Spieth playing like Jordan Spieth again, Kokrak is a guy you can root for on the PGA Tour.  He’s a grinder and that hard work has paid off with two wins this season.  As we close to door on one historic course, we open the door to another fantastic classic venue on the PGA Tour at the Memorial.

First thing you should think about when you hear the Memorial is Jack Nicklaus, it's his tournament.  Muirfield Village is in Dublin, Ohio which is about a 20 minute drive from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.  The course measures out 7,543 yards which is a little longer than an average PGA Tour course these days.  It’s known as a golfers’ golf course because it really does not favor any specific type of player.  You can beat this course in a number of different ways from the risk/reward style to a more patient approach.  The course was lengthened before last year's event right after the Workday Charity Open.  You saw the winning score drop from a typical mid-teens to under 10 with that added length.  We also saw a lot of change from one week to the next but you shouldn't change your approach to selecting players.  The course is long, has small greens and fast putting surfaces, a lot to contend with.

When you start looking at this golf course and what key stats to target, I’ll start where I do most every week with Strokes Gained: Approach.  Eleven of the past 13 winners have ranked inside the Top 10 of Strokes Gained: Approach.  While hitting the fairway is always important, these fairways are not the toughest on tour to land.  I spoke about the greens being smaller, this is why I feel like you have to focus on ball strikers (Strokes Gained: Tee to Green) and their approach.  Proximity to the hole will be vital to success on these greens.  Scrambling will be very important when these players inevitably miss these smaller greens.  There are seven Par 4s which stretch out 447 yards or further, that means I’m immediately taking a look at Par 4 Efficiency 450-500.  3 of the 4 Par 3s are right around 200 yards and the other one is 185.  I’ll take a closer look at Par 3 Efficiency 175-200.

While this week only features 120 golfers, we’ve got a top tier field competing this weekend.  We’ve got defending champ Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlory, Patrick Reed, Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im to name a few.  When you look through last week’s final leaderboard, you see a wide variety of players from bombers to ball strikers to course managers.  It just drives home the point that you can attack and beat this course in a number of different ways.  The greens will be fast as it normally is for the Memorial.  

ONE & DONE PICK OF THE WEEK: Collin Morikawa

Good luck everyone!

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