PGA Tour Fantasy Golf: The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield GC Preview

This week we are at Muirfield Village Golf Course in Dublin, Ohio for the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance. Steve Stricker is the defending champion. The winner will take home $1,116,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points.

We are going to have a full field at the Memorial with almost every relevant golfer you can think of in attendance. Smaller (and/or less talented) fields tend to make choosing winners easier (less options equal less chances to screw up). With so many good options to choose from, we are going to have to be very selective this week.

Muirfield Village isn't an intimidating golf course, but it definitely pays off for the steady golfer. As usual accuracy will be something we are looking for here, with an emphasis on Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR) over Driving Accuracy Percentage (Driving Accuracy). Strong putting (Strokes Gained-Putting) (as always) will be very important.

While prior success here isn't a necessity, prior experience is a must. With such a talented field, there's no need to reach for a golfer who hasn't played a professional event at Muirfield. Prior success here is probably a better indicator than recent overall success, but you should still avoid golfers with a string of Missed Cuts (MC) in their recent history.

Yahoo! Weekly Lineup Game

Group A

Luke Donald (Starting)

No need to screw around here. Johnson is the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world. He is coming off of a victory last weekend at the BMW Championship. He's finished sixth and third in his last two PGA Tour events. He finished tied for seventh here last year. Not to mention he ranks fourth on Tour in putting and 14th in driving accuracy this season.

Phil Mickelson (Bench)

Quite frankly, I don't expect to use a bench option in Group A this week. But Mickelson is the perfect type of player to use off of the bench due to his streaky nature. Every once in a while, Phil blows up and misses a cut. But not here. His last three finishes at the Memorial: T13, T5 and T20. Mickelson ranks 36th on Tour in GIR, 13th in putting and second in scrambling. If you wanted to start him this week, I wouldn't blame you.

Also worth using: Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk and Webb Simpson.

Group B

Rickie Fowler (Starting)

Fowler has been nothing short of awesome lately. Only the slightly more awesome play of Jason Dufner as of late has prevented more people from taking notice of Fowler's play. We won't make that mistake this week. Fowler has finished in the top 10 (T10, first, T2, T5) in his last four events. He has had success here, finishing tied for 22nd last season and second in 2010. He has been very accurate this season, ranking 31st on Tour in driving accuracy and 16th in GIR.

Justin Rose (Starting)

Rose certainly has the accuracy we are looking for here. He is ranked fourth on Tour in GIR and 25th in driving accuracy. He also ranks 14th in scrambling. Rose has played well this season with six top-15 finishes in ten events this season. He won this event back in 2010.

Tiger Woods (Bench)

The truth is that Tiger has the statistics (37th in driving accuracy, 20th in GIR, 19th in putting) and the good history here that we are looking for. But he is even harder to trust than Phil Mickelson these days. It really is a "Good Tiger"/"Bad Tiger" scenario. So stick him on your bench. If "Good Tiger" shows up, feel free to swap him into your starting lineup.

Dustin Johnson (Bench)

There are a ton of decent options for this last bench spot in Group B. I'm going to take a flier on Dustin Johnson who we haven't seen since the beginning of May. Johnson has been very good at hitting greens (24th in GIR) when he has played this season. He has three top 10 finishes in his last four events in 2012. Johnson has a good history here, his last three finishes at the Memorial were: T4, T33 and T14.

Also worth using: Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson, Bo Van Pelt and Ryan Moore.

Group C

Ben Curtis (Starting)

Curtis is another player who has been white-hot as of late. In his last four appearances, Curtis finished as follows: T2, T5, T13 and first. He has had success here, finishing tied for 13th here last season and tied for 28th in 2010. His statistical profile makes him an excellent fit here. Curtis ranks first on Tour in putting, 12th in driving accuracy and eighth in GIR.

Jonathan Byrd (Bench)

Statistically, Byrd isn't a great fit here, although he does rank a respectable 42nd on Tour in putting. But Byrd has been playing extremely well recently. His last three finishes are all top 12 (T10, T12 and T9). He also has a strong history at Muirfield, finishing tied for seventh here last year and tied for third in 2009.

Also worth using: Charl Schwartzel.

Picks for The Golf Channel Fantasy Challenge

Group One: Luke Donald

Group Two: Jim Furyk

Group Three: Brandt Jobe

Group Four: Henrik Stenson

Who to choose in your Weekly Survivor/Eliminator/Earnings League

I don't trust Tiger or Phil here. Lets just get that out of the way. There are a couple of golfers that jump out at me as good options for the Memorial: Steve Stricker, Rickie Fowler and Ben Curtis.

All of these golfers have their merits and they are all excellent fits for this golf course. I'm not particularly inclined to save any of these golfers for future events, although Steve Stricker might fit that mold. Not to mention that Fowler and Curtis are both playing at a much higher level than Stricker right now. So he's out.

This is really a toss-up for me between Ben Curtis and Rickie Fowler. Ultimately, I am going to go with Ben Curtis due to his sizable advantage in putting (first on Tour vs. 122nd for Fowler). Fowler does have a distinct advantage from off the tee, but Fowler isn't the "grinder" that Curtis is and that could ultimately be the difference here.

Already Used

Bryce Molder, Steve Marino, Bill Haas, D.A. Points, Martin Laird, Hunter Mahan, K.J. Choi, Rory McIlroy, Jarrod Lyle, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Charl Schwartzel, John Senden, Bubba Watson, Graeme McDowell, Luke Donald, Bo Van Pelt, Fredrik Jacobson, Charles Howell III, Jim Furyk, Justin Rose, Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson.

Note: Pay attention to your league rules/format. For instance, I am in an Earnings League that has two seasons. One is from the beginning of the year until the U.S. Open, and the other is everything after the Open until the end of the season. In such a format, there are only three events left in Season One, so if this applies to you, now is the time to use your best golfers.

Good luck to all this week. If you have any comments or questions, please use the comments feature or reach out to me on Twitter.

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