The second-to-last Signature Event of the 2025 PGA Tour season is upon us this week with the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, aka Jack's Place.
Nicklaus' answer to the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Muirfield often stands as one of the sternest tests on the schedule outside of the majors, and the best players on the Tour, minus Rory McIlroy anyway, are making their annual pilgrimage to Dublin, Ohio, many of whom are teeing it up for the final time before the U.S. Open.
The most important skills for Muirfield are strong iron play, keeping the ball in the fairway, and being able to scramble very well. This course is consistently one of the most challenging courses on Tour when it comes to strokes gained around the green, so players who have strong short games can lift and separate above the rest of the field.
We're shooting for an eighth straight winner this week after Ben Griffin took home the Plaid Jacket at the Charles Schwab Challenge this past week, and with a limited field, it should be easier to hit the winner again.
We've done very well in the bigger events this year, so let's keep that form going.
Honorable Mentions: Russell Henley, Si Woo Kim, Hideki Matsuyama, Denny McCarthy, Andrew Novak
9. Matt Fitzpatrick
After a very poor start to his 2025, Matt Fitzpatrick seems to have turned a corner and appears ready to make his push for the European Ryder Cup team this fall.
His T8 at the PGA Championship two weeks ago was the first real sign of life we've seen from the 2022 U.S. Open champion, but his trends set up well for Muirfield this week.
Fitzpatrick has had four straight starts of plus-strokes gained approach play, and seven straight starts of plus-strokes gained around the green play. Pair that with back-to-back top 10s at the Memorial, and you get someone who is on the cusp of fully being back.
8. Alex Noren
Once a top-10 player in the world, Alex Noren is finally back from the hamstring injury that sidelined him for several months and has already shown signs of being healed by playing his way into the final group on Sunday at the PGA Championship.
The 42-year-old Swede has been up and down at Muirfield in the past, but I expect the current form to continue.
Noren's strengths in his game are his irons and his short game, and we saw that from him at Quail Hollow when he was scrambling his face off to stay in contention.
While there isn't a large sample size from this season to go off, his run last year pre-injury shows that the 10-time DP World Tour winner is banging on the door for his first career PGA Tour victory (he's lucky Tommy Fleetwood exists to take all of the Colin Montgomerie comparisons from him).
7. Viktor Hovland
Viktor Hovland hasn't really threatened much since his win at the Valspar earlier this year, making that feel a bit more like an outlier as we move farther away from it. However, Muirfield has been kind to Viktor in the past, which makes me more confident in his chances.
Hovland won here in 2023 en route to his FedEx Cup title, and finished T15 last year in the midst of a very inconsistent season. His irons have been his strong suit, and the short game seems to finally be stabilizing once again.
I don't believe all that strongly that Hovland will win a second Memorial this year, but his being in contention over the weekend wouldn't surprise me one bit.
6. Collin Morikawa
Does Collin Morikawa have a case for the most disappointing player of 2025 so far? It's probably between him and Patrick Cantlay, but this week feels like a good spot for Collin to bounce back.
His PGA Championship performance was bizarre, as he uncharacteristically lost strokes to the field in approach play, which is usually his strong suit. I'm willing to throw that out as a one-off and expect the two-time major winner to return to his normal form this week.
He came one shot short of a playoff with Scottie last year, has won on this golf course before (albeit during the 2020 Workday Charity Open, a COVID fill-in), and seems like he needed a bit of a reset after the PGA. Morikawa should put in another good performance this week.
5. Corey Conners
If Corey Conners' short game were a little stronger, he would be a mortal lock for this week. The Canadian has had plus-strokes gained off the tee for nine straight starts and plus-strokes gained approach play for the last eight.
My only worry is that Conners is a little bit of a horse for specific courses, as his best finishes are all at Valero, Bay Hill, or TPC Sawgrass for the most part.
His track record isn't overly strong at Muirfield, but it appears that he has finally adjusted to the renovations made prior to the 2021 tournament. If he can put together a decent week around the greens, Conners should be right there come Sunday afternoon.
4. Justin Thomas
This pick is much more focused on Justin Thomas' strong play in Signature Events this year than his track record at the Memorial post-renovation. The PGA was a major disappointment for JT, and he should be able to use that poor performance to light a fire within him this week, much like his play at the RBC Heritage after a disappointing Masters.
The putter has been arguably his strongest skill this year, and bringing that to Muirfield with good iron play and solid short game should set Thomas up for his first true contention at Jack's Place since 2020.
3. Sepp Straka
Breakout player of the season Sepp Straka refuses to play well in majors, but will play super well in Signature Events.
His irons have been lights out this season, and Muirfield Village is a course where he has performed very well the last couple of years, including a T5 last year that could have been better if not for a Sunday 76.
Straka's definitely not a perfect fit for Muirfield, but he clearly knows how to navigate this course and utilize his strengths to compensate for any shortcomings in his game. Considering how strong his 2025 has been, the Austrian should be able to keep his hot form up in Ohio this weekend.
2. Xander Schauffele
I've been trying to pinpoint the week where Xander Schauffele truly returns to form and breaks through in what has been a lost season for him so far.
His last start at the PGA wasn't the result he hoped for in his title defense, but his form at Muirfield should give Xander a great shot at his first win this year.
Schauffele has played the Memorial seven times and has finished in the top 25 six times, including a career-best T8 last season. If Xander can find fairways this week, he's going to be borderline unbeatable. Except for...
1. Scottie Scheffler
Another week, another C-plus performance from Scottie Scheffler that still resulted in a top-five finish at Colonial.
It was concerning to see Scottie wince during the Charles Schwab last week, but hopefully whatever flared up that caused it isn't anything that will cause him to miss more time this year.
The defending champion, Scheffler has finished in the top three in his last three starts at the Memorial, which have all come after the renovation work.
He's going to be No. 1 in my rankings until he gives me a reason not to put him here, as he hasn't finished outside of the top 25 in a single event this year. And in a Rory-less field this week, it's going to be Scottie versus everyone else.