Handicapper guns for 2nd straight PGA Tour winner at The Memorial
Jason Kokrak delivered a 62-1 winner for handicapper Wes Reynolds in the Review-Journal last week at the Charles Schwab Challenge, prevailing by two strokes over Jordan Spieth.
Reynolds, co-host of VSIN’s “Long Shots” golf betting show, will try to make it two winners in a row at The Memorial Tournament, which is hosted by Jack Nicklaus and tees off Thursday at Muirfield Village near Columbus, Ohio.
Defending event champion Jon Rahm is the +1,275 favorite at Circa Sports, and Spieth is the 17-1 second choice, followed by a pack of seven golfers at 19-1.
Here are Reynolds’ (@WesReynolds1) best bets, with comments on each:
Tony Finau, 30-1
“Finau ended up a disappointing eighth at The Memorial last year after being the 36-hole leader. He has four finishes of 13th or better here and has a good history on Nicklaus layouts.
“His putter went awry on Sunday at the Colonial (Country Club), but his tee-to-green game looked in great shape.”
Corey Conners, 30-1
“While he has cooled a bit from his torrid form in March and April, his ball-striking game has stayed true. Although he finished 20th last week at Colonial, he was once again in the top 10 in the field for approach and tee to green.
Patrick Reed, 38-1
“While Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka have their kerfuffle to determine who is the bigger heel on the PGA Tour, the original heel has drifted up to a nice price here. Reed’s form does not leap off the page, but he does have a couple of top 10s here and is certainly capable.”
Charley Hoffman, 50-1
“The UNLV product shot the low Sunday round at Colonial, with a 5-under 65, to finish tied for third at the Charles Schwab Challenge. He also comes into The Memorial off his best-ever finish at Muirfield Village last year, when he finished seventh.
Gary Woodland, 61-1
“Woodland’s game has slowly come back into shape from being well off the grid last season. He also has three top-six finishes here, including a fifth last year on this course at the Workday.”
Matt Wallace, 80-1
“Wallace has had a couple of finishes down the leaderboard after placing third at the Valero and sixth at the Wells Fargo over a six-week span. The Englishman is just trickling outside of the world’s top 50 rankings and is still seeking his first breakthrough win on American soil.”
Troy Merritt, 175-1
“Merritt matched Hoffman for the low round of the day Sunday with a 65 and may be able to build on that this week.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.