Memorial Tournament 2024 Predictions: Two tips for Ohio event

The US PGA Tour moves on to Ohio this week, with The Memorial Tournament bringing out the big names in the game.

The latest event begins on Thursday, 6th June, with the iconic Muirfield Village Golf Club course - measuring in at 7,392 yards - playing host.

The tournament will be shown in the UK on Sky Sports Golf, with Thursday’s coverage due to start at 5pm BST.

Viktor Hovland claimed the $3.6million winner’s cheque in 2023 and the Norwegian will be back to defend his title this week.

The Ryder Cup star won the event after a play-off success over Denny McCarthy 12 months ago, with Hovland becoming the second European in four years to win the tournament - following Jon Rahm’s victory in 2020.

Patrick Cantlay is a two-time winner of the Memorial, with victories in 2019 and 2021, but it’s Tiger Woods who holds the record for the most titles - after five tournament wins at Muirfield Village.

It’s a surprise to look down the Memorial Tournament roll of honour and not to see Rory McIlroy’s name on the list of winners.

The world number three finished tied-seventh in this event last year, challenging for the title prior to a frustrating Sunday - when he carded a three-over-par final round 75.

In fact, McIlroy’s last four finishes at Muirfield Village read T7–T18–T18–T32 and he goes into this week’s tournament in impressive form.

The Northern Irishman already has two PGA titles to his name in 2024 - the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the Wells Fargo Championship - and has since then recorded two top-15 finishes.

His T12 finish at the PGA Championship was followed by a T4 spot at last week’s Canadian Open, which saw him card rounds of 65 and 64 over the weekend.

McIlroy is ranked second in Driving stats going into this week’s event and perhaps more significantly, the 35-year-old is eighth on Tour in the ‘Birdie or Better’ percentage.

After back-to-back PGA Tour wins in May 2022, Sam Burns has not won a stroke-play tournament since then, although he looks to be getting closer to ending that run.

The man from Louisiana - who won the WGC-Match Play event in March 2023 - has dropped outside of the top-25 in the world rankings.

Burns though has shown real signs of encouragement in the last few weeks, which includes two top-15 finishes in his last three tournaments.

The American was tied second after the first round at the Canadian Open after a Thursday 63, eventually finishing T10 in Hamilton.

Burns also enjoyed a decent showing at Muirfield Village in 2023, finishing T16 on level par - seven shots behind winner Hovland.

The 27-year-old is ranked 12th in Total Driving, but is 56th in Total Putting and will need to have a good week with the flat stick to contend this week.