As the appetizer for this weekend’s Memorial Invitational, the Workday Charity Open delivered. After being atop the leaderboard all weekend and a brief dip on Sunday, Collin Morikawa rallied over the final three holes and playoff to take down favorite Justin Thomas.
The players will play another week at Muirfield Village for Jack Nicklaus’s tournament. By Jack and for Jack, the stars will be all over Dublin this weekend. Man on fire Bryson DeChambeau is back in the mix, as is Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, and Tiger for the first time post quarantine. The top golfers in the world will be on display, creating some great buying opportunities during the IPO.
Adjustments will need to be made for the golfers who are double-dipping: reports from the grounds crew tell us that they will not be trimming the rough at all and the greens will be firmed up to roll faster than during the Workday. Also, the tee boxes and pins that were moved for last week (8, 11, and 15) will return to their usual locations.
Here are the Fair Value ranks among the field and who looks like they could outperform their projected prices:
The Tiger Tier
Tiger Woods- Making just his 3rd start in 2020, and first since the season resumed, all eyes will be on the the GOAT. 5-time winner at Memorial (last one coming in 2012), Tiger fans are hoping for a strong showing against an incredibly deep field. We could quote Fair Value numbers here ($7.55), but we all know he’s going to IPO for substantially more. You want to root for Tiger? You better be willing to shell out a few extra chips. But golf’s more fun when he’s in there, so why not? If he wins, do you want to be the one who didn’t own shares?
The Favorites
Patrick Cantlay- A hot pick last weekend, Cantlay stumbled out of the gate. He still managed to wind up in a tie for 7th after shooting a 65 on Sunday. The defending champ at Memorial has the 3rd highest SG:APP among the field at Muirfield and is riding some momentum into this week.
Xander Schauffele- Finishing in a tie for 14th at the Workday, I like Schauffele’s value at $7.86 this week. He was among the top 15 players in SG:APP last week and has finished top 10 in four of the last seven majors. Look for his string of strong play to continue.
Viktor Hovland- He’s ready, he’s knocking on the door, any week now could be his week. Hovland is the first golfer since shots gained has been tracked (2004) to lead in SG:TTG for three consecutive weeks. If he can just be average on the greens, he will be right up there with the leaders again.
Middle Tier
Hideki Matsuyama- After a hot start at the Workday, Matsuyama was the second highest priced player on the market after Friday before falling off the proverbial cliff over the weekend. Our players know that when he gets hot, there are few better players on the Tour. Until he gets to the green, that is.
Daniel Berger- Making his return to action this week, Berger will aim to stay on his torrid pace so far this season. He’s secured five consecutive top 10 finishes, including a victory at the Charles Schwab Challenge. For $6.73? That’s chump change for one of the Tour’s more underrated players.
Abraham Ancer- Ancer has not finished lower than 14th since the return to action and leads the field in SG:APP over that same span. A short layoff may have some forgetting about Ancer, do not make that mistake.
A Dark Horse
Keegan Bradley- Mr. Hole-in-1 was actually the clubhouse leader in SG:APP at the Workday despite his finish outside the top 35. That’s enough to sprinkle a little cash on his $4.13 IPO
