The 2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings

0
Patrick Cantlay Jon Rahm Power Rankings
Patrick Cantlay steps onto the 8th tee box as Jon Rahm steps off during the second round of the TOUR Championship at Eastlake GC on Sept 3, 2021 in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Ben Jared / PGA TOUR via Getty Images)

Jack’s Place has quite a bar to reach this week, as the last two PGA Tour events have seen victors that were seven strokes behind the Saturday leader.

While that is unlikely to happen a third time, The Memorial Tournament has consistently been one of the strongest non-majors on Tour, and this year’s edition is no different.

It has been the Jon Rahm Show the last two years, but a leaderboard featuring eleven of the top 15 in the OWGR is determined to not see it go that route this time. Where does Rahm place among the biggest challengers to the title? Here’s our top 15:

15. Keegan Bradley

Keegan Bradley PGA Tour
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Keegan Bradley plays a shot on the 18th green during the first day of the WGC-Dell Match Play at Austin CC on Mar 23, 2022 in Austin, TX. (Photo by Gregory Shamus via Getty Images)

In search of his first victory since the 2017-18 season, Bradley has found himself in the mix on a number of occasions this season, with four top-10s on his record since March. He has plenty of experience at Muirfield Village as well, having notched a pair of 8th place finishes in both 2015 and 2016. Bradley has made 14 of 17 cuts this season and ranks inside the top 30 in four of the six strokes gained categories. And even among the two he isn’t, he’s still in the positive, and has improved his putting rank to 98th after finishing outside the top 170 the four seasons prior.

World Rank: 46th
Odds To Win: 50-1
Last Six Starts: 48, 2, 8, 35, MC, 5
Best Memorial Finish: 8th (2016, 2015)


14. Mito Pereira

Mito Pereira 2022 PGA Championship
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Mito Pereira reacts on the 18th green during the third round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills CC on May 21, 2022 in Tulsa, OK. (Photo by Andrew Redington via Getty Images)

It says a lot about Pereira’s toughness that he was able to shake off that heartbreak from the PGA Championship and finish T7 at last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge. The Chilean ranks fourth on Tour in greens in regulation and has four top-20s in his last five Tour starts. This might be his Muirfield Village debut, but his game is in an excellent place at the moment.

World Rank: 45th
Odds To Win: 50-1
Last Six Starts: 7, 3, 17, 26, 13, 27
Best Memorial Finish: Debut (2022)


13. Cameron Smith

Cameron Smith wins THE PLAYERS Championship 2022
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Cameron Smith hits a shot on the 15th hole during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on Mar 14, 2022 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (Photo by David Cannon via Getty Images)

The 28-year-old Aussie leads the Tour in strokes gained: approach-the-green, is second in scoring average, and is third in FedExCup points, world ranking, and strokes gained: total, as part of a stellar season where he has won twice, including at THE PLAYERS Championship. Smith has been very poor at The Memorial, missing four of six cuts and failing to finish better than 65th, but he has just been too good to not expect his best performance to come this week. He has a way of finding birdies in places where they are typically hard to find.

World Rank: 3rd
Odds To Win: 18-1
Last Six Starts: 13, MC, 3, 1, 33, 4
Best Memorial Finish: 65th (2017)


12. Joaquin Niemann

Joaquin Niemann Mayakoba Golf Classic at El Camaleon Mayakoba
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Joaquin Niemann plays his shot from the 7th tee during the second round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic at El Camaleon Mayakoba GC on Nov 9, 2018 in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins via Getty Images)

The 23-year-old Chilean nearly had his breakthrough performance in this event in 2018, when he opened 65-68 to hold the 36-hole advantage. He ended up finishing T6, and has missed his last two Memorial cuts, but that stellar debut performance should lead many to believe he will be regularly relevant in this event. Currently, Niemann ranks 12th on Tour in both strokes gained: tee-to-green and scoring average and notched a win earlier this year at the Genesis Invitational, a non-major with an even stronger field than this one.

World Rank: 18th
Odds To Win: 33-1
Last Six Starts: 23, 25, 12, 35, 22, MC
Best Memorial Finish: 6th (2018)


11. Collin Morikawa

Collin Morikawa
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Collin Morikawa on the 9th hole during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial CC on May 26, 2022 in Fort Worth, TX. (Photo by Ben Jared / PGA TOUR via Getty Images)

The world No. 4 is nowhere near his best form, finishing outside the top 40 in his last two starts, but Morikawa has a history here, reaching a playoff with Patrick Cantlay a year ago and winning the Workday Charity Open when it was moved to Muirfield Village due to COVID. Morikawa’s return to the spotlight is just a matter of when, and this is a place that seems to get out the best in him.

World Rank: 4th
Odds To Win: 18-1
Last Six Starts: 40, 55, 26, 5, 68, MC
Best Memorial Finish: 6th (2018)


10. Xander Schauffele

Xander Schauffele
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Xander Schauffele plays a shot from the 14th tee during the third round of the 2022 PGA Championship at the Southern Hills on May 21, 2022 in Tulsa, OK. (Photo by Montana Pritchard / PGA of America via Getty Images)

The gold medal winner and five-time Tour champion has not quite been at the top of his game in the 2022 season. However, he is trending upwards, having chased a win while teamed up with Patrick Cantlay at the Zurich Classic with a T5 at the AT&T Byron Nelson, where he shot a final-round 61, and a T13 at the PGA Championship. Ranking ninth on Tour in strokes gained: tee-to-green, he is a good bet to post another excellent result, having placed T14-T13-T11 in his last three Memorial attempts.

World Rank: 11th
Odds To Win: 18-1
Last Six Starts: 13, 5, MC, 12, MC, 13
Best Memorial Finish: 11th (2018)


9. Cameron Young

Cameron Young
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Cameron Young reacts to his putt on the 10th green during the final round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills CC on May 22, 2022 in Tulsa, OK. (Photo by Maddie Meyer / PGA of America via Getty Images)

The Tour rookie has been hard to miss as of late, having notched finishes inside the top three in his last three starts, and he contended to the end at the PGA Championship. With three runner-ups and two additional third-place finishes in 17 starts, his first victory feels imminent. The only thing keeping him from placing even higher in these rankings is that this is his Memorial debut, not that inexperience has seemed to hinder him anywhere else.

World Rank: 30th
Odds To Win: 33-1
Last Six Starts: 3, 2, 3, MC, MC, 13
Best Memorial Finish: Debut (2022)


8. Shane Lowry

Shane Lowry
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Shane Lowry hits his shot from the 14th tee during the first round of the 2022 PGA Championship at the Southern Hills on May 19, 2022 in Tulsa, OK. (Photo by Darren Carroll / PGA of America via Getty Images)

The popular Irishman is having one of his strongest PGA Tour seasons, ranking 26th in the FedExCup standings despite just 11 starts, and he has finished outside the top 25 in just one of his last eight starts, which was a match-play event. Both Lowry’s long and short game have been excellent in 2022, and many would be surprised to learn that he boasts the Tour’s third-best scoring average. He has been hit-or-miss at The Memorial, but was T6 a year ago, playing Sunday in 2-under 70 despite carding bogeys on three of his first four holes.

World Rank: 27th
Odds To Win: 25-1
Last Six Starts: 23, 3, 3, 12, 13, 2
Best Memorial Finish: 6th (2021)


7. Jordan Spieth

Jordan Spieth
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Jordan Spieth hits a shot on the 1st hole during the third round of the Charles Schwab Challenge on May 28, 2022 at Colonial CC in Fort Worth, TX. (Photo by George Walker / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Has a win and a runner-up among three top-10s in his last four starts, so he is definitely in form, even if a T7 at his hometown event last week felt like a mild letdown. It seems crazy that Speith is now old enough to have played The Memorial nine times, and six of those starts have resulted in a finish inside the top 20, including a third-place finish in 2015. His putting has been an adventure this season, but Spieth ranks inside the top 25 in every non-putting strokes gained category. He should be considered a threat here.

World Rank: 10th
Odds To Win: 20-1
Last Six Starts: 7, 34, 2, 1, MC, 35
Best Memorial Finish: 3rd (2015)


6. Hideki Matsuyama

Hideki Matsuyama
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Hideki Matsuyama lines up a putt on the 13th green during the first round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills CC on May 19, 2022 in Tulsa, OK. (Photo by Richard Heathcote via Getty Images)

The now 30-year-old notched the first of eight career victories in this tournament, ousting Kevin Na in a 2014 playoff. Since then, he has two other top-6 finishes at Muirfield Village and is in the midst of a season with two victories and is fifth on both the money list and the FedExCup points list. He is on the brink of earning more money by early June than he did all of last season, a season which included a green jacket being added to his wardrobe.

World Rank: 12th
Odds To Win: 25-1
Last Six Starts: 60, 3, 14, 20, 39, 8
Best Memorial Finish: 1st (2014)


5. Patrick Cantlay

Patrick Cantlay
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Patrick Cantlay lines up a putt on the 9th green during the second round of the Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana on April 22, 2022 in Avondale, LA. (Photo by Chris Graythen via Getty Images)

Regardless of whether you put an asterisk on Cantlay’s Memorial victory a year ago, as he was the chief beneficiary of Jon Rahm’s positive COVID test on Saturday, it’s indisputable that he has been tremendous in this event, having also won the 2019 edition and finishing fourth the year prior. As for the current state of his game, that is a bit more puzzling. The reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year was in the midst of a slump but appeared to have broken out with a runner-up finish at the RBC Heritage and a win while teamed up with Xander Schauffele at the Zurich Classic. However, he was 11-over when he missed the weekend two weeks ago at the PGA Championship. Nothing would be shocking, but it seems like he’s much more likely than not to be part of the leader mix.

World Rank: 6th
Odds To Win: 25-1
Last Six Starts: MC, 2, 39, MC, 33, 2
Best Memorial Finish: 1st (2021, 2019)


4. Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Rory McIlroy walks on the 9th hole during the final round of the 2022 PGA Championship at the Southern Hills on May 22, 2022 in Tulsa, OK. (Photo by Montana Pritchard / PGA of America via Getty Images)

Rory held the 18-hole lead at the PGA Championship two weeks ago, but his performance as a whole (solo eighth-place finish) just led to more questions than answers for the man who has been sitting at four major championships since 2014’s PGA Championship. As far as this event is concerned, he has gone 2-5-8 in his last three Tour starts and leads the Tour in scoring average. He is also putting together one of his best seasons with his putter. McIlroy has four top-10s in ten starts at Muirfield Village, with a best result of T4 in 2016.

World Rank: 8th
Odds To Win: 11-1
Last Six Starts: 8, 5, 2, MC, 33, 13
Best Memorial Finish: 4th (2016)


3. Matt Fitzpatrick

Matt Fitzpatrick
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Matt Fitzpatrick plays his shot from the 13th tee during the final round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills CC on May 22, 2022 in Tulsa, OK. (Photo by Andrew Redington via Getty Images)

Currently ranked 15th in the OWGR, the consistent Englishman continues to stalk a first career Tour victory to add to the seven he has in Europe. He disappointed in the final round of the PGA Championship two weeks ago, when everything was set up for him to win, but his recent play is still impressive, with eight finishes inside the top 20, six of those being top-10s, in ten 2022 calendar year starts. He has also contended at The Memorial before, carding the best Sunday score (by far) two years ago when he finished solo-third. He currently leads the Tour in strokes gained: total.

World Rank: 15th
Odds To Win: 25-1
Last Six Starts: 5, 2, MC, 14, 18, 5
Best Memorial Finish: 3rd (2020)


2. Will Zalatoris

Will Zalatoris
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Will Zalatoris plays a shot on the 16th hole during the final round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills on May 22, 2022 in Tulsa, OK. (Photo by David Cannon via Getty Images)

We’re not concerned about a missed cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge last week, given that he was in a playoff at the PGA Championship the week prior. If anything, it helps that he had last weekend to recover. Zalatoris is at his best in the biggest events, and it would seem fitting if he had his breakthrough Tour victory at Jack’s place. He compares well with a number of Muirfield Village champions and leads the Tour in strokes gained: tee-to-green. This is very much a course for shotmakers.

World Rank: 14th
Odds To Win: 28-1
Last Six Starts: MC, 2, MC, 6, 26, 38
Best Memorial Finish: Debut (2022)


1. Jon Rahm

Jon Rahm
2022 Memorial Tournament Power Rankings: Jon Rahm plays a shot from the 16th tee during the first round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills on May 19, 2022 in Tulsa, OK. (Photo by Sam Greenwood via Getty Images)

He has one victory at The Memorial in three attempts, but everyone knows he should have two. In 2020, he built such a massive lead that he won by three strokes despite a Sunday 75, and last year, he held a six-stroke lead through 54 holes before being forced to withdraw after a positive COVID test. The world No. 2 has not been in his best form in 2022, and a T48 two weeks ago at the PGA Championship was disappointing, but there’s too much confidence on this course to predict anything resembling a letdown.

World Rank: 2nd
Odds To Win: 10-1
Last Six Starts: 48, 1, 27, 55, 17, 21
Best Memorial Finish: 1st (2020)


Next Five: Davis Riley, Max Homa, Seamus Power, Jason Day, Tom Hoge


Advertisement

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your name here