Draws and Fades: Scheffler procession in the cards at Muirfield Village

DUBLIN, Ohio – Call it. Scottie Scheffler is winning the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday.

Sorry to those of you who didn’t bet on the world No. 1 to this point, but his second-round 4-under 68 moved him to 9-under and into a three-shot lead at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

Scheffler is three clear of defending champion and FedExCup champion Viktor Hovland (69) and Canadian Adam Hadwin (72) who share second at 6-under.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout (67) and Keegan Bradley (69) sit 5-under with Ludvig Åberg in sixth alone at 4-under.

For a brief moment or two on the back nine Friday, Scheffler appeared to be in a charitable mood for the field, dropping shots at the 11th and 13th holes. But just as others had hope, he slammed their confidence with a sensational eagle at the par-5 15th and a sublime birdie from a fairway bunker on the tough par-4 18th.

Honestly, I don’t see anyone else winning from here so I cannot advocate bets in the outright market, but, good news, there are still markets for winners without Scottie Scheffler and of course place market bets we can look at.

Here are the latest outright odds from BetMGM Sportsbook.

• -190: Scottie Scheffler
• +650: Viktor Hovland
• +1600: Xander Schauffele
• +2000: Ludvig Åberg, Rory McIlroy
• +2500: Adam Hadwin, Keegan Bradley
• +3000: Christiaan Bezuidenhout
• +3500: Collin Morikawa

As you can see, Scheffler is probably too short to bet now, because as we have seen in the past, anything can happen in golf. But there is also no real value in anyone else either.

But here are the latest Winner without Scottie Scheffler odds from BetMGM Sportsbook.

• +350: Viktor Hovland
• +800: Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy
• +900: Ludvig Åberg
• +1000: Adam Hadwin
• +1400: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Keegan Bradley, Collin Morikawa
• +2000: Tony Finau

Draws

Viktor Hovland (+350 Winner without Scottie Scheffler)

When play ended on Friday Hovland was +400 in this market and astute bettors jumped on, moving his price to +350. But I am still ready to advocate the defending Memorial champion to finish higher than anyone not named Scheffler. Hovland is ranked second in Par-5 Scoring this week and in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. He is third in GIR plus Proximity and SG: Approach and is fifth in SG: Off-the-Tee. He is also gaining on the field in SG: Putting.

Ludvig Åberg Top 5 (+175 at DraftKings and FanDuel)

The young Swede sits just outside the top five on the leaderboard at the halfway point and has done so without his best off the tee. I expect him to lift his game in this sense over the weekend and maintain the rage elsewhere. Currently he ranks inside the top 15 in SG: Tee-to-Green, Putting and Around-the-Green.

Akshay Bhatia Top 5 (+650 at DraftKings and FanDuel)

If you want a shot at higher odds what about Bhatia for a top five. Only two late bogeys on the tough finishing holes on Friday moved him outside the top five and the recent TOUR winner sits inside the top 26 on all Strokes Gained metrics this week, led by being third off-the-tee. He leads the field in Par-3 Scoring and hasn’t had a three-putt.

Fade

Rory McIlroy (+800 Winner without Scheffler)

McIlroy sits T7 at 3-under, six behind Scheffler and three behind second place, and as such might appear a juicy option for his fans. But I predict, with the U.S. Open coming next week, Saturday will be a make-or-break front nine for McIlroy. I expect he will take dead aim at early pins and see where it takes him. If he makes a bunch of birdies, sure, he will keep trying to surge. But if he is unable to make early inroads, I can also see the likelihood of his foot coming off the gas.