2026 Memorial Tournament pool picks: start with the floor

The Memorial Tournament is at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, with the PGA TOUR field page showing a 72-player field for the 2026 event. The PGA TOUR course page lists Muirfield Village as a par 72 at 7,569 yards, so this is not a week to build only around hot putters or short-course birdie streaks.

For pool entries, the main rule is simple: start with golfers who are likely to give you four rounds. Muirfield can create separation, but it also punishes loose weeks. If your pool uses OB-style missed-cut scoring, one dead name can erase a lot of Sunday upside.

Scottie Scheffler is the cleanest anchor. The PGA TOUR field has him No. 1 in OWGR, Data Golf has him No. 1 in its field ranking, and the recent Memorial history points straight back to him. In most 12-pick pools, fading Scheffler just to be different is usually too cute.

Rory McIlroy is the other obvious top-shelf name. The field has him at No. 2 in OWGR, and Data Golf lists him near the top of the field as well. He does not need to be your only anchor, but he belongs near the top of the pool card if your format gives you enough picks.

Cameron Young is the more aggressive core option. He is No. 3 in OWGR on the PGA TOUR field page and has enough scoring upside to matter if the leaders separate. I like him more as an anchor paired with Scheffler or McIlroy than as a lonely first pick.

Russell Henley and Tommy Fleetwood are exactly the type of names I want in this pool. Henley is No. 5 in OWGR in the posted field, Fleetwood is No. 8, and both fit a Muirfield build that values ball-striking and weekend stability over a pure longshot chase.

Xander Schauffele and Ludvig Åberg are also easy to use. Xander gives you the major-week floor that plays well in almost any pool format. Åberg brings a little more volatility, but he has the talent to be more than just a made-cut pick.

Patrick Cantlay and Hideki Matsuyama deserve a look because Muirfield is not new to them. Cantlay’s name always comes up around this course, and Matsuyama has the iron-play profile you want here. They are not automatic over the top three, but they are useful if your pool is going to duplicate the same Scheffler-McIlroy-Xander core.

Sepp Straka, Si Woo Kim, Ben Griffin, Justin Thomas, and Akshay Bhatia are the kind of middle names that can decide a pool. They are strong enough to be real picks, but not so automatic that every entry will have the same card.

Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth are name-value calls. Both are in the field, but I would use them only after the safer part of the card is built. In a small pool, you may not need that much volatility. In a larger pool, one of them can make sense if you need a different path.

Tony Finau, Wyndham Clark, and Sungjae Im are good examples of why a pool card should not be built only from familiar names. All three can absolutely beat this guide, but the current field/ranking context makes me want safer choices first.

That does not mean you cross them off. It means you decide what role they are playing. If Finau or Clark is your seventh or eighth pick in a 12-pick format, fine. If one of them is supposed to be your main anchor at Muirfield, I would rather use a cleaner top-of-field profile.

For a normal Golf Pools Pro pool, I would start with two anchors from Scheffler, McIlroy, Young, Xander, Henley, and Fleetwood. Then add three or four steady names from the next tier: Åberg, Cantlay, Matsuyama, Straka, Si Woo Kim, Griffin, Thomas, or Bhatia.

Use the last few spots for pool-size strategy. In a small group, stay boring and avoid missed cuts. In a bigger group, use one or two separators like Fowler, Spieth, or another mid-tier name you trust. The goal is not to be clever on every line. It is to keep enough golfers alive so your best counted scores still have Sunday upside.

Create the pool early, send the invite link, and remind players that entries lock automatically before the first tee time Thursday. If you are using tiers or Clubhouse Chaos, make sure groups are locked once the field is set so players know exactly where their picks come from.

Keep the rules simple: number of golfers, how many scores count, whether OB/missed-cut scoring is on, and when picks lock. If someone asks how to start, point them to the create-pool CTA on this page and the rules page before entries close.