Patrick Cantlay can pick up win trifecta

Both days of the Memorial Tournament so far, have proven to be very interesting. Davis Riley was your First Round Leader, opening with a 5-under par 67. On Friday, he shot a 6- over par 78. Xander Schauffele went the other way, shooting a 5-over par round on Thursday and a 6-under par 66 on Friday. Your defending champion, Billy Horschel kicked off his title defense on Thursday with an 84. He was even par for his round on Friday and missed the cut by nine shots.

Justin Suh is your 36-hole leader at 8 under par. Hideki Matsuyama trails by a shot and Patrick Cantlay trails by two. Rory McIlroy is four back at 4 under par for the tournament along with Rickie Fowler. Justin Thomas continues to struggle and missed the cut by firing two straight rounds of 75. Jason Day bogeyed the 18th hole on Friday to miss his second straight cut after winning the AT&T Byron Nelson four weeks ago.

The 72-Hole Winning Score proposition bet was hung at 274.5, meaning one can bet lesser or greater than 13.5 under par to win the Memorial. The opening round by Riley at 5 under was well ahead of pace but that pace slowed a bit on Friday with Suh at 8 under through two rounds. The weekend is calling for more wind than we have seen so far, but still, nothing crazy is expected as the forecast is only listing between 10-15 mph for both Saturday and Sunday.

Most of the big names are still going to be around for the weekend. Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, and Tyrrell Hatton are at 4, 3, and 2 under par, respectively. Scottie Scheffler made the cut but is 11 shots back of the leader at 3 over par for the tournament.

I think there is a ton of golf tournament left here and calculating what is going to happen over the next two days is for sure, not being served up on a platter to us. There are a number of people who can still win this. At the halfway point, there are 20 golfers within six shots or less of the lead.

Two-time Memorial winner, Patrick Cantlay is the current favorite at +350. Also, a former winner, Hideki Matsuyama is the second choice at +450 despite leading Cantlay by a shot. Yet another former Memorial champ, Jon Rahm, is the third choice at +600.

DRAWS

Patrick Cantlay (+350)

Cantlay fired a solid 1-under par round on Thursday and came up big on Friday with a 5-under par 67 to get to 6 under par for the tournament. What is odd, is he has done so while losing strokes with the putter to the field all the while. He's been excellent tee to green and is second in the field for Scrambling, converting on 12 of 14 opportunities. If the putter comes around, even just a little bit, he will be in line to shake Mr. Nicklaus' hand for a third time on Sunday

Si Woo Kim (+1600)

Kim was right there at the Byron Nelson, chasing Jason Day, only to come up just short in the end. He's in position to be in the hunt once again at 5 under par for the tournament. Nearly identical to Cantlay, he's been spot on tee to green and around the greens but is losing nearly a stroke to the field with the putter. He too will be tough to beat if some putts start to fall over the weekend.

FADES

Viktor Hovland (+3500)

Hovland was a popular pre-tournament pick to win this week and it makes sense given what he did at the PGA Championship and at Colonial last week. He showed some signs of slipping on the back nine last week and I personally wondered if he was finally ready to crash a bit after such a grueling PGA Championship, being right there with Brooks Koepka all the way until the final few holes. Trailing by six shots with such great company tied or ahead of him this week, I think he probably has too much ground to make up - and I still wonder if he is finally going to have that post-PGA letdown. +3500 looks juicy on a player that has been so hot as of late but really, I think his odds ought to be close to twice this price to pull it off.