Andrew's Memorial Health (KFT) Preview

The KFT enjoyed a week off, and we wrapped up the most recent competition in our English Open (HPT) Preview, so let’s waste no time in getting stuck in once more!

The Tournament

Yes, the KFT is back, and whilst some of the players will be recovering from a tough week at Shinnecock, this was a week off for most of these players, and given that plenty also skipped the Amarillo event, this will be a return from a welcome midseason break for plenty of these players. Let’s hope the energy leads to plenty of birdies and a great competition.

The course is certainly set up to give birdies. We’re back at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Illinois, for the Memorial Health. Other than the name, this has zero similarities with the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio. The 7,130 yard par-71 is a very straightforward course, and in winning with a -25 (259) Austin Smotherman did nothing out of the ordinary for a winner here. In fact, Taylor Moore and Paul Haley both went 257 in winning the 2021 and 2022 tournaments. With nothing tricky in the forecast, we can expect something similar this year.

In pulling together my preview for this event last year (in which, I see, I made the same joke about the Memorial, and also described the event as “meh” – which I stand by) I said that accuracy over power was the key. I think that’s right, and Smotherman’s win, whilst I didn’t pick him, proved my point. He’s an accurate driver and decent wedge player who contends on weeks when he putts well. I think that’s the formula here. 

The Selections

This is a market headed by Blades Brown, and why wouldn’t it be? He’s the best player in the field and on a very solid run. For all that, he’s yet to win as a professional and is short enough in the market on a course that probably isn’t long enough for him to show his absolute best. Ben Kohles, meanwhile, is ideally suited to this challenge but the odds aren’t there for me to back him for a second win. Cooper Dossey would certainly have been a consideration but a rough outing in the U.S. Open has put me off. Let’s look just a little further down the market.

First of my list is Carson Young. The second most talented C. Young in the game, Carson is an excellent putter (ranked second in putting average and fourth in putts per round) and extremely accurate from the tee (seventh,) numbers that are in line with his career playing style. He’s mixed time between the KFT and PGA this year but in eight completed KFT starts he’s finished in the top ten three times, with 17^th and eighth in his last two starts. If his iron play can be even reasonable, which is the worry, he’s going to be tough to beat. There probably isn’t an easy course for approach play on the circuit.

My second pick from the top of the market is John Pak, who I simply couldn’t leave off as, unlike Young, he’s shown a little more with his irons recently. Indeed, following shots gained (which only kick in from the start of the USA section of the calendar) he ranks 13^th in approach. On an old-fashioned, season-long basis, he’s 34^th in GiR, but also eighth in driving accuracy and 16^th in putting. This all-round excellence is showing up on the leaderboard, too, as he’s coming here off back-to-back top-tens, to go with his second place in the Club Car back in March. A return to the PGA tour looks likely and he can get even closer with a win here.

Finally, at a longer price I like Andrew Kozan, who was sixth last time out, and who is probably the hottest putter in the field (first in SG: putting and sixth in putting average.) He’s accurate and solid but unspectacular from tee to green but given his current form I would expect him to be significantly better than he was in this event last year (when he finished 40^th, after two missed cuts.) This is nothing more than a value pick of a talented amateur who has had a slow few years – he won on the KFT in Utah in his first year as a professional back in 2022 but hasn’t done much since. He can absolutely step back up to that level and surprise lots of people and my bookmaker.

• Carson Young, 25/1, 1pt e/w, 1/4 odds 5 places, Bet365

• John Pak, 33/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 6 places, Fitzdares

• Andrew Kozan, 200/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 6 places, Fitzdares