Now, both men are back in Ohio, among the favorites in a field that includes the likes of Jordan Spieth, Cameron Smith, Collin Morikawa and past Memorial champ Hideki Matsuyama.
There are many big names to consider.
But your mission — should you choose to accept it — is to pick just three as you join the fun on Chirp Golf.
An affiliate of GOLF.com, Chirp is a free-to-play mobile game that features weekly contests including a $5,000 Jackpot Pick ‘Em and other live shot-by-shot prediction games. The game we’re playing here is a Trifecta contest that calls for users to select three players: a favorite, a contender and a long shot.
Nearly 1,000 users have already signed up for this week’s Trifecta, a healthy sample size that gives us a sense of where public opinion is leaning.
In the favorite’s category, (players ranked 1-20 in the world), Rahm has the strongest backing so far, with 25.84 percent of the vote. Rory McIlroy is the next most popular pick, at 17.66 percent, followed by Smith and Spieth, at 11.95 percent each.
Among the contenders (ranked 21-60 in the world), Patrick Reed leads the way with 28.96 of the votes, giving him a healthy edge over Adam Scott, who ranks second at 12.47 percent. Mito Pereira is in third place, at 8.44 percent.
As for the long shots, Rickie Fowler (27.40 percent), Jason Day (18.96 percent) and Joel Dahmen (11.69) rank 1, 2 and 3.
A golf, food and travel writer, Josh Sens has been a GOLF Magazine contributor since 2004 and now contributes across all of GOLF’s platforms. His work has been anthologized in The Best American Sportswriting. He is also the co-author, with Sammy Hagar, of Are We Having Any Fun Yet: the Cooking and Partying Handbook.