Fresh off the season’s final major, the PGA Tour heads to Memphis this week for the WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational. It’s rare to see a major and WGC tournament on back-to-back weeks, but the new schedule plays out that way. The St. Jude also gets a step up in status as the final WGC of the season. While the WGC will be played on a different course, TPC Southwind is no stranger to the Tour having hosted the St. Jude Classic from 1989 to last year, so there should be a comfort level for the stacked field after dealing with new layouts. A total of 69 golfers received invitations with Dustin Johnson opening as the betting favorite at online sportsbooks.
Odds to Win WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational at BookMaker.eu
Dustin Johnson +750
Rory McIlroy +805
Brooks Koepka +1050
Jon Rahm +1150
Justin Thomas +1250
Patrick Cantlay +1450
Xander Schauffele +2250
Justin Rose +2550
Bryson Dechambeau +2875
Adam Scott +2950
Tommy Fleetwood +3050
Tony Finau +3050
Hideki Matsuyama +3150
Webb Simpson +3450
Henrik Stenson +3550
Jason Day +4050
Paul Casey +4250
Matt Kuchar +4450
Patrick Reed +4550
Jordan Spieth +5050
Gary Woodland +5050
Andrew Putnam +5350
Chez Reavie +5555
Billy Horschel +7050
Tyrrell Hatton +7550
Shane Lowry +7750
Louis Oosthuizen +8050
Danny Willett +8550
Matthew Fitzpatrick +8550
Matt Wallace +8850
Matthew Wolff +9050
Brandt Snedeker +9050
Rafael Cabrera Bello +9050
Marc Leishman +9050
Kevin Kisner +9550
Sergio Garcia +9850
Alex Noren +10000
Jim Furyk +10000
Phil Mickelson +10550
Haotong Li +10550
Keegan Bradley +10550
JB Holmes +11050
Bubba Watson +11050
Ian Poulter +11550
Cameron Smith +11550
Thorbjorn Olesen +12050
Eddie Pepperell +12050
Kevin Na +12550
Lucas Bjerregaard +12550
C.T. Pan +12550
Corey Conners +12550
Justin Harding +13550
Keith Mitchell +13550
Kevin Tway +13550
Nate Lashley +14550
Sung Kang +15050
Max Homa +15050
Adam Long +15050
Mikumu Horikawa +15550
Aaron Rai +17550
Shugo Imahira +17550
Kodai Ichihara +18550
Poom Saksansin +18550
Philip Eriksson +18550
Odds Analysis
Dustin Johnson +750
The last few months have been a struggle for DJ which makes me think something isn’t right. He played the weekend at The Open, which was an improvement from his previous start, but a T51 wasn’t close to threatening. This could be a breakout event for DJ, who won on the host course last season and in 2012, and he has two other top-10s in his five starts at Southwind. Course form apparently outweighs recent form for oddsmakers, but I’m holding off on throwing down on DJ until we see some improvement in his approach game.
Matt Kuchar +4450
He hasn’t played TPC Southwind in a few years and he’s coming off a disappointing T41 at The Open, but Kooch has played strong golf for the past few months. He was T16 or better in seven of his last eight events prior to The Open. He ranks fifth on Tour for GIR, which is a huge stat on this layout. That precision should allow him to stick around the top of the leaderboard.
Jon Rahm +1150
Had a great start at Portrush last week but Rahm couldn’t keep up the solid play and was undone by a final round 75. Still, the Spaniard had his best Open finish at T11, which is the worst in his last four outings. Rahm went T3-T2-Win in his previous three starts and is making his course debut. However, his stats off the tee and on approach are strong and Southwind shouldn’t prevent much of a challenge without a cut to worry about.
Xander Schauffele +2250
I had a good feeling about X-man last week, however equipment issues were a problem as was his final round 78 that dropped him to T41. I’ll give him a pass on that last round considering the weather played with several scores, and focus on the positive. He was T3 at the U.S. Open and has a WGC win earlier this season among his five top-20s in eight WGC starts.
Hideki Matsuyama +3150
Another course debutant, Matsuyama looks to rebound after his second straight MC at The Open. The good news is that he didn’t miss a cut in between those two starts and he’s been as consistent as anyone this season with top-25s in each of his previous six starts and 13 top-25s in 19 events. Two of his five career Tour wins came in WGC stops at the Bridgestone and HSBC in 2017.
Course: TPC Southwind – 7,237 yards, Par 70
Hosting the St. Jude Classic since 1989, TPC Southwind is familiar to a number of players. Those who competed at the WGC Firestone in the past won’t miss that behemoth, but Southwind is no pushover. With nearly 160 golfers competing last year, the field averaged 70.52, which was right around expectations. With a stronger and smaller field this time around, there‘s a good chance we see scores drop. With narrow fairways, long and straight off the tee is a must. But this is more of a second-shot course and hitting greens in regulation sets up as a telling stat. Weather will cooperate, according to early reports, which should also help keep the scoring down.
TV Coverage: Golf Channel, CBS
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