FedEx St. Jude Championship
Lucas Glover won his way into the FedEx Cup Playoffs with a two-shot victory at the Wyndham Championship on Sunday. Glover, a winning ticket at 90-1, managed a two-hour rain delay and took advantage of a faltering Russell Henley to win for the first time in more than two years.
Henley let one get away at Sedgefield for the second time in three years. When play resumed, he took the lead with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 15th, then everything went wrong in a bogey-bogey-bogey finish.
His mediocre tee shot on the par-3 16th came down the slope at the front of the green and took one more turn into a deep divot. He chopped that out to 35 feet and made bogey. He sent his tee shot on the 17th into the trees, and his next shot buried in a deep hole in thick rough. He had to scramble for bogey.
Then on the closing hole, his approach from the fairway came up short and rolled off the green. He pitched to 18 feet and two-putted. He had gone 21 straight holes without a bogey and finished with three straight for a 69.
Two years ago, he had four bogeys over the last eight holes and missed a playoff by one shot.
Meanwhile, Glover led the field for Strokes Gained: Approach and was fourth in the field for Strokes Gained: Off The Tee.
The other Sunday story involved Justin Thomas and his attempt to get into the top 70 for this week’s playoffs. Thomas ended his season with a shot he won’t soon forget. Needing a birdie on the 18th hole, his pitch from 100 feet short of the hole smacked off the base of the pin and settled inches away as he fell to the ground in disbelief. Thomas finished 71st on the points list and will not be a part of the playoffs. He’ll now have to wait to see if he will also miss out on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Adam Scott closed with a 63 and missed the postseason for the first time since the FedEx Cup began in 2007.
That leaves Matt Kuchar as the only player who has been eligible for the playoffs every year since 2007.
The FedEx Cup Playoffs begin this week at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis. The top three in the point standings — 1. Jon Rahm (9-1), 2. Scottie Scheffler (+650), and 3. Rory McIlroy (8-1), a three-time FedEx Cup winner (2016, 2019, 2022) — are the single-digit favored prices this week.
Patrick Cantlay (16-1), the 2021 FedEx Cup winner, Xander Schauffele (18-1) and Viktor Hovland (20-1) follow in the market.
Players priced in the mid-20s and 30s include Collin Morikawa (25-1), Tyrrell Hatton (25-1), Tommy Fleetwood (33-1), Rickie Fowler (33-1), Tony Finau (35-1), Wyndham Clark (35-1), Matt Fitzpatrick (35-1), who has three top-6 finishes in the last four years here, and 2015 FedEx Cup winner Jordan Spieth (35-1).
The Event
The top 70 players in the FedEx Cup point standings will compete this week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. After the conclusion of this week’s event, the top 50 in the points move on to next week’s BMW Championship. Then, the top 30 in points advance to the finale at the Tour Championship.
On the line this week: $20 million in prize money.
Last year’s champion of this event, Will Zalatoris, is recovering from back surgery and finished 138th in the point standings. Even with its long history, the only player in the field who has won an event at TPC Southwind is Harris English who triumphed at the 2013 St. Jude Classic.
FedEx’s history with the PGA Tour dates to 1986, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has been the event’s beneficiary since 1969. The city of Memphis has hosted an event on the PGA Tour each year since 1958.
The Field
Here is a list of the top 70 players who qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs and their current point totals:
1: Jon Rahm, 3,320
2: Scottie Scheffler, 3,146
3: Rory McIlroy, 2,304
4: Max Homa, 2,128
5: Wyndham Clark, 1,944
6: Brian Harman, 1,827
7: Viktor Hovland, 1,795
8: Keegan Bradley, 1,774
9: Rickie Fowler, 1,732
10: Tony Finau, 1,655
11: Jason Day, 1,506
12: Nick Taylor, 1,463
13: Patrick Cantlay, 1,443
14: Tom Kim, 1,422
15: Sepp Straka, 1,413
16: Xander Schauffele, 1,406
17: Tyrrell Hatton, 1,381
18: Si Woo Kim, 1,372
19: Sam Burns, 1,335
20: Russell Henley, 1,296
21: Emiliano Grillo, 1,275
22: Collin Morikawa, 1,246
23: Kurt Kitayama, 1,216
24: Adam Schenk, 1,213
25: Taylor Moore, 1,193
26: Tommy Fleetwood, 1,184
27: Denny McCarthy, 1,179
28: Chris Kirk, 1,161
29: Seamus Power, 1,133
30: Corey Conners, 1,103
31: Jordan Spieth, 1,099
32: Sungjae Im, 1,098
33: Justin Rose, 1,088
34: Sahith Theegala, 1,065
35: Lee Hodges, 1,052
36: Matt Fitzpatrick, 1,049
37: Byeong Hun An, 1,041
38: Adam Svensson, 1,014
39: Brendon Todd, 973
40: Eric Cole, 950
41: Andrew Putnam, 918
42: Harris English, 914
43: Patrick Rodgers, 914
44: Adam Hadwin, 908
45: J.T. Poston, 907
46: Tom Hoge, 897
47: Mackenzie Hughes, 890
48: Cameron Young, 889
49: Lucas Glover, 885
50: Nick Hardy, 868
51: Alex Smalley, 864
52: Thomas Detry, 851
53: Taylor Montgomery, 823
54: Davis Riley, 768
55: Brandon Wu, 763
56: Hayden Buckley, 754
57: Hideki Matsuyama, 742
58: Keith Mitchell, 698
59: Mark Hubbard, 697
60: Matt Kuchar, 695
61: Stephan Jaeger, 692
62: Cam Davis, 685
63: Sam Ryder, 675
64: Sam Stevens, 670
65: Aaron Rai, 670
66: Beau Hossler, 658
67: Matt NeSmith, 642
68: Vincent Norrman, 636
69: J.J. Spaun, 634
70: Ben Griffin, 617
The Course
Located in Memphis, Tenn., TPC Southwind was built in 1988 and was designed by Ron Prichard, in consultation with PGA Tour professionals Fuzzy Zoeller and Hubert Green. It is regarded as one of the more difficult TPC courses. The past four events at TPC Southwind played to 0.69 strokes under par, which puts it right near the middle for tour difficulty.
TPC Southwind itself was first renovated in 2004 to modernize the course and make it more challenging. Eleven new tee boxes were added along with 125 trees and 15 bunkers. Three of the water hazards were also enlarged. Even more changes occurred in 2020. This time, most of the upgrades were related to adding, resizing and re-edging numerous bunkers (only 75 on the course, which is about tour average). The third and seventh holes were extended 15-plus yards. Twelve of the holes are doglegs.
The layout plays as a 7,243-yard par-70. The Zoysiagrass (like East Lake in Atlanta) fairways are some of the narrowest (25 yards wide on average, second narrowest of 46 PGA Tour courses) on tour. The Bermuda rough measures to 2.5 inches and can be tricky and unpredictable. The greens, featuring Champion Bermudagrass, are straightforward and average speed (12 stimpmeter) but are some of the smallest (third on tour) at just 4,300 square feet.
With 11 holes having the danger of water, TPC Southwind has the most “water balls” on tour by far. Since 2003, TPC Southwind’s 6,166 balls in the water are the most at any PGA Tour course during that stretch. The second-highest course is TPC Sawgrass with a huge drop to 5,089.
Aside from the narrower fairways, smaller greens and multitude of water hazards, the layout could be a bit less challenging because the Memphis area saw one of the wettest Julys on record with more than 15 inches of rain over the past month. That will most likely allow the course to play much softer than in other years where it has been mostly dry. Typically, TPC Southwind plays firmer and faster.
TPC Southwind is the only Prichard design on the PGA Tour, although he has worked on several restorations of Donald Ross designs, most notably Aronimink Golf Club, which hosted the 2018 BMW Championship in the FedEx Cup Playoffs and will also host the 2026 PGA Championship. So there are now direct course designer correlations, but TPC Sawgrass (due to the largesse of water holes), East Lake (Zoysia fairways), CC of Jackson (Zoysia), PGA National (similar length), Innisbrook and Concession.
Recent History/Winners
FedEx St. Jude Championship
2022: Will Zalatoris (-15/265); 25-1*
WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational
2021: Abraham Ancer (-16/264); 45-1**
2020: Justin Thomas (-13/267); 12-1
2019: Brooks Koepka (-16/264); 11-1
FedEx St. Jude Classic
2018: Dustin Johnson (-19/261); 7-1
2017: Daniel Berger (-10/270); 28-1
2016: Daniel Berger (-13/267); 33-1
2015: Fabián Gómez (-13/267); 400-1
2014: Ben Crane (-10/270); 175-1
2013: Harris English (-12/268); 66-1
2012: Dustin Johnson (-9/271); 20-1
2011: Harrison Frazar (-13/267); 275-1***
2010: Lee Westwood (-10/270); 12-1****
Playoff win over Sepp Straka – *
Playoff win over Sam Burns and Hideki Matsuyama – **
Playoff win over Robert Karlsson – ***
Playoff win over Robert Garrigus and Robert Karlsson – ****
Statistical Analysis
Last year, 44.8% of strokes gained at TPC Southwind came on approach, which is well above the tour average of 34.7%. Will Zalatoris, last year’s winner, ranked first in the field for Strokes Gained: Approach. Justin Thomas (2020) and Dustin Johnson (2018) also ranked second on approach during their wins in Memphis.
Strokes Gained Approach (Last 36 rounds)
