General / Editor / 05 June 2007 /

They certainly know about stars in Memphis and they'll be treated to a whole host of them when the PGA Tour's Standford St Jude Championship gets underway this week at TPC Southwind.

The city is famed for being home to the 'King of rock and roll', the late Elvis Presley, but it is now bracing itself for a star-studded field with six of the world's top 12 players teeing up for the 50th anniversary of a tournament which this year carries an increased purse of $6 million.

Organisers remain hopeful world number two Phil Mickelson, who is currently the joint favourite along with Vijay Singh at 11, will tee off on Thursday despite struggling with a wrist problem.

The two-time Masters champion withdrew from the Memorial Tournament last week with an injury to his left wrist but insists it is still his intention to play in Memphis, although understandably he won't want to jeopardise his chances of competing in the US Open next week.

The 36-year-old had been in good form prior to the injury problem, winning the Players Championship at Sawgrass on the back of tied third-place finishes at the Wachovia Championship and EDS Byron Nelson Championship following a disappointing showing at Augusta.

Mickelson though is still expected to line up alongside six other big guns with Singh, Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia all in the field.

The high-quality line-up is obviously great news for the 130,000 spectators who are expected to turn out over the four days of the event - one of oldest on the PGA Tour - but maybe not so for Jeff Maggert as he bids to defend his title.

The 43-year-old claimed his third PGA Tour triumph - and his first since 1999 - when he secured a three-stroke victory over Tom Pernice, Jr with a nine-under 271 total over the Tennessee course last year.

Maggert appears out-of-sorts this term as he is without a top-10 finish and has missed the cut seven out of 12 times - form reflected by the fact he is trading at 120 to claim back-to-back successes.

However, the three-time Ryder Cup star went into last year's event on the back of a similar run. He had missed three cuts, and his best performance until then had been a tie for eighth at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, but Maggert then went on to seal an unlikely victory.

Singh remains a heavyweight in the game, currently ranked sixth in the world, and is fancied to make a good fist of adding to his 31 career victories.

Australian Scott continues to be a model of consistency on the PGA Tour, making nine cuts out of nine and enjoying victory at the Shell Houston Open back in late March. No surprise then that the world number four is trading at 14.5 to claim a first St Jude Championship win.

The 26-year-old currently heads the Top Australian market at 3, with current US Open champion Ogilvy next best at 4.2.
South African Goosen, available at 28 to win, appeared to be nearing his best but, after an encouraging tied second at the US Masters, his last two outings, on the European Tour, have seen him disappoint. He finished tied 111th at the BMW PGA Championship ahead of a miserable tie for 128th at the Wales Open.

Leading the European charge is Irishman Padraig Harrington at 22, just ahead of Spain's Sergio Garcia at 23.
European order of merit winner Harrington is having another steady season on both sides of the Atlantic, having tied for seventh at the US Masters before claiming home success at the Irish Open in May. He might be a good bet then for a place and trades at 5.4 for a top five berth and 3.2 to claim a top 10 finish, while he is the 3.4 favourite in the top European market.

Although Garcia is still looking for his first Tour success in 2007, the 27-year-old is always capable and is on offer at 5.9 to finish in the top five and 3.4 to end in the first ten.

Experienced campaigner David Toms returns for a crack at emulating the great Lee Trevino and landing a hat-trick of St Jude Championship titles after taking the spoils in 2003 and 2004.

The 40-year-old from Louisiana can be backed at 20 but he has yet to win in the current campaign. He has made the cut in each of the 12 tournaments he's competed in though, with four top 10 finishes, including a ninth-place at the US Masters back in April.
Toms briefly threatened last year but in the end finished tied for 10th, eight off the pace, suggesting he can't be ruled out. He is priced at 3.3 for a similar result this time around.

A multi-million dollar advertising campaign had been launched to promote this event to mark its 50th anniversary, carrying the slogan "Desire Knows No Bounds".

It may take a little more than desire though for the layers on show in Memphis as they bid to claim success and join some famous names of yesteryear that have lifted the trophy.

Trevino (three times), Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Fred Couples and Greg Norman are just some of the past winners of this popular tournament, being staged at TPC Southwind for the 19th consecutive year.

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