FedEx St Jude Championship 2023: Course and current form stats

• Small Southwind greens demand accurate approach play

• Jason 33/134.00 looking good for second trophy of season

• Rahm 8/19.00 ready to win again

Tournament Notes

• The 17th FedEx Cup Play-Offs get underway this week in Tennessee;

• And the FedEx St Jude Championship is the first of three events to determine who ends the 2023 season as the Tour's No 1 ranked golfer;

• This week's tournament breaks with tradition, with regards to the size of the field. Previously, the top 125 players in the FedEx Cup standings were eligible to compete in the opening Play-Off event. But this figure has been significantly reduced to 70;

• From here, field size for the two remaining Play-Off events, at Olympia Fields and East Lake, will be 50 and 30 respectively;

• TPC Southwind, which opened in 1988, is a rural location, approximately 12 miles south-east of Memphis city centre.

Course Notes

• TPC Southwind has staged a PGA Tour event every year since making its debut in 1989;

• Southwind is a venue where accuracy from tee-to-green holds greater importance than power;

• This gently undulating tree-lined course was built on the site of a former dairy farm;

• The course was given a major facelift 19 years ago when the original Bentgrass putting surfaces were switched to Bermuda;

• They also narrowed many of the fairways, planted more than 100 new trees, added 15 bunkers and enlarged three ponds;

• A number of other modifications were made to the course in 2020. This included the renovation of all bunkers, while the seventh hole was extended by 15 yards, and the third fairway was moved 12 yards to the right;

• The greens at TPC Southwind are considerably smaller than the PGA Tour average, which is why accuracy will be a particularly vital currency this week;

• Precision driving and pin-point iron play is the key to success at Southwind;

• Water comes into play on nine holes and is particularly prevalent on the back nine, while tricky dog-legs are a feature of this parkland course.

Latest betting for this week's FedEx St Jude Championship

Stroke Averages

Lowest 10 At TPC Southwind (2017-2022)
Average .... (Rounds)
67.67: Andrew Putnam (12)
68.17: Hideki Matsuyama (12)
68.17: Collin Morikawa (12)
68.25: Matt Fitzpatrick (16)
68.33: Jon Rahm (12)
68.36: Rory McIlroy (14)
68.50: Harris English (10)
68.71: Scottie Scheffler (14)
68.83: Tommy Fleetwood (12)
68.83: Aaron Rai (12)
Min. No. of Rounds = 10
Only those entered this week are included in table

Betfair Sportsbook

St Jude Top Tips: Four To Watch

Jason Day 33/134.00: The former world No 1 is enjoying a comeback season on the PGA Tour. His victory in Texas during May was his first for five years, and he tees-up in Tennessee on the back of finishing joint runner-up at Royal Liverpool.

Collin Morikawa 25/126.00: Three podium finishes this year but still waiting to capture his first PGA Tour title of 2023. He tied-fifth at TPC Southwind 12 months ago.

Jon Rahm 8/19.00: On his last outing played well at Royal Liverpool in July. The Spaniard has posted a brace of top-10 finishes from three starts at TPC Southwind.

Scottie Scheffler 7/18.00: The current world No 1 will be keen to finish the FedEx Cup season in the same position. Has had a remarkably consistent campaign with 16 top 10s from 20 tournaments since the start of November.

MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves