FedEx St Jude Championship 2024: Course and current form stats

• Some of the smallest greens on the PGA Tour

• Time for Cantlay 20/121.00 to win again

• Henley 33/134.00 a decent e/w selection

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Tournament and Course Notes

• The 18th FedEx Cup Play-Offs start with the FedEx St Jude Championship in Tennessee. And there are further trips to Colorado and Georgia, before this season's No 1 golfer on the PGA Tour is crowned on September 1st;

• The tournament takes place at TPC Southwind, approximately 20 miles south-east of Memphis city centre. Designed by Ron Prichard, in consultation with two-time major winners Hubert Green and Fuzzy Zoeller, TPC Southwind has staged a PGA Tour event every year since making its debut in 1989;

• The top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings, following last week's Wyndham Championship, have qualified to tee-up in St Jude. Field sizes for the remaining two Play-Off events at Castle Pines and East Lake, will be 50 and 30 respectively;

• TPC Southwind, which opened in 1988, is a gently undulating tree-lined course which was built on the site of a former dairy farm. Precision driving and pin-point iron play is the key to success, while water comes into play on 10 holes;

• In 2004, the original Bentgrass putting surfaces were switched to Bermuda. During this upgrade they also narrowed many of the fairways, planted more than 100 new trees, added 15 bunkers and enlarged three ponds;

• More modifications were made to this parkland course in 2020 that included renovating every bunker, while extending the seventh hole by 15 yards, and relocating the third fairway. The greens at TPC Southwind are considerably smaller than the PGA Tour average, which is why the emphasis is more on accuracy than sheer power.

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Good Current Form

The world's two most successful players of 2024 - Scottie Scheffler 7/24.50 and Xander Schauffele 15/28.50 - will be the main attractions again this week.

World No 1 Scheffler, who recently won Gold in Paris to collect his seventh victory of the year, doesn't have a great history at TPC Southwind.

The same can almost be said of Schauffele, the winner of two major titles this season. At least he can boast of one top-10 Southwind finish from six visits.

Since Riviera in mid-February, Schauffele has only once finished lower than tied-20th in 14 starts.

As for those with both good current form and a strong course history are the silver and bronze medallists from the Olympics, Tommy Fleetwood 22/123.00 and Hideki Matsuyama 25/126.00 respectively.

The pair are 11th and 12th in the current World Ranking, with Matsuyama in particular enjoying a comeback season on the PGA Tour having been outside the top 50 in early February.

Two others, who in this high quality field might be viewed as better each-way propositions than outright winners, are Sung Jae Im 35/136.00 and Russell Henley 33/134.00.

Both are playing pretty well, and can each boast of a solid Southwind history too.

Henley, in particular, should be fresh having not teed-up since finishing fifth at Royal Troon last month.

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Good Course Form

Among the big name pros whose course form is better than most, are Rory McIlroy 17/29.50 and Patrick Cantlay 20/121.00.

McIlroy, who won't have to face the rigours of another major championship for eight months, has twice finished inside the top-four here, including tied-third last year.

Cantlay, another golfer whose misfiring major performances have received plenty of media attention in recent years, was runner-up at St Jude 12 months ago.

The 32-year-old Californian's overall form has improved during recent months, following a slow start to 2024.

Despite being a top-10 pro for the past four to five years, Cantlay has only twice stood on a major podium, and never on the top step.

Perhaps, with the major season done and dusted for another year, he can now focus on winning the FedEx Cup for a second tine.

Finally, England's Matt Fitzpatrick 45/146.00 has also performed well at TPC Southwind in recent years with a trio of top-six finishes from five starts.

However, the former US Open champion from Sheffield has struggled of late and even had to withdraw from the Olympic tournament in Paris recently.

Stroke Averages

Lowest Eight At TPC Southwind (2018-23)
Average .... (Rounds)
67.83: Sam Burns (12)
67.94: Justin Thomas (16)
67.94: Rory McIlroy (18)
68.00: Collin Morikawa (16)
68.06: Hideki Matsuyama (16)
68.25: Tommy Fleetwood (16)
68.33: Brian Harman (12)
68.40: Patrick Cantlay (20)
Min. No. of Rounds = 10
Only those entered this week are included in table

MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut

The Punter Previews TPC Southwind Tournament