FedEx St. Jude Invitational: PGA Tour World Golf Championship

WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Background                     

The PGA Tour made a handful of changes to this season’s schedule. One was moving the PGA Championship from August to May, which left last week’s British Open as the final major tournament of the season. The tournament that used to follow the British Open was the Canadian Open, but that was moved to the week before the U.S. Open in July.

Generally speaking, any tournament staged the week after a major is going to have a watered-down field because many top guys don’t like playing right after the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open or British Open – especially the British because of all the travel and time differences, etc.

However, it’s an absolutely stacked field this week – other than Tiger Woods, who is taking a few weeks off after missing the cut at the British Open – with the new World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational at TPC Southwind (par 70 at around 7,240 yards) in Memphis. These WGC events draw top fields because the purses are richer than typical PGA Tour events and there’s no cut so even the last-place finisher cashes a nice check.

This event had been the St. Jude Classic as a normal-level event played in June in the spot the Canadian Open is now. Now it has replaced the former WGC-Bridgestone Invitational that was played in Akron, Ohio.

WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Betting Favourites

Dustin Johnson is the +900 favourite and two-time winner in Memphis. Last year, he romped to a six-shot victory by finishing at 19-under 261. Johnson also won in 2012 by a shot at 9-under 271. DJ was a disappointing T51 last week. His six all-time wins in WGC events are second-most.

Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy are both +1000. Speaking of disappointing, McIlroy was the favourite at the British Open in his native Northern Ireland but nerves clearly got the best of him as he had a quadruple bogey on the first hole on the way to an opening 79. He bounced back with a 65 in the second round but missed the cut. Koepka finished tied for fourth.

Technically, Justin Thomas is the defending champion because he won the last WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He’s +1600 this week. Irishman Shane Lowry, who captured the British Open for his first major victory, is +6000 but perhaps still celebrating.

Canadian Golfer Odds

No Canadian won the St. Jude Classic or finished runner-up. Because this is now a limited-field event, only Corey Conners qualified. He’s among the long shots at +25000. There is an opposite-field event this week, the Barracuda Championship in Nevada, where some other Canadians are playing.

WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Predictions

Take Johnson and Phil Mickelson for Top 10s – Lefty has been runner-up a few times in Memphis – but the winner is Chez Reavie at +5500. He has been Top 10 the past two years in Memphis. He comes off a missed cut at the British Open, but that might actually be a good thing with the extra rest.