2023 Fedex St. Jude Championship Preview: Predictions, Odds & Picks

The city of Memphis, Tennessee is known by many as the home of blues music. Come Sunday, 20 players will be singing the blues after the end of the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

For the second year, the tournament at TPC Southwind is the opening event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

This year, the playoffs begin with a field of 70 golfers, down from 125 previously. That field will be whittled to 50 for next week’s BMW Championship in Illinois, and that field will be shaved to 30 for the annual FedEx Cup Playoffs finale, the Tour Championship.

The defending winner of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, Will Zalatoris, won’t be in the field after having back surgery earlier this year.

Neither will 2017 FedEx Cup champion Justin Thomas. Thomas agonizingly missed out on the playoffs by one spot after an 18th-hole chip hit the target but didn’t drop.

pic.twitter.com/8ULUag6ErN

— Tony Bennett is God (@chickenbarmesan) August 6, 2023

But there are star-studded fields to look forward to over the next few weeks, led by the top three players in both the world rankings and FedEx Cup points standings, Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, and Rory McIlroy.

McIlroy will be aiming to add to his own record by winning the FedEx Cup for the fourth time and become the first golfer to do so in consecutive years. And as expected, he, Rahm, and Scheffler top the FedEx St. Jude Championship odds.

FedEx St. Jude Championship Odds

Odds are via BetUS as of Monday, August 7, 2023, at 4:30 pm ET.

• Scottie Scheffler +750
• Rory McIlroy +800
• Jon Rahm +900
• Patrick Cantlay +1600
• Xander Schauffele +1800
• Viktor Hovland +2000
• Tyrrell Hatton +2200
• Jordan Spieth +2500
• Collin Morikawa +2500
• Matthew Fitzpatrick +2800
• Rickie Fowler +2800
• Tommy Fleetwood +2800
• Jason Day +3300
• Hideki Matsuyama +3300
• Tony Finau +3300
• Max Homa +3300
• Cameron Young +3500
• Wyndham Clark +3500
• Five at +4000: Sam Burns, Sungjae Im, Russell Henley, Brian Harman, and Tom Kim
• Two at +4500: J.T. Poston and Sepp Straka

FedEx St. Jude Championship Predictions and Picks

Tournament Winner Pick: Patrick Cantlay (+1600)

The opening event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs has not been won by a golfer in the top ten of the FedEx Cup points standings since 2018. That year, Bryson DeChambeau won The Northern Trust after entering the tournament ninth in the standings.

Outside of the top ten, there are a number of intriguing options for potential winners this week. That includes Cantlay, who is 13th in the FedEx Cup standings.

The 2021 FedEx Cup champion has yet to win this season, but he has finished tied for fourth or better six times.

Cantlay is due for a win, and though he is the two-time defending winner of the BMW Championship, he’s worth targeting this week as well.

He won the BWM Championship and Tour Championship in 2021 and repeated at the BMW Championship last year, and he needs to win this tournament to complete the trio.

Other Tournament Picks

Scottie Scheffler to finish in the top five (+175)

Scheffler’s run of seven consecutive top-five finishes ended at the British Open, where he finished tied for 23rd. Look for him to start a new streak at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Scheffler has finished in the top five 12 times in 20 events this season, and prior to the British Open, he had finished worse than 12th in only one tournament this season, his first event of the season.

With what he has done this season, +175 to finish in the top five is incredible value. So is -120 to finish in the top ten. Take them both.

Brian Harman to finish in the top 20 (+120)

Thanks to his British Open win, Harman enters the FedEx Cup Playoffs sixth in the points standings, behind only Rahm, Scheffler, McIlroy, Max Homa, and U.S. Open winner Wyndham Clark.

But while his win at Royal Liverpool was certainly not expected, he is on a nice little run overall and should be under heavy consideration for a high finish at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, where he finished tied for third last year.

Prior to his British Open win, Harman had finished tied for 2nd (Travelers Championship), tied for ninth (Rocket Mortgage Classic), and tied for 12th (Scottish Open).

In addition to his signature win, Harman has put up a number of strong finishes this season in events that featured the best of the best. He finished second at the World Wide Technology Championship and tied for seventh at the RBC Heritage, and both the Travelers Championship and Scottish Open both featured top players like Scheffler, McIlroy, and Cantlay.

Lucas Glover to finish in the top 20 (+185)

Glover is in the FedEx St. Jude Championship field by virtue of his Wyndham Championship win. With his first win since the 2021 John Deere Classic, he jumped from 112th to 49th in the points standings.

Will he produce another good week to lock up a spot in the BMW Championship and strengthen his Tour Championship hopes?

The odds are favorable. In last year’s tournament, he finished tied for third along with Harman, and prior to missing the cut at the 3M Open, he had finished tied for fourth (Rocket Mortgage Classic), tied for sixth (John Deere Classic), and tied for fifth (Barbasol Championship).

With that combination of solid recent form and positive recent results at this week’s course, Glover is a good choice this week for finishing position bets.

Jason Day to finish in the top 20 (-105)

Picking a trio of top-20 finishes may seem like going the safe route, but anytime you can get odds around evens for something that stands a decent or better chance of hitting, it’s not a bad thing.

Day hasn’t made it to the Tour Championship since 2018, and his participation in the FedEx Cup Playoffs has ended at the first tournament each of the past two years.

He enters this year’s playoffs 11th in the points standings, which means we’ll see him next week at least. But if he can perform well this week, it will go a long way towards solidifying a place in the top 30 in a couple of Sundays.

Day has missed the cut four times in his last seven tournaments, but in the same period, he won the AT&T Byron Nelson and finished tied for second at the British Open.

So, will this be a boom or bust week for Day? Boom has a lot of value. Along with him being -105 for a top-20 finish, he is +250 for a top-ten finish and +600 for a top-five finish. All three are worth a look.

Also, for what it’s worth, he finished tied for sixth at the FedEx St. Jude Classic in 2020, so he does have a good fairly recent result at TPC Southwind to his name. If he can tap into his best this week, he can top that finish.

Where to Bet on the PGA Tour

In addition to BetUS, there are many other sports betting sites that are recommended if you are interested in golf betting, including the following trio:

• BetOnline
• Bovada
• MyBookie

You may already have an account at those online sportsbooks, but if you don’t, we suggest reading our reviews and checking them out for yourself to see if they are a good option for your preferences as a sports bettor.

A new week is coming up, and it will be another busy week in the sports sphere. In addition to the ongoing Women’s World Cup, the English Premier League season will kick off on Friday.

Along with those events, the NFL preseason will properly get underway, NASCAR will take to the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and there is plenty of WNBA, MLB, and CFL action to look forward to.

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