PREVIEW: St Jude Championship

In the week prior to a Major, the cream of the golfing world must make a decision - do they play and try and get into their rhythm at the earliest possible time? Or do they rest their legs and heads and take it easy on the range?

Well, the world's finest have made quite a split decision heading into the US Open at Torrey Pines next week. And due to an increased amount of high brow players heading stateside, our scheduled Fantasy Golf event has been changed from the Austrian Open to the Stanford St Jude Championship.

Formerly the FedEx St Jude Classic, it takes place at the TPC Southwind in Texas and is known to attract some of golf's top names who are looking for a bit of a confidence boost ahead of next week. This year is no different and our field of players in action contains a wealth of exciting talent.

Last year's winner Woody Austin, who carded a final-round 62 to destroy the field by five shots, is in action again along with the likes of Ernie Els and Vijay Singh who are both looking to finetune their swings with Torrey Pines waiting in the wings, But, with the US Open firmly on everyone's minds, expect some steady golf.

The in-form Kenny Perry looks well in with a shout in Texas this week, and who'd bet against him? The American stalwart is looking to make the Ryder Cup for the first time and after his win last week at the Memorial Tournament, his odds must surely have a betting man foaming at the mouth.

The course at Memphis demands both accuracy and distance from the gold tees and even boasts one of the hardest par 3s on tour (according to the PGA the 14th), so it seems that a golfer with a good all-round game and excellent consistency will reign supreme this week.

Make sure you don't overlook our wildcards in Pool E - both Steve Marino and Matthew Goggin have hit form coming into the Championship, with Goggin claiming a runners-up spot last week and Marino, who has a fantastic cut ratio, making 13 of 16 on tour this year, and they could both prove to be valuable assets at the lower end of the spectrum.

The players to have entered this week:

Pool A

Ernie Els
Padraig Harrington
Vijay Singh
Sergio Garcia
Trevor Immelman

Pool B

Scott Verplank
Stephen Ames
Stuart Appleby
Retief Goosen
Tim Clark
Woody Austin
Charles Howell III
Bart Bryant

Pool C

Boo Weekley
Brandt Snedeker
Mark Calcavecchia
David Toms
Robert Allenby
Justin Leonard
JB Holmes
John Senden

Pool D

Jonathan Byrd
Camilo Villegas
Anthony Kim
Carl Pettersson
Joe Durant
Kenny Perry
Heath Slocum

Pool E

Davis Love III
Chad Campbell
Fredrik Jacobson
Steve Marino*
Matthew Goggin*

*Denotes Wildcards