The PGA Tour heads to Memphis this week for the FedEx St Jude Classic – an event that has been a fixture on the schedule for 60 years now and has drawn a nice field this week, headed by Dustin Johnson, with supporting acts of the likes of Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Henrik Stenson
TPC Southwind is a golf course that tends to play into the hands of course specialists – indeed, that proved to be the case last year when the 2016 champion Daniel Berger successfully defended his title as he held off Charl Schwartzel and Whee Kim to win by one.
Berger – who has two wins here in his only two appearances – ought to be taken very seriously here, but he enters the week with absolutely no recent form to speak of.
So what’s the best course of action here as we go in search of another week of profit?
FedEx St Jude Classic betting: Keel’s tips
Johnson, Koepka, Mickelson and Stenson all have big claims but we have to take into account that surely they’ll have one eye on next week’s US Open, the second major of the calendar.
All four will be expecting to contend at Shinnecock Hills, so this may just serve as a tune-up session.
So let’s target some big-priced players in the hope of bagging some each-way payouts with the potential of striking gold if they go on to win.
First up, let’s give Steve Stricker a whirl. The veteran has been teeing it up on the Champions Tour this season, but his performances on that tour, as well as the limited starts he’s had on the PGA Tour, certainly point to the idea that he can still mix it with the young stars.
Indeed, he already has two wins to his name on the senior circuit and the last two PGA Tour starts have yielded solid finishes in stout fields.
He shrugged off an injury in the opening round of the Fort Worth Invitational to finish 32nd, and he heads into this week with positive course form under his belt. In 2016 – the last time he played here at TPC Southwind – Stricker finished 2nd alongside Mickelson and Koepka as Berger ran out a three-stroke winner.
He certainly has the ability to win at this level again before he heads to the Champions Tour full-time, and this week presents the perfect opportunity at a best price of 45/1.
I really like the outsiders this week, so we’ll finalise this week’s picks with three triple-figure darts.
CT Pan has been playing really nicely of late and he’s sure to give us a decent run for our money at 125/1 with eight places paid.
His last three starts have resulted in three solid finishes: 46th at The Players, 32nd at the Byron Nelson and 20th at the Fort Worth Invitational. But the underlying statistics have been more impressive and certainly points to a challenge at the title.
Pan hasn’t finished outside of the top six in driving accuracy in the last three events, and he hit the eighth most greens in regulation last time out.
He’ll have to overcome a lack of course experience, but given his recent performances, he’s certainly worth a few pennies.
Matt Jones has been around a long time, and while he’s had a few years of being in the wilderness, the Aussie’s game seems to be returning.
This PGA Tour winner has previous at TPC Southwind, too. His opening three efforts led to missed cuts, but he jumped into contention in 2015 when finishing 3rd.
In fact, in his last 13 rounds here, he’s only fired one over-par round.
Jones’s last two starts have shown a lot of promise as well. Finishing inside the top-20 at the team event in New Orleans seemed to spark him to a 13th place finish last time out in Texas at the Byron Nelson. He hit the eighth most greens in regulation in the field that week, and if he can keep that form up, he’s likely to put in a good showing this week.
Take the 150/1 available with seven places paid.
Finally, Joel Dahmen has shown enough in recent starts to point to a big week here in Memphis.
The 30-year-old American has finished inside the top-25 in each of his four most recent appearances.
His course debut here last year was incredibly promising, where he finished 18th, shooting par or better in all four rounds.
His best ever PGA Tour finish was 9th in last year’s AT&T Byron Nelson, so a big improvement is needed to contend at this level.
But with the way he’s playing, it only seems like a matter of time before he makes that step up. 150/1 is available, but I prefer the 125/1 which pays out eight places.