FedEx St. Jude Classic

Odds to Win Tournament

The TOUR golfers head to Memphis on Thursday, as they’ll be playing in the St. Jude Classic to prepare for next week’s U.S. Open. With the major coming up in a week, this field isn’t as talented as others. It will, however, feature guys like Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Gary Woodland. Johnson won this event back in 2012, shooting a nine-under to defeat John Merrick by one stroke. Fabian Gomez will also be playing this weekend and he won this event a year ago. Gomez shot a 13-under to defeat Greg Owen by four strokes and that score was the best since Harrison Frazar won in 2011. Another person that is worth mentioning coming into this tournament is Justin Leonard. Leonard won this event in both 2005 and 2008 and will be hoping to make it three victories on Sunday. With that being said, let’s now take a look at some of the best plays you can make for this tournament:

Dustin Johnson - Johnson is not getting very favorable odds this weekend, but he would still be a guy to put a few units on for this tournament. As previously mentioned, Johnson won this event back in 2012 and has familiarity when playing on this course. He also happens to be playing some impressive golf recently. Johnson shot a 14-under to finish in third place at the Memorial Tournament last week and has now come in the top-five at three of the past five tournaments. One of those events was The Masters, so it doesn’t really matter what stage Johnson is playing on. He is one of the best drivers in the world and is talented with his irons as well. It’s just a matter of whether or not Johnson is putting well, but he has done so on these greens before and it’s likely he’ll do it again on Sunday.

Brooks Koepka - Koepka has had a bit of a disappointing season, but he is coming off of his best outing of the year. Koepka shot a 15-under and finished in second place at the AT&T Byron Nelson in the middle of May. He is one of the most talented golfers on the TOUR and will be hoping to earn his first victory of the year this weekend. This just might be Koepka’s best chance to do it, as this field is a bit watered down compared to most of the other tournaments that he has played in. It’d be nice for him to get a victory heading into the U.S. Open and he has all the strokes to get it done. If his momentum can carry over from his last tournament then it’s hard to imagine him not being near the top of the leaderboard in this one.

Graeme McDowell - McDowell has not played in many tournaments this season and he most recently appeared at THE PLAYERS, but he is a very talented player and is capable of winning any time he is out there. McDowell was very good at THE PLAYERS, shooting an eight-under and tying for ninth place. He also happens to have one victory on the year, as he won the OHL Classic in November. McDowell also has two other top-five finishes this year, but the reason his odds are favorable is because he has already missed five cuts. That is not very characteristic of him and it should be expected that McDowell gets on track with a good finish at this tournament.

Francesco Molinari - Molinari is a good guy to take this weekend, as he is a very skilled player and will be receiving great odds in this one. Molinari has done most of his damage in his career on the European Tour, winning three of those tournaments. He has, however, showed that he can perform at a high level in America as well. Molinari was a force at THE PLAYERS in May, shooting a nine-under and tying for seventh. He really has all the strokes and his smooth game should have him in contention in this one. While Molinari hasn’t any PGA tournaments in America, he could change that on Sunday. This field is certainly going to make for a wide-open tournament and he’s worth a unit or half-unit.