FedEx St Jude Championship 2024 Preview, Picks & Analysis

By: Derek Clements | Mon 12 Aug 2024

And suddenly, in the blink of an eye, we arrive at TPC Southwind for the FedEx St Jude Classic, the first of three FedEx Cup playoff tournaments that bring down the curtain on the main PGA Tour season.

The top 70 players in the standings will be in Memphis this week, with the top 50 progressing to the BMW Championship before The Tour Championship at East Lake hosts the season’s best 30 golfers, all vying for a monster pay-off.

And what a season it has been.

It has, of course, been dominated by Scottie Scheffler, who has improved every year since joining the PGA Tour. It may seem hard to believe now, but there was a time when people questioned whether he had what it takes to win in America.

In August 2020, Scheffler finished tied for fourth at the US PGA Championship. In August 2020 he shot a 12-under-par 59 at the Northern Trust. It was the 12th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history. He was named rookie of the year in 2019-20 and qualified to play for the US Ryder Cup team after a series of top-five finishes. But there were no victories.

His first win came at the 2022 Phoenix Open. Three weeks later he added the Arnold Palmer Invitational and then claimed the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play. His crowning achievement came when he won The Masters and climbed to the top of the world rankings.

He was named 2022 PGA Tour Player of the Year and qualified for the US Presidents Cup team and last year made the US Ryder Cup team.

He won the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational and followed it up with back to back wins at the Players Championship - the first golfer ever to achieve the feat. He then finished runner-up at the Houston Open before winning The Masters for a second time and the RBC Heritage the next week. Then came the Memorial Tournament, which he followed with success at the Travelers Championship for his sixth victory of 2024.

Scottie Scheffler

It was his 12th win on the PGA Tour and extended his lead at the top of the world rankings and strengthened his place at the top of the FedEx Cup standings. And he most recently won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris.

He has made 127 PGA Tour starts and made 108 cuts. Apart from his wins, he has nine runner-up finishes and 10 third places, along with 40 top fives and an incredible 57 top 10s. He now has career earnings of more than $70m. His earnings in 2024 alone stand at a staggering $28.14m.

But he is now being challenged by Xander Schauffele. The American was being labeled as the best golfer in the world never to have won a major. Not any more. After performing well at The Masters, Schauffele finally broke his major duck in sensational fashion when he tore Valhalla to shreds to beat Bryson DeChambeau and claim the US PGA Championship. He then played superbly at the US Open at Pinehurst without really threatening to win before turning up at Royal Troon and showing everybody else how to master both the weather and the course.

Schauffele was masterful at Troon and is a worthy Champion Golfer. And he is now breathing down Scheffler’s neck at the top of the world rankings.

It has been a disappointing year in the biggest events for Rory McIlroy. He began it with victory at Dubai Desert Classic and he also won the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow and the Zurich Classic with Shane Lowry. But he suffered a heartbreaking loss at the US Open, dropping three shots in the final four holes, missing two short putts on the 16th and 18th greens to lose to DeChambeau by a single shot. It affected him so deeply that he took a break but returned to the game at the Scottish Open, answered a host of difficult questions and played well enough for us all to believe that he might end his major drought by winning The Open. Instead, he missed the cut by a mile.

But McIlroy is a resilient character. He would be the first to admit that the conditions at Troon did not suit his high ball flight. It could be argued that a player of his class should be able to cope in all conditions and while there is a case for such an argument, it would be a huge surprise if we don’t see the best of McIlroy over the next three tournaments. He has a fabulous record in the playoffs.

This has been a pretty special year on the PGA Tour, but it is also one that has been marked by tragedy. Grayson Murray won the Barbasol Championship in 2017 and was tipped for much glory by those in the know.

It did not turn out that way. He had been diagnosed with social anxiety in 2014 - hardly ideal for a professional sportsman. It later emerged that Murray was fighting a battle with depression, alcoholism and drug dependency. In October 2022 he was badly injured in a scooter crash.

And so when he won the Sony Open in Hawaii in January there was not a dry eye in the house. Murray had laid his demons to rest. Or so it seemed.

But in May he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth and the following day he took his own life.

When the field in Memphis are battling it out this week I sincerely hope that they spend a moment or two to count their blessings and to spare a thought for Murray and his family. It is a tragic story.

Twelve months ago Lucas Glover was walking on air. Having won the Wyndham Championship to secure his place in the FedEx Cup playoffs, he defeated Patrick Cantlay in a playoff to add the St Jude Championship seven days later.

Glover held off a world-class field, including Tommy Fleetwood and McIlroy, as he joined the elite field of 50 who would battle it out at the BMW Championship before that field was whittled down to just 30 for East Lake - and Glover already knew he would be in that field.

Glover won with a par on the first playoff hole - the 18th - after Cantlay's tee shot found the water. The pair had earlier topped the 72-hole leaderboard on 15 under par at TPC Southwind in Memphis. Fleetwood and McIlroy tied for third one shot further back on 14 under.

"If you told me this three months ago, I'd tell you you're crazy," said Glover. "But at the same time, if you asked me legitimately did I think I was capable, I'd say yes, even then. It's just one of those sad ways athletes are wired. We always believe in ourselves no matter how bad it is."

For Fleetwood it was yet another near miss, having begun the final round two shots off the lead and missing a birdie putt at the 18th that would have seen him join Glover and Cantlay in the playoff. It was the 32-year-old's fifth top-10 finish in six starts, having had at least a share of the lead at some point in four of those.

"It's better than being nowhere near," said Fleetwood, who carded a final-round two-under 68. "Of course, it's frustrating, but I think I have to look at it in a positive way, be proud of the golf I'm playing and the work that we're doing. I haven't done loads wrong, and I'm feeling very, very comfortable. It's just trusting that it will happen and keep playing my game."

Tournament Winners:

It was won in 2015 by Jason Day, in 2016 and 2019 by Patrick Reed, in 2017 and 2020 by Dustin Johnson, in 2018 by Bryson DeChambeau, in 2021 by Tony Finau, in 2022 by Will Zalatoris and last year by Lucas Glover.

The Course:

TPC Southward was redesigned by Ron Prichard. It is a par 70 measuring 7,244 yards. It features undulating fairways and a heap of water hazards that have to be avoided.

Form Guide:

Scottie Scheffler will definitely be in the mix as he goes in search of his seventh title of the year. And who would bet against him? Well, fans of Xander Schauffele most certainly would. He is playing magnificent golf, has a fantastic temperament and is bursting with confidence.