Following a stunning fortnight of Olympic golf and Aaron Rai’s incredible win in the final regular season event the Wyndham Championship, the PGA Tour playoffs kick off with the FedEx St Jude Championship from the classic TPC Southwind course. All competitors will be jockeying for one of the Top 30 positions at East Lake and the Tour Championship.
Key Stats/Skill Set Required
- GIR
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Ball Striking
- Scrambling
- Bogey Avoidance
- Driving Distance
- Putting Average
- Par 4 Scoring
Form from the tee is not critical at TPC Southwind but Ball Striking is important and Distance is a help. It is a second-shot course though and a bang-on approach game is the best guide. Avoiding trouble and putting well are important.
Key Correlation Courses/Tournaments
- Sony Open
- RSM Classic
- Charles Schwab Classic
BEST BET
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER
It is absolutely impossible to go past Scottie Scheffler this week, who added Olympic gold to his Masters green jacket and his stunning six PGA Tour wins this year. His profile could not be any better for this. He leads the Tour in GIR, Strokes Gained: Approach, Bogey Avoidance, Putting Average and Par 4 Scoring while he is 2nd in Ball Striking and 5th in Scrambling. Finished Top 3 at the last two Charles Schwab Classics. He is short but he wins with decent luck.
BEST VALUE
LUDVIG AVERG
Ludvig Aberg is back out to a bettable price now when north of the $20 mark. This is a nice setup for the talented Swede. He ranks 6th in Par 4 Scoring, 7th in Ball Striking, 10th in Strokes Gained: Approach and 11th in Bogey Avoidance. He has been about the mark a lot lately and a win is coming soon.
COREY CONNERS
Canadian Corey Conners is such an elite ball striker who, unsurprisingly, has an elite record here. He has played TPC Southwind five times and has never finished worse than 28th with Top 8 finishes in two of the last three years. Conners ranks 4th in Strokes Gained: Approach, 6th in Ball Striking and 12th in GIR. If the putter is anywhere near right – and it has been a mixed bag of late – he will be right there when the whips are cracking.
BEST ROUGHIES
ALEX NOREN
Swede Alex Noren is one of the best short-game exponents and comes into this playing some superb golf. Noren ranks 2nd in Scrambling and 5th in Bogey Avoidance as well as 6th in Par 4 Scoring. He has 11 Top 25s in his last 15 starts and notably has finished Top 8 here in two of his last three cracks.
JHONATTAN VEGAS
Johnny Vegas broke a seven-year drought two starts back at the 3M Open so he is in quality form. He had two Top 25s leading into that so the win did not come completely out of the blue. He leads the Tour in Ball Striking while he is 2nd in GIR, 10th in Driving Distance and 15th in Strokes Gained: Approach. Looks a very nice Top 10 play.
TOP BRITISH
AARON RAI
Aaron Rai has been outstanding over the backend of the PGA Tour regular season and was a deserving winner of his first PGA Tour title last week in the Wyndham Championship. He is an elite ball striker and his game is unlikely to take a downward turn off a win.
TOP KOREAN
SI WOO KIM
Si Woo Kim won the Sony Open last year and that is a huge guide for this so happy to take him at a big price to be the top of this four-man field.