Author
Christopher Boan writes for BetTennessee.com and has been covering sports and sports betting for more than seven years, with experience at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
On the heels of Englishman Aaron Rai’s two stroke win over Max Greyserman in last weekend’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, it’s worth wondering who could do the same this week at TPC Southwind, the start of the 3-event FedExCup Playoffs.
That’s where the annual dog days of summer institution that is the FedEx St. Jude Championship will take place across Tennessee sports betting, with some of golf’s brightest stars returning to Memphis to try and get their hands on the $20 million purse.
In recent years, players like Lucas Glover (2023) and Will Zalatoris (2022) have emerged victorious in Memphis, with each doing so in a playoff after finishing tied after 72 holes of golf.
Before you make your wagers across Tennessee betting apps, BetTennessee.com has a full breakdown on which golfers have the best profile to win the event in 2024.
Scottie Scheffler | +360 |
Xander Schauffele | +750 |
Rory McIlroy | +850 |
Collin Morikawa | +1400 |
Ludvig Aberg | +2000 |
Odds provided by Fanatics Sportsbook Tennessee.
Right now, the odds-on favorite to win in Memphis is the man who captured gold at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, as American Scottie Scheffler aims to earn his eighth victory of the year (including Paris).
The 2024 Masters winner is our favorite to capture the top spot in Memphis, at +360, while 2024 Open Championship and PGA Championship victor Xander Schauffele is the next best candidate to be walking away victorious in Memphis, at +750.
Throw in veterans like Rory McIlroy (+850), Collin Morikawa (+1400) and Swede Ludvig Aberg (+2000) and you have the full rundown of the players we see winning at TPC Southwind this year.
Scheffler has had quite the memorable run in 2024, with six wins during the PGA Tour calendar. Throw in an Olympic gold medal in France and you have a pretty good synopsis of why we have Scheffler as our top pick to win in Memphis, though he has never won at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Scheffler’s worst finish in 2024 was T-41 at the U.S. Open, with 14 top 10 finishes in 16 PGA Tour events during the yearly schedule, propelling him to the top spot on the FedExCup Playoff standings entering this weekend’s event in Memphis.
Strengths:
Consistency. Scheffler has made the cut in all 16 of his tour events this season, with 14 top 10 finishes overall, illustrating how well he’s playing and how rare it is to see him falter from start to finish on the course.
Weakness:
Putting. Scheffler ranks 28th on the tour in putts per round, at 38.46, reminding us all that nobody’s perfect, even a player that’s as on top of the ball as the New Jersey native in 2024.
It’s been a year to remember for the San Diego native, with victories at the PGA Championship and Open Championship, along with a runner-up finish at Charlotte’s Wells Fargo Championship.
That consistency has gotten Schauffele into the No. 2 spot on the FedExCup playoff standings, behind Scheffler, with 4,057 points in total (to Scheffler’s total of 5,993 points).
Schauffele hasn’t played in a PGA event since winning the Open on July 21, but the 30-year-old did finish ninth overall at the Olympic golf tournament for Team USA in Paris.
Strengths:
Scoring average. Schauffele’s consistent play in 2024 has netted him the second best scoring average on the PGA Tour this season, at 68.953, ranking behind Scheffler’s total of 68.330 and ahead of Rory McIlroy, who has averaged rounds of 69.406 this year.
Weaknesses:
Putting. Schauffele’s putting average of 28.43 ranks 23rd this PGA Tour season ranks ninth overall, which is solid but nowhere near as impressive as his other stats on the tour.
It’s been a year of ups and downs for the North Irishman, with McIlroy capturing wins at the DP World Tour’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January, along with the Wells Fargo in Charlotte and the Zurich Classic in a team-up with Shane Lowry. But Rory this season is most remembered for his runner-up at the 2024 U.S. Open.
Between his fourth round meltdown at Pinehurst and a host of off-the-course stories more fit for the tabloids than the sports pages, it’s been a year that the North Irish star would likely long to forget.
A win at TPC Southwind could go a long way towards righting some of those wrongs, however, as McIlroy enters the event ranked third overall with 2,545 points and with a shot at climbing the list with a win this weekend.
Strengths:
McIlroy can still smash the ball off the tee, ranking first on the PGA Tour in strokes gained off the tee at 0.921 and second on the tour (behind Cameron Champ) in driving average, at 319.2.
Weaknesses:
Once again, the major deficiency in McIlroy’s game is his putting, with the veteran golfer out of Northern Ireland ranking 20th on the PGA Tour in total putting (105.3) and 12th in birdie or better conversion percentage (34.57%).
Throw in the fact that McIlroy’s approach game has been off kilter this year, ranking 27th tour-wide in stroke gained, approach to the green (0.397) and 99th in greens in regulation (65.98%) and you have a decent synopsis of the Achilles heels that have scuttered the veteran tour member’s season to date.
In the last three years, Lucas Glover, Will Zalatoris and Tony Finau (at Liberty National) have all had to enter a playoff to win, with the last 72-hole victor being Dustin Johnson in 2020 (at TPC Boston), with the American shooting a -30 total to beat Harris English by 11 strokes that year.
Last year, Glover beat fellow American Patrick Cantlay in a playoff after the two finished their 72 holes at -15, with the former taking home $3.6 million as a result of earning the victory.
The year before, Zalatoris knocked off Austrian Sepp Straka after both finished the event at -15, with the American taking home $2.7 million after winning the playoff over the European golfer.
In 2021, Finau rode a -6 fourth round to survive over Australian Cameron Smith in a playoff after both finished the event at -20, allowing the American to earn $1.710 million in winnings.
USA Today photo by Michael Madrid.
Author
Christopher Boan writes for BetTennessee.com and has been covering sports and sports betting for more than seven years, with experience at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.