On the par-4 7th hole amid a strong first-round performance, DeChambeau smashed a drive into an area with trees to the left of the fairway. His lie, among pine straw and sticks, wasn’t the best. Of particular concern to DeChambeau and his caddie, however, was an ant hole near his feet when he attempted a stance.
“It looks like an ant hole, or ant area,” DeChambeau said to PGA Tour tournament referee Ken Tackett on the Golf Channel broadcast.
“I just don’t see Bryson, honestly … I don’t see fire ants,” Tackett said after some discussion.
Bryson DeChambeau was not given a drop following a conversation with a rules official regarding fire ants and a burrowing animal hole. pic.twitter.com/imw7oSW0m8
DeChambeau pointed out fire ants a couple times, but according to the USGA, ant hills or ant holes are not included as “abnormal ground conditions” eligible for free relief. An animal hole, however, is. The conversation shifted to whether or not it was an animal hole, with DeChambeau’s caddie asking how big a hole has to be in order for it to be considered an animal hole.
Tackett wasn’t buying it.
“It doesn’t interfere with your stance regardless, anyway. It’s not an animal hole,” Tackett said.
The former SMU star left his second shot short and left of the hole, eventually making a double bogey. DeChambeau finished with a 3-under 67.
After withdrawing from the 3M Open due to a back injury, the world’s fifth-ranked golfer was out on the course at TPC Southwind.
MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Dustin Johnson is here.
Less than a week after withdrawing from the 3M Open due to a back injury, the world’s fifth-ranked golfer was out on the course at TPC Southwind Tuesday ahead of this week’s World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
Johnson, who won the FedEx St. Jude Classic at TPC Southwind in 2012 and 2018, left last week’s event after he shot a 7-over 78 in the first round. He also missed the cut at The Memorial earlier this month with back-to-back scores of 80.
It was the worst 36-hole stretch of his career and called into question whether he would play in Memphis with the PGA Championship looming next week.
But Johnson was on the driving range and then teed off for a practice round Tuesday at a course and an event that has been kind to him over the years.
Analyzing the best fantasy golf picks for the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational at TPC Southwind.
Nine of the top 10 golfers in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings are part of the 78-man field at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, this week for the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. We’ve looked at the best bets to win, and below is my Top 30 fantasy golf power rankings for the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational at TPC Southwind.
2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational: Fantasy Golf Top 30
Jul 19, 2020; Dublin, Ohio, USA; Sergio Garcia plays his shot from the fifth tee during the final round of The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (Photo Credit: Aaron Doster – USA TODAY Sports)
Garcia is coming off back-to-back T-32 finishes in similar strengths of fields at the Travelers Championship and the Memorial Tournament. He’s second on Tour in the 2019-20 season in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green.
29. Paul Casey (+6600)
Casey is coming off consecutive missed cuts, but he has performed well in two trips to TPC Southwind with an average of 1.10 total strokes gained per round across eight rounds, according to Data Golf.
28. Michael Thompson (+12500)
Thompson cruised through a much weaker field at last week’s 3M Open en route to his first PGA Tour win since the 2013 Honda Classic. He’ll need to be a little sharper off-the-tee and around the greens against the stiffer competition this week.
27. Shane Lowry (+12500)
The reigning Champion Golfer of the Year has missed three of five cuts since play resumed, but his lone other PGA Tour victory was at the 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He didn’t play this event last year.
26. Jordan Spieth (+4500)
Spieth is a much better fantasy selection than he is for bettors. The no-cut nature of WGC events allows him a full 72 holes of scoring opportunities and doesn’t penalize him nearly as badly for his blow-up holes. He can take his risks here.
Jul 18, 2020; Dublin, Ohio, USA; Billy Horschel plays his shot from the fairway on the ninth hole during the third round of The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (Photo Credit: Aaron Doster – USA TODAY Sports)
25. Billy Horschel (+4500)
Horschel tied for ninth in this event last year, and he posted the same result at the WGC-Mexico Championship earlier this year. He’s averaging 0.79 SG: Tee-to-Green in 2020.
24. Corey Conners (+10000)
Conners held his own in the difficult conditions of the Memorial and finished T-22 for his fourth made cut in five events since play resumed. He tied for 27th last year in his first WGC event.
23. Marc Leishman (+7000)
Leishman finished alone in third at this event last year at minus-12 while averaging 1.63 SG: Approach per round. He tied for 40th at the Memorial for his best finish since the restart.
22. Dustin Johnson (+3300)
Johnson withdrew from the weak field at the 3M Open following an opening-round 78. It came on the heels of his 80-80 start and missed cut at the Memorial, but he is just a month removed from his Travelers Championship victory.
21. Abraham Ancer (+5000)
Ancer is in the top 25 of the Tour in SG: Approach; SG: Tee-to-Green; and Par 4 Performance. He tied for fourth at the WGC-HSBC Champions last fall and tied for 12th in the WGC-Mexico Championship this spring.
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20. Tommy Fleetwood (+3300)
Fleetwood returned from his prolonged layoff to miss the cut last week as one of the top betting favorites. He was oddly poor with the irons and lost 0.87 strokes per round on approach.
19. Hideki Matsuyama (+3300)
Matsuyama typically excels among these stronger fields, but he missed the cut at both the RBC Heritage and the Memorial. He has two career WGC victories and a T-6 at this year’s Mexico Championship.
18. Jason Day (+3300)
Day has shown some of his best form in several years with a T-7 at the Workday Charity Open and a T-4 at the Memorial. He’ll try to transition to a course with which he’s less familiar than Muirfield Village GC.
17. Tony Finau (+3300)
It was disappointing to see Finau struggle late in Round 4 against a weak field at the 3M Open. He was eighth at the Memorial in a field stronger than this week and is consistently getting top results, even without victory.
Jul 23, 2020; Blaine, Minnesota, USA; Brooks Koepka walks with his caddie Ricky Elliott on the 9th hole during the first round of the 3M Open golf tournament at TPC Twin Cities. (Photo Credit: David Berding – USA TODAY Sports)
16. Brooks Koepka (+3300)
What to do with Brooks? He has two missed cuts and a T-62 in his last three events and was outperformed by brother Chase last week. Still, the PGA Championship is next week. He may repeat at both events despite entering this week outside the FedExCup Playoff picture.
15. Sungjae Im (+9000)
Im took a rare break while skipping the 3M Open last week. He has struggled mightily since a T-10 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, and the oddsmakers have clearly soured on him.
14. Gary Woodland (+4500)
Woodland has been inconsistent off-the-tee and shaky around the greens of late, but he’s still averaging 0.95 strokes per round on approach. He finished just 55th here a year ago but sets up for better results this time.
13. Patrick Reed (+3300)
Reed, who has eight PGA Tour victories, won his first WGC event at the Mexico Championship in late February. He has been inconsistent since the midseason suspension of play, but he’s coming off a T-10 at the Memorial as he preps for the major season.
12. Viktor Hovland (+2800)
Hovland’s T-48 at Muirfield Village was his worst result since the restart, but he took last week off for his first break. He’ll be playing his first WGC event and ranks T-8 in SG: Approach; and 12th in SG: Tee-to-Green this season.
11. Matthew Fitzpatrick (+3000)
Fitzpatrick tied for fourth last year at minus-11 while gaining 1.26 strokes per round from tee-to-green. His third-place finish at the Memorial was his best PGA Tour result since coming second at the 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
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10. Xander Schauffele (+2200)
Schauffele hasn’t won a full-field PGA Tour event since the 2017 Greenbrier Classic, but he won the 2018 WGC-HSBC Champions and went to a playoff against Rory McIlroy last year in that same event. He tied for 27th in this tournament in 2019.
9. Patrick Cantlay (+2000)
Cantlay hasn’t finished worse than his T-32 at the Memorial since returning to tournament play. He tied for 12th in his first visit to TPC Southwind last year.
8. Daniel Berger (+2800)
Berger missed the cut at the Memorial after winning the Charles Schwab Challenge and finishing T-3 at the RBC Heritage. He’s gaining 1.14 strokes from tee-to-green in 2020.
7. Collin Morikawa (+2800)
Morikawa won last year’s Barracuda Championship as the alternate event to the WGC. He got his second career win at the Workday Charity Open and will play his second WGC event following a T-42 in Mexico.
6. Webb Simpson (+2200)
Simpson was the runner-up in Memphis last year, and he has since picked up two victories at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and RBC Heritage. He’s looking to move past a rare missed cut at the Memorial.
5. Justin Thomas (+1200)
Thomas, fourth in the Golfweek rankings, enters the week third by the betting odds to win in Memphis. He won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in 2018 and tied for 12th at TPC Southwind last year.
Jun 21, 2020; Hilton Head, South Carolina, USA; Tyrrell Hatton reacts on the tenth hole during the final round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links. (Photo Credit: Brian Spurlock – USA TODAY Sports)
4. Tyrrell Hatton (+2200)
Hatton tied for 43rd in this event a year ago while losing 1.37 strokes per round on the greens. Flip forward a year, and he leads the Tour in SG: Putting through 16 measured rounds in the 2019-20 season. Also, he has finished outside the top 20 in just one of his last 10 international events with two victories and two top 5’s.
3. Bryson DeChambeau (+1400)
DeChambeau’s run of four consecutive finishes of T-8 or better, including his victory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, was snapped with a missed cut at the Memorial. He has lost 0.08 strokes per round over 10 trips around TPC Southwind, but his results prior to the 2020 midseason break aren’t worth much.
2. Rory McIlroy (+1100)
Since 2014, McIlroy has won three WGC events (including match play), with 11 other top-10s and seven top-5’s, including a fifth-place finish in Mexico in February. He’s second by the betting odds.
1. Jon Rahm (+1000)
Rahm’s the betting favorite following his dominant win over an even stronger field at the Memorial. He was seventh here last year and T-3 in Mexico.
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Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau are both in the field this week at TPC Southwind but they are not playing together the first two days.
Maybe they’ll be paired for the weekend or even better, down the stretch on Sunday, but the grouping we all want won’t take place Thursday and Friday at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
We’re talking about Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, who are both in the field this week at TPC Southwind in Memphis but not playing together.
Who are the featured groups this week in a tournament that features 45 of the top 50 ranked players in the Official World Golf Ranking?
Bryson DeChambeau, Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm
DeChambeau was last seen writing a 10 on his scorecard and subsequently missing the cut two weeks ago at the Memorial. He’ll play the first two rounds this week with Rahm, who is making his debut as the No. 1-ranked player in world, and Rickie Fowler, who hasn’t won on Tour since the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open, a string of 28 starts which includes missing the cut in three of his last five starts.
Koepka is the defending champ this week and next at the PGA Championship but he is just 155th in the FedExCup standings. Reed already has one WGC victory this year at the Mexico Championship. He is seeking to become the first golfer since Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama in 2016-17 to win multiple WGCs in a season. Viktor Hovland is making his first start in a WGC event.
Rory McIlroy, Webb Simpson, Jordan Spieth
McIlroy was No. 1 till Rahm won the Memorial two weeks ago and overtook the top spot. Simpson is one of the hotter players on Tour this year with a pair of wins, one before the 91-day pandemic break (WM Phoenix Open) and one after (RBC Heritage). He joins Justin Thomas and Brendon Todd as two-time winners on Tour this season. Spieth turned 27 on Monday.
Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas
Thomas is first in the FedEx Cup rankings. He skipped the 3M, was T-18 at the Memorial and lost in a playoff in the Workday Charity Open. Morikawa won the Workday in a playoff over Thomas. He also has a runner-up finish in the Charles Schwab Challenge, the first event on the Tour’s restart. Matsuyama has two career WGC wins: the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions and the 2017 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
The idea was simple. When Memphis’ annual PGA Tour event earned a World Golf Championships designation, officials and organizers decided the first such tournament at TPC Southwind in 2019 would feature a subtle but proud theme: Memphis itself. Both …
The idea was simple.
When Memphis’ annual PGA Tour event earned a World Golf Championships designation, officials and organizers decided the first such tournament at TPC Southwind in 2019 would feature a subtle but proud theme: Memphis itself.
Both of its title sponsors were well represented. Barbecue was a focal point. The emphasis was to highlight the hallmarks of the Bluff City as best it could for golfers, fans and spectators throughout and around the 240-acre venue. But any hopes of establishing any sort of tradition tied to the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational appeared to be dashed when the PGA Tour announced earlier this month that fans – which showed up in record-number droves in 2019 – would not be allowed on-site due to health and safety concerns related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“Basically, every single thing we’ve done and were planning to do has been altered,” WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational executive director Darrell Smith said. “Our job is to create awareness, drive revenue and drum up excitement. I would tell you that’s our primary job. When you’re operating an event without spectators, that changes drastically.”
Smith described last year’s plan as “hyper focused” on making sure Memphis was well represented across the grounds. In light of the drastically different circumstances, coordinators are improvising.
“We want this to be Memphis’ WGC,” Smith said. “So, last year, we debuted ‘The Pit,’ an area between the No. 8 tee and No. 9 tee, between the two silos, that had four Memphis institutions serving barbecue. We did the same thing around Nos. 14, 15 and 16 with the Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen.”
Spectators watch from the 18th hole fairway during the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic golf tournament at TPC Southwind. (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)
So, rather than do away with the concept completely, organizers partnered with Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous, Central BBQ, Hog Wild BBQ and Germantown Commissary to keep up the spirit of the event – even if it’s from a distance – by offering a variety of catering packages for pick-up or delivery at discounted rates (through Aug. 2), which will also include various tournament merchandise.
“What we’ve done this year, we’ve tried to create some energy around ‘The Pit at Home,’” Smith said. “We’re encouraging people who won’t be on-site to watch the broadcast but also get a little taste of Memphis and what was on the grounds last year.”
The tournament is also going old-school in its preparations for possible inclement weather. In keeping with social distancing efforts, officials are doing away with the 15-passenger vans that are reserved for shuttling golfers off the course when bad weather strikes.
“Now, it’ll be 80-plus golf carts,” Smith said. “If we have a weather situation, we’ll have to tell Dustin Johnson, ‘Go grab your cart and drive to the clubhouse.’ Flexibility is the key. There’s not really a playbook to put on a golf tournament in the middle of a pandemic. But we do have a pretty good plan. And I do think the Tour has done a great job of adopting a plan and having it be an evolving plan.”
One tradition that will continue despite the unique circumstances, Smith said, is the Hours For St. Jude Program. The initiative, which began in 2013, consists of tournament volunteers raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. To date, the program has generated more than $1.4 million.
Despite a drastic reduction in the number of on-site volunteers for this year’s tournament, more than $220,000 has already been raised, according to Smith.
“We’re well known on the Tour to have a very proud volunteer group and a group that’s just had a lot of history with our event,” he said. “That’s going to look different this year. But we’ve been able to keep Hours For St. Jude intact.”
Here are odds, predictions, picks and PGA Tour best bets for the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
The 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational serves as the final tune-up for the PGA Championship, and the top six golfers in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings head to TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee. Below, we look at the BetMGM outright betting odds and make our PGA Tour picks and best bets to win the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
The 78-man field includes 2019 champion Brooks Koepka, plus the reigning winners of the Memorial Tournament (Jon Rahm) and the 3M Open (Michael Thompson).
2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Betting Picks – Tier 1
Tyrrell Hatton putts on the third green during the final round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club. (Brian Spurlock – USA TODAY Sports)
Hatton has been on a tear since winning the European Tour’s Turkish Airlines Open near the end of 2019. He picked up his first PGA Tour win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March and has come out of the break with a T-3 at the RBC Heritage and a T-4 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He tied for sixth at the WGC-Mexico Championship earlier this season, as well.
The 12th-ranked golfer in the world ranks second on Tour this season in Strokes Gained: Approach; fifth in SG: Tee-to-Green; fifth in Par 4 Performance; and first in SG: Putting.
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Collin Morikawa (+2800)
Morikawa followed up his victory at the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village Golf Club with a T-48 result in the more challenging Memorial Tournament the following week. He won last year’s Barracuda Championship as the alternate field event to the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational but has now been invited to the bigger stage with two PGA Tour wins under his belt.
He’s eighth in the field by the Golfweek rankings and ninth by the odds to win at BetMGM.
2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Betting Picks – Tier 2
Sungjae Im plays his shot from the third tee during the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at Colonial Country Club. (Raymond Carlin III/USA TODAY Sports)
Abraham Ancer (+5000)
Ancer was in strong form out of the break prior to a T-58 finish at the Memorial. He’s in the top 25 on Tour in SG: Approach, SG: Tee-to-Green; and Par 4 Performance.
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Sungjae Im (+9000)
Im, the winner of The Honda Classic, has been in poor form since a T-10 at the Charles Schwab Challenge. He missed the cut at the RBC Heritage and the Memorial while finishing outside the top 50 in his three other events.
He’s coming off a rare one-week break and has much higher odds than we’ve seen for much of the last two years.
2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Betting Picks – Long shots
Max Homa hits a tee shot on the 11th hole during the final round of the 3M Open golf tournament at TPC Twin Cities. (David Berding/USA TODAY Sports)
Max Homa (+12500)
Homa ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, in last week’s field in SG: Tee-to-Green and SG: Approach, according to Data Golf. He lost a woeful 2.31 strokes per round putting but was still able to finish T-3. He’ll face much stiffer competition this week, but his odds remain ripe for the picking.
Mackenzie Hughes (+15000)
Hughes has a T-3 at the Travelers Championship and a T-6 at the Memorial as his best results in five events since returning to play. He has been much better in SG: Putting and SG: Around-the-Green than in approach and from tee-to-green, but his flat stick is absolutely worth backing at this high of a number.
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Analyzing the golf betting odds to win the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, with PGA Tour betting odds, picks, predictions and best bets.
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The 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational serves as the final tune-up for the PGA Championship, and the top six golfers in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings head to TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee. Below, we look at the BetMGM outright betting odds and make our PGA Tour picks and best bets to win the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
The 78-man field includes 2019 champion Brooks Koepka, plus the reigning winners of the Memorial Tournament (Jon Rahm) and the 3M Open (Michael Thompson).
2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Betting Picks – Tier 1
Jul 5, 2020; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Tyrrell Hatton putts on the third green during the final round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic golf tournament at Detroit Golf Club. (Photo Credit: Brian Spurlock – USA TODAY Sports)
Hatton has been on a tear since winning the European Tour’s Turkish Airlines Open near the end of 2019. He picked up his first PGA Tour win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March and has come out of the break with a T-3 at the RBC Heritage and a T-4 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He tied for sixth at the WGC-Mexico Championship earlier this season, as well.
The 12th-ranked golfer in the world ranks second on Tour this season in Strokes Gained: Approach; fifth in SG: Tee-to-Green; fifth in Par 4 Performance; and first in SG: Putting.
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Collin Morikawa (+2800)
Morikawa followed up his victory at the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village Golf Club with a T-48 result in the more challenging Memorial Tournament the following week. He won last year’s Barracuda Championship as the alternate field event to the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational but has now been invited to the bigger stage with two PGA Tour wins under his belt.
He’s eighth in the field by the Golfweek rankings and ninth by the odds to win at BetMGM.
2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Betting Picks – Tier 2
Jun 14, 2020; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Sungjae Im plays his shot from the third tee during the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at Colonial Country Club. (Photo Credit: Raymond Carlin III – USA TODAY Sports)
Abraham Ancer (+5000)
Ancer was in strong form out of the break prior to a T-58 finish at the Memorial. He’s in the top 25 on Tour in SG: Approach, SG: Tee-to-Green; and Par 4 Performance.
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Sungjae Im (+9000)
Im, the winner of The Honda Classic, has been in poor form since a T-10 at the Charles Schwab Challenge. He missed the cut at the RBC Heritage and the Memorial while finishing outside the top 50 in his three other events.
He’s coming off a rare one-week break and has much higher odds than we’ve seen for much of the last two years.
2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Betting Picks – Long shots
Jul 26, 2020; Blaine, Minnesota, USA; Max Homa hits a tee shot on the 11th hole during the final round of the 3M Open golf tournament at TPC Twin Cities. (Photo Credit: David Berding – USA TODAY Sports)
Max Homa (+12500)
Homa ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, in last week’s field in SG: Tee-to-Green and SG: Approach, according to Data Golf. He lost a woeful 2.31 strokes per round putting but was still able to finish T-3. He’ll face much stiffer competition this week, but his odds remain ripe for the picking.
Mackenzie Hughes (+15000)
Hughes has a T-3 at the Travelers Championship and a T-6 at the Memorial as his best results in five events since returning to play. He has been much better in SG: Putting and SG: Around-the-Green than in approach and from tee-to-green, but his flat stick is absolutely worth backing at this high of a number.
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Here’s how to watch, stream and listen to the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
The 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational begins Thursday at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.
The field includes the top eight players in the Official World Golf Rankings: Jon Rahm (No. 1), Rory McIlroy (No. 2), Justin Thomas (No. 3), Dustin Johnson (No. 4), Webb Simpson (No. 5), Brooks Koepka (No. 6), Bryson DeChambeau (No. 7) and Patrick Reed (No. 8).
Koepka returns to Memphis to defend his title after having surgery in September to repair a partially torn patella tendon and then re-aggravating the left knee in October. Last week, Koepka said his knee felt the best it had in a while, but some things like walking downhill were still challenging.
The Memphis event is the eighth event on the PGA Tour’s revised schedule since the season was suspended in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Here’s how you can watch, livestream and listen to the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
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PGA Tour Live on NBC Sports Gold: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. (featured groups) and 2-6 p.m. (featured holes) Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): Noon-2 p.m. PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 1-6 p.m. CBS: 2-6 p.m. PGA Tour Live on ESPN+: 2 p.m.
Sunday, August 2
PGA Tour Live on NBC Sports Gold: 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. (featured groups) and 3-7 p.m. (featured holes) Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 1-3 p.m. PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 2-7 p.m. CBS: 3-7 p.m. PGA Tour Live on ESPN+: 2 p.m.
TPC Southwind undergoes a “big change” from one WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational to the next. Here’s what to expect this year.
When the PGA Tour makes its return to Memphis next week, the empty galleries and sparse staffing won’t be the only differences the golfers will notice.
TPC Southwind, home to the second annual WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, has made a few changes to the course that will be mostly minor on the surface. But officials say some of the work took nearly nine months to complete and, according to TPC Southwind superintendent Nick Bisanz, the course has never undergone as much change from one PGA tournament to the next.
“There will be a little tweak year-to-year here or there,” Bisanz said. “(But) not to this scale. This is a big change, even though it’s not all that different architecturally.”
A full renovation of the course’s bunkers – the most labor-intensive and time-consuming project – began shortly after last year’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and was completed in May. Bisanz called it “kind of a facelift” and said a couple of bunkers were eliminated while a couple more were added. Some were enlarged and some were reduced in size, but every bunker on the course was re-edged, each one had its drainage and liner systems replaced and they all feature a fresh batch of sand.
The most noticeable difference from a golfer’s perspective will come on the par-5 No. 3, which has featured an almost straight-away layout with a lake in the middle of the fairway that comes into play on the second shot. Bisanz said the first half of the fairway has been shifted 15 yards to the right and a new tee box location has added approximately 25 yards to what was already a 554-yard hole.
PGA Tour rules official Dave Donnelly said the decision to alter the path of No. 3 was borne out of necessity.
A close up of a FedEx Express delivery van tee marker at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational at TPC Southwind. (Photo: Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports)
“Some trees came out on the left and because of that, it was a difficult hole to maintain the turf on going through the winter and into the spring and summer,” Donnelly said. “So, shifting the fairway has made a drastic difference from an agronomics standpoint. And it wasn’t just planned with this specific tournament in mind. It also takes into account the playability for the other 51 weeks of the year.”
No. 3 isn’t the only hole with additional yardage tacked on after adjustments were made to the tee box. The par-4 No. 17, a downhill hole with a creek that breaks up the fairway, has picked up approximately 15 extra yards with the expansion of its tee box.
Donnelly said there have also been a number of cosmetic modifications made around the course, which is typical from year to year.
“The course has been on kind of a yearly project, reinforcing a lot of the creeks and ponds around the course,” he said. “Adding retention walls to help shore things up. But there are also three or four projects each year as part of kind of a beautification process to enhance the look of the course.
“This year, you’ll notice the 15th hole, there’s about 100 yards’ worth of stone wall put in there on the front of the green, on both sides of the creek, green and fairway side.”
Bisanz said the feedback from those who have played the course has been great.
“I see it every day, so it’s harder for me to see the difference, but members have been very happy with everything,” he said.
