FedEx St Jude Championship Betting Tips: The Panel's 4 Picks From TPC Southwind
The FedEx Cup Playoffs start this week, the first of three back-to-back events which conclude at the Tour Championship where the year’s best player on the PGA Tour will be crowned.
TPC Southwind has hosted the St Jude Championship for the last two years and is a tree-lined par-70 course measuring 7,243 yards, so it’s fairly lengthy and requires accuracy off the tee to find some of the smallest greens on the tour.
The top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings are competing at this Tennessee track, but the field will be whittled down to 50 for next week’s BMW Championship and then 30 for the trip to East Lake.
Will Zalatoris was first for strokes gained in approach and tee to green when he won here in 2022 and Lucas Glover was fourth for the latter metric 12 months ago, so we’re looking for players who can find fairways and hit greens consistently.
Betting sites have naturally installed Scottie Scheffler as the 15/4 favourite to win this week, but with one missed cut and a T31 from his two visits, The Panel are looking elsewhere for our FedEx St Jude Championship betting tips.
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FedEx St Jude Championship Predictions:
- The Panel Tip 1: Hideki Matsuyama To Win (Each-Way) - 25/1 With Bet365 (Five Places)
- The Panel Tip 2: Corey Conners To Win (Each-Way) - 33/1 With Coral (Seven Places)
- The Panel Tip 3: Im Sung-jae To Win (Each-Way) - 33/1 With William Hill (Seven Places)
- The Panel Tip 4: Eric Cole To Win (Each-Way) - 125/1 With Unibet (Six Places)
Matsuyama Can Tame Southwind
Hideki Matsuyama heads to Memphis buoyed by his Olympic bronze and his form suggests he could be standing on the St Jude Championship podium this week.
The Japanese is enjoying an excellent season which brought a ninth PGA Tour title at the Genesis Invitational in February thanks to a spectacular closing 62, one shot shy of the course record at Rivieira.
Matsuyama finished inside the top 10 in five of his following 11 tournaments, including sixth place at the US Open, so he is in excellent nick and may be worth a punt if you have some free bets.
The world No 12 is fourth in the SG: tee-to-green stats and finished in 16th place here on his debut last season, so his skill-set and course form suggest he will go well.
He’s up against some of the best players on the planet like Scheffele, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy, but The Panel are on board Matsuyama at 25/1 with Bet365.
The Panel Tip 1 - Hideki Matsuyama To Win (Each-Way) - 25/1 With Bet365 (Five Places)
Conners Getting Closer
Corey Conners finished in the top 10 at Le Golf National, outside Paris, and the Canadian’s form suggests he is getting closer to a third PGA Tour title.
Conners, as we mentioned in previous previews, has not missed the weekend since last year’s US Open and he has four top 10s in his last seven tournaments.
Consistent results mean Conners is creeping towards the world’s top 30 and having finished sixth at TPC Southwind in 2023, this looks like a set-up that could suit his game, borne out by his stroked gained statistics.
Fourth for approach and eighth tee-to-green, Conners is also inside the top 35 off the tee, so all the elements are in place to contend this week.
Conners can be backed generally at 33/1 with golf betting sites and in a 70-man field, albeit an elite one, that looks like a price worth taking.
The Panel Tip 2 - Corey Conners To Win (Each-Way) - 33/1 With Coral (Seven Places)
Stick With Im
Im Sung-jae was our headline pick for last week’s Wyndham Championship and although The Panel were in the places with Billy Horschel (25/1) and Eric Cole (55/1), the South Korean finished outside the top 40.
However, his form prior to Sedgefield was excellent and he looks worth keeping on board at 33/1 with new betting sites.
Five of his last seven tournaments involved top-10 finishes and he was 12th at the John Deere Classic, with a missed a cut at the US Open the only blemish on his card.
Im’s tee-to-green and approach stats at the Wyndham were both negative which is a slight concern, but on the positive side, he was fifth at this course two years ago.
Hopefully, last week’s trip to North Carolina was a blip and he can get back on track as the next of The Panel’s St Jude Championship betting tips.
The Panel Tip 3 - Im Sung-jae To Win (Each-Way) - 33/1 With William Hill (Seven Places)
Hot Cole Worth A Whirl At Triple-Figure Price
Eric Cole gave Panel readers a nice each-way return at 55/1 last week and although five players ended in seventh spot, the American was advised at 10 places.
Cole finished just outside the top 30 on his Southwind debut last year, but he is hitting form on the back of three top-10s in his last five outings.
Clearly, Cole is up against it here and although his tee-to-green and approach stats are mediocre, his putting at the Wyndham Championship was off the scale, almost 2.5 strokes ahead of his nearest rival.
If Cole can hit those hard-to-find greens, his flatstick will hopefully do the rest for a maiden PGA Tour title.
At 125/1 – more than twice last week’s price – he has to be worth a punt with Unibet, who are offering six places, although it’s eight with Boylesports at the lower price of 80/1.
The Panel Tip 4 - Eric Cole To Win (Each-Way) - 125/1 With Unibet (Six Places)
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