Out of the Rough: FedEx St. Jude Championship (2025)

The 2025 PGA Tour regular season has come to an end as attention is now turned towards the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

The three-week long playoffs kicks off this week as the top-70 golfers of the season-long FedEx Cup standings head to TPC Southwind for this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship.

From here, the top 50-golfers within the standings will advance to next week’s BMW Championship and ultimately the top 30-golfers will play in the Tour Championship in two-weeks time. 

There is still time for those in the 51-to-70 range to make some moves as players received 500 points for winning a regular PGA TOUR event but can receive 2,000 points for winning this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship.

This event was established as the Memphis Open in 1958 before becoming the St. Jude Invitational in 1970. In 2018, the event became a World Golf Championship event, elevating its status.

The World Golf Championship is no-longer a thing but this event still holds a prestigious tag after replacing the Northern Trust in 2022 as the kick-off tournament for the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

The Field

As previously mentioned, this week’s field features the top 70-golfers within the season-long FedEx Standings.

Throughout the season, golfers received points from their respective finishes at each golf tournament to get to this point.

As it sits, Si Woo Kim, Jake Knapp, Jordan Spieth, Wyndham Clark and Min Woo Lee are the first five golfers within the top-50 cut-off for next week’s BMW Championship.

J.T. Poston, Kurt Kitayama, Bud Cauley, Joe Highsmith and Aaron Rai are the first five out and need big weeks to ensure they play next week.

Viktor Hovland, Lucas Glover, Sam Stevens, Sungjae Im and Daniel Berger are the first five within the top-30 for the end-of-the-season Tour Championship as Ryan Gerard, Ryan Fox, Jacob Bridgeman, Brian Campbell and Thomas Detry are the first five out.

Hideki Matsuyama comes in as the defending champion, having topped Hovland and Xander Schauffele by two strokes a season ago.

Lucas Glover won this event in 2023 and too will be playing this week.

The Course

To best describe TPC Southwind, we can simply take a look at its name. The course embodies all of the characteristics of a southern Bermuda course while also susceptible to high winds. Simple enough.

TPC Southwind was designed by Ron Prichard in consultation with Fuzzy Zoeller and Hubert Green and opened in 1988.

The course, upon opening, offered a stern test to the world’s best but was made even more difficult in 2004.

A total of 125 trees were planted and 15 new bunkers were installed (totalling to 96.) Additionally, the par five fifth hole was converted to a par four which reduced the par from 71 to 70.

The fairways were re-contoured and narrowed as well as over 200-yards were added to the course.

The course now plays as a par 70 measuring 7,244 yards.

The fairways are undulating and water is in play on ten holes. The track also features nine holes that include doglegs.

The course shows its teeth when playing from outside of the fairways. TPC Southwind ranks top six in penalty from missed fairways and approach difficulty from the rough. It also features top-ten most-narrow fairways on TOUR.

This will add an emphasis on driving accuracy off-the-tee as golfers will look to find the fairways with such difficulties coming if they are missed. Additionally, with the greens rolling firm and fast, there will be an emphasis on scrambling this week as well.

However, accuracy isn’t the end all, as it has proven in year’s past that this course can be attacked by bombers and fairway-finders alike.

TPC Southwind also features smaller-than-average Bermuda greens that run at 12 on the stimpmeter.

The greens roll firm, fast and true and traditionally serve as some of the easiest in putting difficulty on the entire PGA TOUR.

This will allow for the field’s weaker putters to come back to field average. In the same sense, elite putters may receive an even bigger benefit as they have the opportunity to ‘explode’ on the greens this week.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, we’re in line for a clear four days of golf. Thursday, Friday and Saturday currently call for just a 15-percent chance of rain as Sunday calls for just a five-percent chance. Temperatures are set at 91-degrees across all four days. Winds will begin at six miles-per-hour on Thursday before peaking at seven miles-per-hour on Friday and settling to five miles-per-hour for both days across the weekend.

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG)

• Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)

• Strokes Gained: Approach

• Ball Striking

• Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (SG: OTT) / Driving Accuracy

• Strokes Gained: Putting on Bermuda (SG: PUTT Bermuda)

• Scrambling

• Par Four Average Scoring

• Bogey Avoidance

• Birdie or Better Percentage

• Proximity to the hole from 150-175 Yards

• Sand Saves Percentage

Betting Card

Russell Henley (+3000)

My overall favorite this week that isn’t named Scottie Scheffler is Henley. He is currently eight on Tour in SG: TTG, 13th in proximity to the hole from 150-175 yards, 14th in both SG: APP and par-four average scoring, 15th in driving accuracy, 16th in bogey avoidance, 18th in GIR%, 27th in birdie-or-better percentage, 39th in sand saves percentage, 42nd in scrambling, 63rd in SG: PUTT Bermuda and 112th in SG: OTT. Henley is in some insane form coming into this week as well. He most recently placed tenth at The Open Championship, second at the Travelers Championship, tenth at the U.S. Open and fifth at the Memorial Tournament. He also won the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this season. He placed 30th here a season ago, placed sixth in 2023 and missed the cut in 2022. 

Viktor Hovland (+3250)

Hovland seems to not only enjoy this course but the FedEx Cup Playoffs as a whole. He placed second here a season ago, 13th in 2023 and 20th in 2022. He most recently placed 63rd at The Open Championship, 11th at the Genesis Scottish Open, third at the U.S. Open, 25th at the Memorial Tournament and 28th at the PGA Championship. Hovland may also currently be the best iron player in the world. He is currently second on Tour in SG: APP, 15th in SG: TTG, 23rd in birdie-or-better percentage, 49th in proximity to the hole from 150-175 yards, 54th in ball striking, 61st in driving accuracy, 70th in GIR%, 76th in SG: PUTT Bermuda, 100th in sand saves percentage, 116th in par-four average scoring, 151st in scrambling and 152nd in bogey avoidance. 

Robert MacIntyre (+5000)

MacIntyre placed 44th last week at the Wyndham Championship. Prior to that he placed seventh at The Open Championship, 65th at the Genesis Scottish Open, 17th at the Travelers Championship and second at the U.S. Open. He’s played this event just once prior, placing seventh a season ago. MacIntyre is currently 29th on Tour in SG: TTG, 30th in SG: APP, 33rd in GIR%, 41st in proximity to the hole from 150-175 yards, 42nd in par-four average scoring, 45th in ball striking, 53rd in SG: OTT, 57th in bogey avoidance, 58th in sand saves percentage, 63rd in driving accuracy, 68th in birdie-or-better percentage, 80th in scrambling and 94th in SG: PUTT Bermuda.

Aaron Rai (+6000)

Rai is currently second on Tour in driving accuracy, 11th in proximity to the hole from 150-175 yards, 12th in GIR%, 14th in par-four average scoring, 18th in SG: TTG, 21st in SG: OTT, 31st in SG: APP, 33rd in ball striking, 68th in sand saves percentage, 69th in birdie-or-better percentage, 73rd in bogey avoidance, 107th in scrambling and 152nd in SG: PUTT Bermuda. The putter is always the problem for Rai. He lost strokes putting a week ago but did gain 0.446-strokes-per-round on the greens at the Genesis Scottish Open and 0.513 strokes-per-round at the Travelers Championship across his last three starts. He placed fifth last week at the Wyndham Championship, 34th at The Open Championship, 47th at the Genesis Scottish Open, 17th at the Rocket Classic and 33rd at the U.S. Open as of late. He placed 16th here a season ago, 49th in 2023 and 51st in 2022.