The playoffs are here after the PGA Tour regular season came to an end last weekend with Joohyung Kim winning the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro. The Wyndham, Rocket Mortgage Classic, and 3M Open were all a little light on top 25 OWGR players but that changes this weekend in Memphis.
The top 125 players in the FedEx Cup standings are in action this weekend at TPC Southwind. That makes the FedEx St. Jude betting favorites kind of hard to decipher on who has the best value, but here how oddsmakers have laid it out:
Rory McIlroy +1100
Despite being sixth in the FedEx Cup standings, McIlroy is the favorite this weekend outside of Memphis. He’s trying to become the first golfer to win the FedEx Cup three times, and only McIlroy and Tiger Woods have ever won the playoffs twice.
When we last saw McIlroy he was finishing up a disappointing final round 70 at St. Andrews to finish third even after holding the 54-hole lead with Viktor Hovland. McIlroy finished 12th at TPC Southwind last season.
Cameron Smith +1600
It was Cameron Smith that dashed McIlroy’s Claret Jug hopes at the Old Course, taking home the Open Championship at -20 for his third victory of the season. Smith is #2 in the standings heading into the weekend.
Smith started off the playoffs on a high note last year getting a runner-up after losing in a playoff to Tony Finau (at the Northern Trust in New Jersey), but struggled at the BMW Championship the following weekend.
Justin Thomas +1600
Thomas comes into the playoffs ranked eighth in the FedEx Cup standings, but he’s a former winner at TPC Southwind taking home the 2020 WGC – FedEx St. Jude’s Invitational. Thomas missed the cut at the Scottish Open and finished T53 at the Open Championship so he’s glad to have links courses behind him.
Scottie Scheffler +1600
Scheffler holds the top spot in the FedEx Cup standings thanks to his four victories on Tour this year. Scheffler has finished in the top 25 in his last two events at TPC Southwind so he should be in contention this weekend.
Patrick Cantlay +1800
Cantlay will try to join Woods and McIlroy on the list of 2X FedEx Cup winners after he finished 11th at the Northern Trust but then went on to claim victory in the BMW Championship and the Tour Championship to claim the 2021 Cup.
Cantlay doesn’t have an individual win this season but did capture the Zurich Classic of New Orleans teamed up with Xander Schauffele. He’s had runner-ups at the WM Phoenix Open, the RBC Heritage, and most recently the Rocket Mortgage Classic two weeks ago.
Cantlay is one of the few favorites to have played since St. Andrews so that should give him an edge.
Xander Schauffele +1800
Scheffler has solid 18/1 odds considering he is #4 in the FedEx Cup standings and is red hot lately. Schauffele has wins at the Travelers Championship and Scottish Open in consecutive events he’s played in and finished 15th at the Open Championship.
