This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
FedEx St. Jude Classic – Memphis, TN
TPC Southwind (7,244 yards, par 70)
$6.4M Purse
$1,152,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner
Tournament Preview
The PGA Tour goes walking in Memphis this week as a final tune-up before the U.S. Open at Erin Hills. Due to the event's traditional timing one week before the U.S. Open, many top players opt out of the field to focus their time and energy on the major ahead. This year, just two of the top 15 in the world are teeing it up, creating a small but distinguished group to compete in a diluted field. TPC Southwind is a former dairy farm turned championship golf course, hosting the St. Jude Classic since 1989. Since then, the course underwent a major renovation in 2004 that saw many trees removed and the green seed changed to bermuda to better withstand the humid summers of Memphis. The par 70 track has one major spectacle, the par-3 11th island hole, which closely resembles the 17th island hole at TPC Sawgrass. As a testament to the tee-to-green difficulty of the course, TPC Southwind easily leads the TOUR in water balls, with over 4,700 since 2003. A distant but unsurprising second is TPC Sawgrass at approximately 3,200.
Prior Decade Champions
2016 – Daniel Berger
2015 – Fabian Gomez
2014 – Ben Crane
2013 – Harris English
2012 – Dustin Johnson
2011 – Harrison Frazar
2010 – Lee Westwood
2009 – Brian Gay
2008 – Justin Leonard
2007 – Woody Austin
Key Stats to Winning at TPC Southwind
• Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green
• GIR% from non-Fairway
• Scrambling percentage
Champion's Profile
The 156-player field is sparse this week, logically giving the handful of top players an elevated chance to grab a victory. However, recent history has seen quite the contrary in past champs, with four of the last six earning their first Tour victory here. Because TPC Southwind is so difficult when it comes to hitting fairways and greens, the key metric to focus on is Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. In fact, the last two winners, Daniel Berger and Fabian Gomez, have led the field in this very stat. On such a demanding ball-striking course, many find themselves hitting from non-fairway lies and vying to get up-and-down from off the green. Therefore, hitting greens is critical, whether from the fairway or not. Much like TPC Sawgrass, saving par from tricky greenside Bermuda is no walk in the park, so make sure your selections have some short game skills on this "sticky" strain of grass.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Rickie Fowler, $10500 – Fowler is enjoying a great season that includes a win at the Honda Classic and a runner-up at last week's Memorial Tournament. While this track doesn't have any ties to Jack Nicklaus, it's a good fit for Rickie in a diluted field.
Adam Scott, $10300 – Returning to Memphis for the first time in 10 years -- he finished seventh in that edition -- Scott is hoping to tune up his game for Erin Hills and pick up a much needed win. Scott hasn't triumphed since his back-to-back victories early last year.
Brooks Koepka, $10100 – Finishing second, third, and 19th in three Memphis starts is a good track record for anyone, let alone the fourth-highest ranked player in the field. Koepka is plenty long and posted five top-16 finishes over his last seven starts.
Francesco Molinari, $8700 – Sixth at THE PLAYERS in his last start on TOUR, Molinari is fourth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green this season. Molinari is also 46th in scrambling, getting up and down at a 61.6 percent clip.
Longer Shots Worth a Risk
Billy Horschel, $7700 – Horschel has regressed a bit in the two weeks since his AT&T Byron Nelson victory, but he is a solid tee-to-green ball striker capable of winning this week. Horschel has excelled at hitting greens, especially from off the fairway, where he's ranked eighth this season.
Russell Henley, $7600 – Henley notched a win at the Shell Houston Open prior to the Masters and has since played some up and down golf with a pair of missed cuts. However, this week could be his week to get on track – he ranks 29th Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and posted a top-10 finish last year in Memphis.
Kevin Chappell, $7400 – Chappell notched a top-25 in his only start at TPC Southwind two years ago, and today he's a much better player than he was then. Chappell has quietly made seven straight cuts -- and even grabbed a win -- in stroke play events and represents a good value buy this week.
Kyle Stanley, $6800 – An underrated option, Stanley is an astounding fifth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green this season. Not only that, he knocked on the door of victory twice in the last month with top-6 finishes at THE PLAYERS and the Memorial Tournament last week. As a good course fit, Stanley looks primed for a quality finish in Memphis.
Strategy Tips for this week (based on 60k standard salary cap)
With very few studs in the field this week and such little spread in FanDuel salaries, latch onto a few big names, but don't be afraid to branch out into the lower tiers to take some chances on trending players who strike it well tee-to-green. This event has a history of first-time winners, so all but the very worst players in the field have a chance to contend.
