2019 FedEx St. Jude Invitational

For the six or seven of us that will continue following pro golf now that the majors are over....

The World Golf Championships come to Memphis for the first time with this event that was played at Firestone last year.

the field of 64...

https://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/wgc-fedex-st-jude-invitational/field/20/final-field-wgc-fedex-stjude-invitational.html

No one was added when the new Top 50 came out today.

The pros that decided to skip this event at press time are Tiger Woods, Francseco Molinari, Rickie Fowler and Brend Wiesberger.

The field should give us a first place points total of around 72.

Purse is $10,250,000 and 550 FedEX Cup points are up for grabs

Course: TPC Southwind a par 70 of 7244 yards

Defending Champions: at Firestone it was Justin Thomas, at Southwind it was Dustin Johnson he finished in style...

gonna see shane lowry doing nelly's 'hot in here' on the first tee ...

Brookes has to shine here, mark it

Kewl!

This is the worst positioned event on the whole tour calendar.

Really disliking the new schedule at this point.

Most of the field will be jet lagged coming back from The British Open. Yeah, I miss the old schedule too.

Shane Lowry WDs

Not a surprise. 45 out of the top 50 will still be on hand.

> @MountainGoat said:

> This is the worst positioned event on the whole tour calendar.

A WGC should have been played two weeks ago somewhere in the British Isles or Valderrama. Play the John Deere Classic this week.

Of course, we can't do that because $$$$$$.

Marlo Thomas is 81

> @"Darth Putter" said:

> > @MountainGoat said:

> > This is the worst positioned event on the whole tour calendar.

>

> A WGC should have been played two weeks ago somewhere in the British Isles or Valderrama. Play the John Deere Classic this week.

> Of course, we can't do that because $$$$$$.

At this point, the WGCs are just jamming up the calendar. Hold them in the off months.

The WGCs used to great especially the WGC-Mexico Championship when it was the WGC-American Express Championship and the venue moved around. While I still enjoy them they don't hold the same excitement for me as they did in the past. The players must love them though guaranteed money and lots of OWGR points.

Hate the new schedule as well. Just too compressed. At this point I'd actually rather watch the Barracuda Championship in Reno and watch some hungry guys fight for their cards.

> @DukeOfChinoHills said:

> Most of the field will be jet lagged coming back from The British Open. Yeah, I miss the old schedule too.

Jet lag followed by heat stroke. Good times.

justin thomas ... been playing well the last few starts ...

I know fedex payed a bunch of money for the event , hard to think they couldn’t play Wyndham this week / fedex/barracuda next week.

Fedex gets the event slotted before the playoffs & the top guys get a week off after the major when they most likely played 3/4 weeks and will play the playoffs upcoming

I can't imagine they will get many Open champions in the next few years, not great scheduling and hard to get up for a WGC.

Golf Weekly in the UK speculates the WGC Memphis will move to two weeks before the British Open next year. That would present a big problem for the Irish Open.

https://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/news/tour-news/irish-open-facing-2020-olympics-scheduling-headache-182709

The fall part of the PGA schedule is in place. The official announcement of the week they play golf in Tokyo is probably the last piece in the scheduling puzzle for 2020.

There will also be an extra week between the British Open and the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs next year because Labor Day is so late.

British Open ends July 19

golf tournament ends July 26

Olympic Golf will end August 2 or 9

Wyndham Championship August 9

Northern Trust in Boston ends August 16

The former Western Open that won't be sponsored by BMW next year ends in Chicago August 23

Tour Championship ends August 30

> @"Darth Putter" said:

> Golf Weekly in the UK speculates the WGC Memphis will move to two weeks before the British Open next year. That would present a big problem for the Irish Open.

> https://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/news/tour-news/irish-open-facing-2020-olympics-scheduling-headache-182709

>

> The fall part of the PGA schedule is in place. The official announcement of the week they play golf in Tokyo is probably the last piece in the scheduling puzzle for 2020.

> There will also be an extra week between the British Open and the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs next year because Labor Day is so late.

>

> British Open ends July 19

> golf tournament ends July 26

> Olympic Golf will end August 2 or 9

> Wyndham Championship August 9

> Northern Trust in Boston ends August 16

> The former Western Open that won't be sponsored by BMW next year ends in Chicago August 23

> Tour Championship ends August 30

As you said that would really screw the Irish.

gonna take a couple of years to get this sorted out, but memphis in july, esp the week after the Open, ain't gonna fly for more and more golfers ... wgc needs to reduce down to 3 and move memphis to one of those dates ... hell, i don't know ...

The PGA Tour keep infringing on the European Tour's peak season don't they? First the PGA Championship during Wentworth then this moving to a good Irish Open date.

Two weeks before a links major the Irish Open is currently in a great spot for players that don't want to play the week before but want links practice like Fleetwood and Rahm.

Back years ago they used to play the Irish Open the week after the Open which might be the best in that case because you'd might get an alright field from players not having to travel too far.

> @Dave230 said:

> The PGA Tour keep infringing on the European Tour's peak season don't they? First the PGA Championship during Wentworth then this moving to a good Irish Open date.

>

> Two weeks before a links major the Irish Open is currently in a great spot for players that don't want to play the week before but want links practice like Fleetwood and Rahm.

>

> Back years ago they used to play the Irish Open the week after the Open which might be the best in that case because you'd might get an alright field from players not having to travel too far.

The European Tour gets by far the worst of the scheduling headaches.

The Australian, South African and the Asian Tours mostly stay away from the prime US/ majors schedule with spots for their biggest events in the US winter.

Japan does their own thing with their insular tour. They just have to adjust for the Tokyo Olympics and the PGA's ZOZO.

The other tours are too small.

The European Tour has to wait for others.

The majors and The Olympics get their dates first. (now that the PGA Championship has stepped in line)

Then the PGA Tour sets the dates for the FedEX Cup Playoffs and the TPC.

Now Europe gets a say on one big item, the Ryder Cup. The President's Cup date also gets set which this year will affect the schedules in Australia.

Then the PGA Tour supposedly gets together with the other tours to schedule the four WGCs. Considering the importance of the FedEx sponsorship, I get the feeling that whatever week they want for the WGC Memphis is probably the one they're going to get. And the spot two weeks after the US Open and two weeks before the British Open probably looks real good.

Once all that gets scheduled, now the European Tour can set their Race to Dubai Playoff dates and the BMW PGA Championship.

Then they can finally schedule the Rolex Series events. Even then they still have to keep in mind US dates like the week of The Memorial.

The European Tour does have one weapon they can use. They did so in 2016 when the WGC Firestone was played the same week as the 100th French Open. The European Tour said you want Ryder Cup points for this year's team, you can only get them in France. If things can't be worked out for 2020, they might have to do this again.

> @"Darth Putter" said:

> Shane Lowry WDs

> Not a surprise. 45 out of the top 50 will still be on hand.

Guinness poisoning apparently.

> @"Darth Putter" said:

> Golf Weekly in the UK speculates the WGC Memphis will move to two weeks before the British Open next year. That would present a big problem for the Irish Open.

> https://www.golf-monthly.co.uk/news/tour-news/irish-open-facing-2020-olympics-scheduling-headache-182709

>

> The fall part of the PGA schedule is in place. The official announcement of the week they play golf in Tokyo is probably the last piece in the scheduling puzzle for 2020.

> There will also be an extra week between the British Open and the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs next year because Labor Day is so late.

>

> British Open ends July 19

> golf tournament ends July 26

> Olympic Golf will end August 2 or 9

> Wyndham Championship August 9

> Northern Trust in Boston ends August 16

> The former Western Open that won't be sponsored by BMW next year ends in Chicago August 23

> Tour Championship ends August 30

Might hurt the Scottish Open too as a lot payers wont want to play two weeks in a row before a major. Will they skip the WGC (guaranteed money and big OWGR points) and play the Scottish instead, not sure about that. Of course some players will play all three but its extra travel compared to Irish, Scottish then The Open, I think Poulter and GMac did all three events this year.

I see in the article it states that Shane Lowry is suggesting it moves to the week before the BMW PGA so that would obviously impact on the Dutch Open if it is due to remain in its current position and it would likely mean the Irish moves away from a links venue.

> @"Darth Putter" said:

> > @Dave230 said:

> > The PGA Tour keep infringing on the European Tour's peak season don't they? First the PGA Championship during Wentworth then this moving to a good Irish Open date.

> >

> > Two weeks before a links major the Irish Open is currently in a great spot for players that don't want to play the week before but want links practice like Fleetwood and Rahm.

> >

> > Back years ago they used to play the Irish Open the week after the Open which might be the best in that case because you'd might get an alright field from players not having to travel too far.

>

> The European Tour gets by far the worst of the scheduling headaches.

> The Australian, South African and the Asian Tours mostly stay away from the prime US/ majors schedule with spots for their biggest events in the US winter.

> Japan does their own thing with their insular tour. They just have to adjust for the Tokyo Olympics and the PGA's ZOZO.

> The other tours are too small.

>

> The European Tour has to wait for others.

>

> The majors and The Olympics get their dates first. (now that the PGA Championship has stepped in line)

> Then the PGA Tour sets the dates for the FedEX Cup Playoffs and the TPC.

> Now Europe gets a say on one big item, the Ryder Cup. The President's Cup date also gets set which this year will affect the schedules in Australia.

> Then the PGA Tour supposedly gets together with the other tours to schedule the four WGCs. Considering the importance of the FedEx sponsorship, I get the feeling that whatever week they want for the WGC Memphis is probably the one they're going to get. And the spot two weeks after the US Open and two weeks before the British Open probably looks real good.

>

> Once all that gets scheduled, now the European Tour can set their Race to Dubai Playoff dates and the BMW PGA Championship.

> Then they can finally schedule the Rolex Series events. Even then they still have to keep in mind US dates like the week of The Memorial.

>

> **The European Tour does have one weapon they can use. They did so in 2016 when the WGC Firestone was played the same week as the 100th French Open. The European Tour said you want Ryder Cup points for this year's team, you can only get them in France. If things can't be worked out for 2020, they might have to do this again.**

It's about the only leverage they can exert over the elite ET players.

I'd hope they do this but 2016 was before Rolex Series and I suspect the ET will look to move the event so it doesn't clash with a WGC event. Rolex have made a big investment and I doubt they'd want one of their events to get "lost" by being staged the same time as a WGC.

I am now at the stage of almost looking forward to this weeks event. It does feel like they have decided that it was going to be moved and simply from there closed their eyes and stuck a pin in the calendar and decided that it would be this week but money talks and the field looks pretty good.

That said, I have next to no knowledge or memories of the course from watching it on TV as I have rarely watched it in the past. It was always the week before our club championship so most nights I would be practicing and the week before the US Open was always kind of meh week as you wait for things to get kicked off properly.

WGC - FedEx St. Jude Invitational

TPC Southwind - Memphis, Tennessee

July 25 - 28, 2019

ODDS to Win:

Dustin Johnson 10/1

Rory McIlroy 10/1

Brooks Koepka 12/1

Jon Rahm 12/1

Justin Thomas 14/1

Justin Rose 20/1

Patrick Cantlay 18/1

Xander Schauffele 20/1

Tommy Fleetwood 25/1

Henrik Stenson 30/1

Jordan Spieth 30/1

Tony Finau 30/1

Bryson DeChambeau 30/1

Adam Scott 30/1

Jason Day 30/1

Matt Kuchar 30/1

Hideki Matsuyama 30/1

Webb Simpson 30/1

Paul Casey 40/1

Louis Oosthuizen 50/1

Patrick Reed 40/1

Gary Woodland 50/1

Rafael Cabrera Bello 60/1

Tyrrell Hatton 60/1

Matthew Fitzpatrick 60/1

Chez Reavie 60/1

Billy Horschel 60/1

Andrew Putnam 60/1

Matt Wallace 60/1

Marc Leishman 60/1

Brandt Snedeker 60/1

I have a feeling this is going to be a good tournament . Also the high is only supposed to be 89 for the weekend for all those not playing but complaining about the weather.

> @flushem said:

> WGC - FedEx St. Jude Invitational

> TPC Southwind - Memphis, Tennessee

> July 25 - 28, 2019

>

> ODDS to Win:

> Dustin Johnson 10/1

> Rory McIlroy 10/1

> Brooks Koepka 12/1

> Jon Rahm 12/1

> Justin Thomas 14/1

> Justin Rose 20/1

> Patrick Cantlay 18/1

> Xander Schauffele 20/1

> Tommy Fleetwood 25/1

> Henrik Stenson 30/1

> Jordan Spieth 30/1

> Tony Finau 30/1

> Bryson DeChambeau 30/1

> Adam Scott 30/1

> Jason Day 30/1

> Matt Kuchar 30/1

> Hideki Matsuyama 30/1

> Webb Simpson 30/1

> Paul Casey 40/1

> Louis Oosthuizen 50/1

> Patrick Reed 40/1

> Gary Woodland 50/1

> Rafael Cabrera Bello 60/1

> Tyrrell Hatton 60/1

> Matthew Fitzpatrick 60/1

> Chez Reavie 60/1

> Billy Horschel 60/1

> Andrew Putnam 60/1

> Matt Wallace 60/1

> Marc Leishman 60/1

> Brandt Snedeker 60/1

No odds on Matthew Wolff for winning this week?

Bryson DeChambeau called the logistics of getting to Memphis from the British Open “brutal” on Monday and said, “Hopefully, they’ll change it eventually.”

A long-term place on the Tour calendar for the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational has not been announced yet.

But count Koepka among the group of players unfazed by the event’s slot on this year’s calendar.

“I mean, obviously there’s always a few guys who take off every WGC, so you’re going to have that no matter what,” Koepka said. “But I think it’s in a great spot. It’s in a great spot in the schedule, especially right after kind of major season to have something come up.”

Source: golfweek.com