Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship

2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

While he spoke positively and maturely about it afterwards, the collapse of Max Greyserman at the Wyndham Championship on Sunday really was watch-through-your-fingers type stuff.

The rookie posted a double-bogey and a quadruple-bogey on the back nine at Sedgefield Country Club to undo some of his otherwise outstanding play; not least his round of 60 in the second round and two eagles on Sunday.

Every opportunity needs an opportunist to take advantage of it, so step forward Aaron Rai – the in-form Englishman who got over the line for his maiden PGA TOUR title.

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Rai had hung around at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday, birdieing four of his opening six holes and then grinding out a couple more as conditions got tougher.

But even he must have been surprised by the implosion of Greyserman, who had otherwise looked so assured as he approached his debut PGA TOUR title – hopefully he’ll take the lessons learned into the FedEx Cup playoffs this week, which get underway with the St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind.

This classical layout has been a mainstay on the PGA TOUR for more than three decades now, with the Ron Pritchard design the perfect example of how to futureproof your golf course against all of the distance gains and equipment improvements that have come to pass.

There’s some severely doglegging holes at the venue which effectively force bombers to club down, while tight fairways remind everyone in the field to mind their work off the tee.

Water is in play on eleven holes, while the small Bermuda greens – which run firm and fast when conditions allow – can be tough to hold.

So step forward the cream of the crop from tee-to-green this week; three of the last five winners at TPC Southwind have been major champions, which comes as no shock at all given the nature of the test here.

At the time of writing, all 70 of the players that have qualified for this opening leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs have accepted their invitation, and so it’s a high-grade field that will assemble in Memphis, Tennessee – in fact, you’d be hard pressed to name any superstar that will miss out.

Of course, the action ramps up now because only the top-50 will make it to the BMW Championship, while the jostling will begin in earnest for the best possible place on the leaderboard for the TOUR Championship in a fortnight’s time.

The challenge for golf bettors tackling these small field, high-quality events is that the head of the betting market is stacked with stars. But, if it’s any inspiration, we drafted Lucas Glover – the winner here 12 months ago – in our daily fantasy column. He was available at odds of 100/1 too, which offers a hint of what might be possible in Memphis.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at our sleeper shortlist for the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship.

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Shane Lowry – 50/1 – We’d mused prior to the Wyndham Championship how difficult it might be for those that played at the Olympics to motivate themselves to grind out a score in tough conditions there, and with Shane Lowry a missed cut perhaps came as no surprise.

In fairness to the Irishman, he didn’t actually play that badly – finding 78% of fairways at Sedgefield in his 36 holes played, while gaining +1.02 on the field on approach. With the weekend off, Lowry has been able to recharge ahead of a trip to a TPC Southwind layout that should reward his solid tee-to-green game – he was T6 here in 2020, to mark your card.

Elite on approach and classy around the greens, Lowry – if he putts well – has a fine chance this week to continue his trend for playing very nicely at classical golf courses.

Justin Thomas – 50/1 – Once upon a time, Justin Thomas lapped up trips to quintessential golf courses like TPC Southwind. He won here in 2020, remember, and has wins at the likes of TPC Sawgrass and Quail Hollow to his name, as well as a pair of top-10s at Augusta.

Whether his game is in the condition to beat an alite field this week remains to be seen, but what’s interesting to us is that J.T. has gained strokes on the field putting in each of his last three starts – that’s the club that has brought him down over the past year. Thomas has also recorded three top-10s in his last eight PGA TOUR starts, including T8 at the PGA Championship. He is, slowly but surely, regathering his best form.

Cameron Young – 50/1 – Often, Cameron Young goes off at odds that are too short relative to his lack of wins on the PGA TOUR. But at 50/1, we’re backing a player with tremendous upside at a juicy price – the key is that he has the game to win on any given week.

One of the reasons he hasn’t is because his, occasionally, putting is hideous, but remember at TPC Southwind the key gains are made from tee-to-green, at a layout where players that aren’t quite at it will struggle. With 80% GIR at the Wyndham Championship, Young’s game was – and has been for some time – in fine fettle. If he can solve his putting woes, he could finally get that win he’s been waiting so long for.

Adam Scott – 66/1 – The Australian’s successful career has yielded wins at Augusta, TPC Sawgrass, Colonial, PGA National, and Riviera – in short, he loves classical golf.

Ironically, it was not parklands golf that has reinvigorated his season but Links golf: solo second at the Scottish Open, followed by T10 at the British Open, confirmation of the confidence oozing in his game. If Scott can take that to TPC Southwind, in firm and fast conditions he loves, there’s no reason why he can’t contend. He was T5 here in 2022; a third round of 70 ending what otherwise might have been a title charge.

Min Woo Lee – 90/1 – After playing in the Olympics himself, Min Woo Lee then stayed on a little longer to help his sister, Minjee, in her own preparations for the Games.

So a missed cut at the Wyndham was not all that surprising, and we expect an immediate improvement from the Australian at the sort of golf course where he has thrived in the past. With strong showings at Augusta, TPC Sawgrass, and PGA National to his credit, Min Woo clearly loves firm and fast tree-lined layouts, and the last time he teed it up on American soil he was T2 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the FedEx St. Jude Championship here.

Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2024)

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