FedEx St. Jude Championship 2026 Odds, Preview & Picks
Written by: Justin Carlucci
Last Update: Tue Aug 11, 2026, 7:26 pm ET
Read Time: 11 minutes
golf
The PGA TOUR heads to TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, for the FedEx St. Jude Championship as the FedExCup Playoffs begin. The field is down to 69 golfers, and there is no cut this week, so everyone gets four rounds to make a move before the field narrows again for next week's BMW Championship. For some players, this is the start of a run at the TOUR Championship. For others, it is their last chance to keep the season alive.
The fields only get stronger from here, which makes it tougher to find a real long shot. I don't love the odds on a lot of the guys near the top, so I'm going each way, three places, with every play on this card. Before we move on, check out the action at our top online sportsbooks.
FedEx St. Jude Championship Picks & Betting Odds
This is a loaded playoff field, with Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and the rest of the game's biggest names all squaring off. TPC Southwind can play in an easy-to-medium scoring range, but it still punishes mistakes. The rough is extremely penal if you miss fairways, so I'm looking for accurate drivers, good ball-strikers and guys who can get hot with the putter.
Notable FedEx St. Jude Championship odds via Lucky Rebel:
- Scottie Scheffler +500
- Rory McIlroy +1200
- Xander Schauffele +1800
- Cameron Young +2200
- Hideki Matsuyama +2200
- Sam Burns +2200
- Tommy Fleetwood +2200
- Ludvig Åberg +2500
- Matt Fitzpatrick +2500
- Collin Morikawa +2800
- Justin Thomas +3000
- Chris Gotterup +3500
- Patrick Cantlay +3500
- Si Woo Kim +3500
- Tom Kim +3500
- Viktor Hovland +3500
- Jackson Koivun +4000
- Russell Henley +4000
- Robert MacIntyre +4500
- Wyndham Clark +4500
- J.J. Spaun +5000
- Rickie Fowler +5000
- Ben Griffin +5500
- Michael Brennan +5500
- Michael Thorbjornsen +5500
- Ryan Gerard +5500
- Akshay Bhatia +6000
TPC Southwind Course Information
TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, is a par-70 layout playing at 7,288 yards. The course has plenty of danger around it, including tough rough and water that comes into play throughout the round.
- Location: Memphis, Tennessee
- Par & Length: Par 70, 7,288 yards
- Difficulty: Easy/Medium
- Recent winners: Justin Rose (2025), Hideki Matsuyama (2024), Lucas Glover (2023)
Keeping the ball in the fairway is imperative this week. If you miss, the rough can make it difficult to control approach shots and attack pins. Approach play carries from week to week wherever you play, so that always matters, but accuracy off the tee gets an extra bump at TPC Southwind.
The greens are not overly difficult, either. This feels like a good spot to find a bounce-back putting candidate or take a shot on someone who is typically elite with the flat stick. If you're just getting into golf betting, here's how to bet on golf.
FedEx St. Jude Championship Picks and Best Bets
Quick note on structure: the numbers in each header are the Lucky Rebel win odds. My main stakes go on these each-way placement bets below. The betting only gets tougher over the final two playoff events because the fields are absolutely loaded. Scale your bet sizes accordingly, and tread delicately with the 90/1 guys.
Here are my FedEx St. Jude Championship picks:
- Sam Burns +3000, E/W 3 places
- Jackson Koivun +5500, E/W 3 places
- Tom Kim +5500, E/W 3 places
- Rickie Fowler +9000, E/W 3 places
- Ryan Gerard +9000, E/W 3 places
Sam Burns +2200 — Lucky Rebel Sportsbook
We'll start near the top with Sam Burns at 30/1 each way, three places. What can you say about Burns at this point? He is having a phenomenal year, even with a couple of heartbreaking near-misses in the biggest spots.
Burns finished solo second at the U.S. Open and solo third at the Open Championship. He also posted a T6 at Pebble Beach and a T4 at the Memorial. He has gained strokes putting in every tournament since the middle of March, and he is arguably the best putter on the PGA TOUR when he is locked in.
The ball-striking has been awesome. According to Data Golf, Burns has gained at least one true stroke off the tee in four of his last five tournaments, and his approach game has been dynamite. Every now and then, he can get a little shaky with accuracy off the tee, so we are hoping for at least a neutral week in that department. If he can find enough fairways, though, the rest of the profile is hard to beat.
Burns ranks first in my model this week and has good TPC Southwind history. He finished T2 here in 2021 and T5 in 2024, and three of his Southwind appearances featured big-time spike putting performances. There are plenty of quality players near the top of the board, but give me Burns, who is striking the ball as well as anyone and might be the best putter in the field.
He couldn't get a major this year, but perhaps this is the one he takes down, similar to Justin Rose last season.
Jackson Koivun +4000 — Lucky Rebel Sportsbook
Next up, we'll go with Jackson Koivun at 55/1, three places. He is incredibly difficult to model because the kid is already making history in a limited amount of time.
Koivun backdoored his way into the FedExCup Playoffs after just five professional events as a non-amateur. He already has a PGA TOUR win at the 3M Open, where we saw a massive spike week on approach. He has also been known as a very accurate driver, gaining accuracy on the field according to Data Golf in each of his last four events.
You could call the last two results "down" weeks by his absurdly high early standards. He finished T31 at the Rocket Classic and T29 at the Wyndham Championship while losing strokes putting in both events. Maybe he is fatigued after coming straight from an incredible collegiate season with six wins. But he is 21 years old, and I'm assuming a ticket into the FedExCup Playoffs will give him a little extra pep in his step.
He lost two strokes putting in the final round at the Wyndham, which is uncharacteristic for him, but he still showed really good ball-striking on Sunday. He also gained putting strokes in the two middle rounds that weekend.
Another fun angle: Koivun will be the first player on the course Thursday, teeing off by himself at 8:10 a.m. ET because of the 69-man field. We'll see how that plays out, but he gets to play at his own pace with no playing partner and no additional distractions.
It'll be about 15 degrees cooler when he tees off compared to the guys hitting the course around 1 p.m., and then he'll have plenty of time to rest up before his Friday afternoon shift.
We are betting on the pedigree here. He has already played in a major as an amateur, won a PGA TOUR event, and snuck into the FedExCup Playoffs. The moment clearly is not too big for him. He ranks 12th in my model, and I like his accuracy and potential for a spike putting week at TPC Southwind.
Tom Kim +3500 — Lucky Rebel Sportsbook
Tom Kim was a winner for us earlier this summer, and it has been awesome to watch him play the best golf of his life. At 55/1 each way for three places, this number feels like a gift.
I also like Russell Henley in this range. They are similar players to a degree: accurate drivers, smart players and very reliable iron players. But I love the way Kim is striking the golf ball right now. He has gained true strokes on approach in every tournament since the end of April.
Kim is typically very accurate off the tee, which is a major bonus at TPC Southwind. He has played Southwind three times and posted a T13 in 2022 and a T24 in 2023, and he is really in a groove in 2026.
He won the Genesis Scottish Open, missed the cut at the Open Championship, then finished T20 at the 3M and T5 last week at the Wyndham Championship. All of that comes after a solo third at the U.S. Open. He has been excellent across a variety of golf courses and different kinds of conditions.
Kim is a very accurate driver and capable of spike putting weeks, as we saw last week at the Wyndham. If he can keep the ball in the fairway, give us another typically strong approach week and get a little help from the flat stick, he should have a real chance to contend even in the strongest fields. He ranks ninth in my model.
Rickie Fowler +5000 — Lucky Rebel Sportsbook
Now we get to a blast from the past with Rickie Fowler at 90/1. I don't think anybody is touting Fowler this week, but I'm going to dabble.
Fowler is notoriously one of the most accurate drivers of the golf ball. He has gained accuracy off the tee compared to the field in each of his last four tournaments at TPC Southwind. He also finished T6 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship last year.
The recent ball-striking has been good, too. Fowler has gained strokes on approach in four straight tournaments according to Data Golf. He is coming off a T8 at the Rocket Classic, a T18 at the Open Championship and a T15 at the John Deere Classic. I love that he has finished highly across different layouts and different types of courses.
He is striking the ball well; he has a good finish here from last year, and he is typically a very strong putter. Fowler ranks 14th in my model, which makes 90/1 pretty generous for a guy grading out that highly.
This is a smaller play because it is still a 90/1 ticket in a loaded field, but I'm happy to take a shot at a very nice number.
Ryan Gerard +5500 — Lucky Rebel Sportsbook
We'll close with Ryan Gerard at 90/1. Gerard was one of the most popular picks last week at the Wyndham and missed the cut, but he still struck the ball well and was very good off the tee. He just could not putt and wasn't good around the green.
That was the first time Gerard had lost strokes putting since after the PGA Championship, when he made a caddie change. I'm expecting that putter to get back on track. He saw this course once last year and was very good on approach, which is an encouraging sign.
Gerard is typically a very accurate driver and a good ball-striker. I also like the fact that he has seen this course before. He ranks seventh in my model this week, so 90/1 is a number I simply have to take, assuming the putter comes back around.
Before last week's missed cut, Gerard had two straight top-10 finishes, including one at the Open Championship. You don't have to go much further back to find high-end results either. He posted a solo second at the Memorial and a T10 at the Charles Schwab Challenge earlier this summer.
I like Gerard's game for this course. He is another accurate driver; his ball-striking has been very solid, and his putting has come back around later this summer. One missed-cut and a down putting performance does not erase all of that.
What Is an Each-Way Bet?
An each-way bet in golf is really two bets in one: a win bet and a place bet, stacked on the same golfer for equal stakes. If your guy wins, both halves cash; if he only finishes inside the places, the win half loses, but the place half still pays out at a fraction of the listed odds — usually 1/4 or 1/5, depending on the book.
The number of places paid is set by the sportsbook and listed next to your ticket. You don't need a winner to get paid — you just need your guy hanging around the top of the leaderboard.
Still Didn't Get Your Betting Fix?
Follow me on X for all my picks, analysis and plenty more. Also, be sure to follow Betting News on X and Twitch to catch us on stream! Betting News is also on TikTok. Follow us for more sports picks and news every day, and check out our Free Expert Picks for every major sports league.
More Golf News
Golf Betting News
Wyndham Championship 2026 Odds, Preview & Picks
Golf Betting News
Rocket Classic 2026 Odds, Preview & Picks
Golf Betting News
3M Open 2026 Odds, Preview & Picks
Golf Betting News
The Open Championship 2026 Best Bets at Royal Birkdale
Get FREE Picks and Props Weekly
Sign up for
THE WEEKENDER NEWSLETTER
Check Out Our Other Betting Resources for Summer Sporting Events
Carlucci spent nearly a decade as a reporter, editor, and on-air talent in the Poconos. His transition into the fantasy sports and sports betting industries began in 2016 with roles at Daily Fantasy Insider and Daily Roto Sharks, which led to positions at Better Collective (RotoGrinders). During this period, his work gained national recognition through regular contributions to the New York Post and featured appearances on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio. Carlucci has also contributed to Fantasy Alarm and most recently served as Managing Editor at Third Planet Media (Props.com), where he led content strategy, editorial direction, and served as the forward-facing voice of the brand through live streams and podcasts. You can also find his work at Matthew Berry's Fantasy Life and Hard Rock Digital. He's for some reason a die-hard Titans and 76ers fan and has developed trust issues from "trusting the process." Follow him on X @ThejCarlucci!
This site contains commercial content. We may be compensated for the links provided on this page. The content on this page is for informational purposes only. Betting News makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the information given or the outcome of any game or event.