Coming off a win two weeks ago, which gave him world #1 status, Jon Rahm opened as a +900 favorite at the St Jude Invitational according to Sports Betting Dime. But this is a stacked field with nine of the top ten in the OWGR teeing it up, four of who finished better than Rahm’s 7th-place last year: Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Webb Simpson, and defending champ Brooks Koepka.
The WGC-FedEx St Jude is one of the deepest fields in a long time. Forty four of the top fifty in the Official World Golf Ranking are in the field. That’s the most on the PGA TOUR since last season’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude.
For a list of past WGC-FedEx St. Jude winners, follow the link.
The 2019 WGC-FedEx St. Jude field includes 16 winners of WGC events, including each of the last five winners of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational: Shane Lowry (2015), Dustin Johnson (2016), Hideki Matsuyama (2017), Justin Thomas (2018), Brooks Koepka (2019). There are six FedExCup champions in the field: Brandt Snedeker (2012), Henrik Stenson (2013), Billy Horschel (2014), Jordan Spieth (2015), Justin Thomas (2017), Rory McIlroy (2016, 2019).
Three player have won multiple time this season. All three are in the field: Justin Thomas, Webb Simpson and Brendan Todd. The field also includes each of the seven winners since the season resumed in June (Daniel Berger, Webb Simpson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Michael Thompson).
As last minute odds come in, Rahm has moved back to +1200, with McIlroy at +1100. Here are some FanDuel odds as of July 29.
2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Odds
| Golfer | Odds |
|---|---|
| Rory McIlroy | +1100 |
| Jon Rahm | +1200 |
| Justin Thomas | +1200 |
| Bryson DeChambeau | +1400 |
| Xander Schauffele | +2000 |
| Webb Simpson | +2200 |
| Patrick Cantlay | +2200 |
| Daniel Berger | +2900 |
| Collin Morikawa | +3000 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | +3000 |
| Tyrrell Hatton | +3100 |
| Brooks Koepka | +3100 |
| Viktor Hovland | +3200 |
| Dustin Johnson | +3300 |
| Patrick Reed | +3500 |
| Tommy Fleetwood | +3500 |
| Matthew Fitzpatrick | +3700 |
| Tony Finau | +3700 |
| Jason Day | +4000 |
| Gary Woodland | +4500 |
A few individual player notes:
World No. 1 Jon Rahm (No. 8 FedExCup) is making his first start since moving to No. 1 in the OWGR. On twenty two previous occasions, five players have won in their first PGA TOUR start as World No. 1: Ian Woosnam/1991 Masters Tournament, David Duval/1999 BellSouth Classic, Vijay Singh/2004 RBC Canadian Open, Adam Scott/2014 Charles Schwab Challenge, Dustin Johnson/2017 WGC-Mexico Championship. Rahm is one of four players with at least one win in each of the last four PGA TOUR seasons. The others are Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas.
Justin Thomas (FedEx Cup Leader; #3 OWGR) is currently the only player in the top three of both the FedExCup standings and the OWGR. He earned the ninth of his 12 PGA TOUR victories at the 2018 WGC-FedEx St. jude Invitational. Thomas holds the lead — along with DeChambeau — for most top 10s on TOUR during the current season (8)
Defending champion Brooks Koepka (No. 6 OWGR, No. 155 FedExCup) will defend a title in each of the last two weeks: The WGC-FedEx and the PGA Championship. Koepka has just one top-ten in 10 starts on the season (a 7th at the RBC Heritage). He’s due for a charge, though. Although he enters the week #155 in the FedExCup Standings, he has not finished worse than 35th since 2014.
Rory McIlroy (No. 2 OWGR, No. 5 FedExCup) has had six top fives in ten starts this season. At the WGC-FedEx, McIlroy has had seven top tens in nine starts, including his 2014 win. Right now, the Irishman leads the PGA TOUR in scoring average (68.899).
Bryson DeChambeau (No. 7 OWGR, No. 4 FedExCup) has a win at the 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic to go with seven additional Top Tens in twelve starts on this season.
Patrick Reed (No. 8 OWGR, No. 6 FedExCup) won the WGC-Mexico Championship earlier this season. He now has a chance to join Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama as the only players to win multiple WGC titles in a season.
Colin Morikawa (No. 12 OWGR, No. 7 FedExCup) has a hot hand right now. Over the last seven weeks he has moved from No. 41 to No. 7 in the FedExCup Standings.
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