Fantasy Golf: FedEx St Jude Classic Preview
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It’s the week before the US Open and the PGA Tour is heading to TPC Southwind for the FedEx St Jude Classic, where Daniel Berger returns to the scene of his first PGA Tour victory.
With many taking a week off before Erin Hills, Rickie Fowler and Adam Scott head the field as eight of the World’s top 30 tee up in Memphis, Tennessee.
The course is 7244 yards long, and the par 70 course has often drawn comparisons for its par 3 11th feature hole with the 17th at TPC Sawgrass. But who is the best bet to conquer the Island green this week?
Meanwhile, the European Tour hosts the Lyoness Open in Austria this week. Make sure you’ve made your Fantasy Golf team changes by midnight, Wednesday 7th June!
Fantasy Golf Picks: FedEX St Jude Classic
Past Champions in the field: Daniel Berger (’16), Fabian Gomes (’15), Ben Crane (’14), Harris English (’13), Brian Gay (’09)
Adam Scott: Fantasy Price £14.5m
Scott hasn’t played many events in 2017, and returns to this tournament for the first time since 2007, where he finished 7th. Continuing a run into the US Open from his T31 finish last week at Memorial, Scott was also T6th at the Players a few weeks ago and T9 at the Masters – and given his second-round 66 last week, it’s tough to rule him out, especially given the fact he is the second-highest ranked player in the field.
Rickie Fowler: Fantasy Price £14.5m
The last time Rickie Fowler played in this tournament he ended up T13 and went on to finish T2 in the US Open. The past two years he’s missed this event and the cut at the US Open, so it’s no surprise he’s returning. In his last eight stroke-play events he’s had a win, three other top 5s and three top-15s, with a worse result of T60 at the Players. He held the lead before the 4th round rain delay at Memorial last week, and we reckon the top seed is likely to do well this week.
Phil Mickelson: Fantasy Price £13.5m
Mickelson announced he will be missing next week’s US Open for his daughter’s graduation, but he will be present at TPC Southwind. The multiple major champion hasn’t missed a cut since last September, and in that time has recorded three top 10s including being tied for 22nd at Memorial.
Brooks Koepka: Fantasy Price £13.5m
Koepka seems to have found a little bit of the yips during the final round of tournaments in his last two events, carding 74’s at both the AT&T Byron Nelson and Memorial Tournament, ending up T50 and T31 respectively. However, the run before that indicates he’s in striking distance of a victory in 2017, and it’s worth considering he hasn’t finished an event over par since March. His last five results before Byron and Memorial? T16- T5- T2- T11- T9, which includes both T16 at the Players and T11 at the Masters.
Graeme McDowell: Fantasy Price £9m
G-Mac hasn’t yet broken in to the top-10 in 2017, but he’s come very close. In 10 events he’s had two top 14s and a top 18, and has missed just one cut. Excluding a final-round disaster at the Players he hasn’t finished over par since February, and with a week off it might be worth a gamble.
Peter Uihlein: Fantasy Price £6.5
If Peter Uihlein isn’t in your fantasy golf team this week, we reckon he probably should be. He’s been splitting his time between both the European and PGA Tours this year where he hasn’t finished worse than T55 (in February), and has had two top 5s and a T7. He was T25 last week, and has been pretty consistent all year. Looking for his first win since the Open de Portugal in 2013.
Jamie Lovemark: Fantasy Price £8m
What began as a fairly inconsistent season appears to have turned a corner for Jamie Lovemark in the past couple of weeks. He finished T18 at the Byron Nelson two weeks ago before ending up tied for 7th at Memorial last week, so he’s definitely heading in the right direction.
Francesco Molinari: Fantasy Price £12m
Molinari ended up solo second at the BMW PGA Championship, which followed on from his T6 finish at the Players Championship – so he’s definitely a man on form. Before that he was constantly in the top 30, and it feels like it won’t be too long a wait for his next victory.
Daniel Berger: Fantasy Price £11m
The defending champion has been incredibly inconsistent this season, with two top 10s and three missed cuts in 10 events. He hasn’t played since he was tied for 65th at the Players Championship, but he’s had two weeks off and will be spurred on by the want to defend his title – we’ll call this one a risk and reward fantasy golf pick.
