2025 FedEx St Jude Championship betting tips: Our expert’s top picks at TPC Southwind

Tom Jacobs picks out his top FedEx St Jude Championship betting tips ahead of the first PGA Tour Playoff event from TPC Southwind in Memphis.

The top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings line up this week for the first of three FedEx Cup Playoff events that culminate in the revamped Tour Championship and FedEx Cup title decider.

Following the action in Memphis, 20 players will be culled, leaving a field of 50 eligible players for the second Playoff – the BMW Championship, which will see 20 more players cut, leaving a final pool of 30 who progress to the season finale at East Lake.

Japanese maestro Hideki Matsuyama is the defending St Jude champion, having held off strong competition from Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele by two strokes to soar up the FedEx Cup standings.

Before diving into my betting tips for the week, here’s everything you need to know about the FedEx St Jude Championship…

FedEx St Jude Championship key details

Dates: 07 August – 10 August 2025

Venue: TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee, (Par 70 – 7,244 yards)

Field: Top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings through Wyndham Championship

Format: 72-hole strokeplay with no cut

Purse: $20 million with the winner receiving $3.6m

FedEx Cup points: 2,000

Favorites: Scottie Scheffler 3/1, Xander Schauffele 14/1

Defending champion: Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), -17

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How to watch the FedEx St Jude Championship

US viewers can catch all the action on the Golf Channel.

All times EDT

Thursday, August 07: The Golf Channel, 14.00
Friday, August 08: The Golf Channel, 14.00
Saturday, August 09: The Golf Channel, 13.00
Sunday, August 10: The Golf Channel, 12.00

UK viewers can catch all the action on Sky Sports+ and Sky Sports Golf.

All times BST

Thursday, August 07: Sky Sports Golf, 13.00
Friday, August 08: Sky Sports Golf, 13.00
Saturday, August 09: Sky Sports Golf, 18.00
Sunday, August 10: Sky Sports Golf, 16.00

FedEx St Jude Championship tee times

Tee times and groupings can be found here.

FedEx St Jude Championship betting tips

The Longshot: Chris Kirk 70/1 e/w (bet365 8 Places Market)

One player I will take all the places I can get is Chris Kirk, a player I am really fond of and believe can win, but is just that class below the others on this week’s card.

Despite being the slightly less fashionable choice this week, Kirk is a 6-time PGA Tour winner, and has shown he can win a playoff event, having won the Deutsche Bank Championship back in 2014. 11 years on we are talking about a veteran, rather than a player in his prime, but he’s won in both 2023 and 2024 to show he’s still got it.

It had been a fairly pedestrian season for Kirk, but there were signs of his fortunes turning around when he was 18th at the RBC Heritage, and he struck the ball well in the weeks that followed as well. Since then, he’s finished T12 at the U.S. Open, lost in a playoff at the Rocket Classic, finished 14th at the 3M Open, where he was 5th at halfway, and then finally finished 5th last week at the Wyndham Championship. The last result booked his spot in the playoffs, and he’s now set up to make a run.

This course has been kind to veterans in the past, largely as its shorter length brings even the shortest of hitters into the fray, and Kirk showed he can compete here when leading, thanks to an opening round of 64 last year. He fell away, slipping to 50th place a year ago, but he had finished 16th in 2023, after closing rounds of 67-67-66, and years ago, before it was a playoff event, he finished 6th here.

Given his recent upturn in form, which has been fueled by excellent iron and tee-to-green play, and his previous showings on the course, I think Kirk is fairly priced in a limited field.

The Outsider: Harris English 55/1 e/w (Bet365 3 Places Market)

Recent form has been a big factor since this event moved to TPC Southwind in 2022. Of the last three winners, two of them were coming in off the back of a top 3 finish (Glover win at the Wyndham, Matsuyama 3rd at the Olympics) while Will Zalatoris had finished T21 at the Wyndham.

That suggests you need to have seen something good in recent weeks to bag a win here, and Harris English certainly ticks that box. Having just finished 2nd at a major for the second time this season, English must be full of confidence, and he will be looking to make an impression by picking up a second win of the season before the Ryder Cup.

With 2nd place finishes at the Open Championship and the PGA Championship, and a 12th at The Masters, English posted career-best finishes in three of the four majors this season, which is an incredible feat. Now, he will want to top off a fantastic season in the same way he started – with a win.

English won at Torrey Pines earlier this season, and he’s been largely consistent since. And while he’s generally reserved his best play for the biggest events of the year, he will certainly be motivated to win a playoff event and give himself a shot at winning a huge bonus in the FedEx Cup.

Like Henley, he’s enjoyed positive experiences at the Sony Open, with a best finish of 3rd at that particular correlating course, but more importantly, he’s won on this course and posted two more top 10s since. They all came when this was a regular event rather than a playoff event, but a combination of these positive course memories and his current form is enough to convince me to stick with him, despite struggling in this event the past two years.

Glover and Matsuyama were both winning for the second time this season they won here, and Zalatoris had finished inside the top 5 six times that year already, so contending and generally winning earlier in the season has been a prerequisite for FedEx St Jude Championship winners. That’s why English joins Henley as my favourite bets this week.

I see English as a bit boom-or-bust this week. He has one win, two 2nds, and a 4th to this name this season, all in big events, but after that, he has no finishes between 5th and 10th. As a result, I find it to take the extra places on offer, and will instead take the value of 55/1 in the 3-place market.

The Banker: Russell Henley 22/1 e/w (bet365 8 Places)

The name Russell Henley is far from synonymous with the word banker, but he is a 5-time PGA Tour winner, who’s finished inside the top 10 of the last two majors and has some good course form to lean on.

With 6th and 7th place finishes here at TPC Southwind, and a win and a playoff loss at the corresponding Sony Open, Henley makes plenty of appeal while in his current form.

There are not many players not-named Scottie Scheffler playing better than Russell Henley in recent months, with four straight top 10s keeping Henley toward the top of the form charts. 

There’s no doubt he should have done better in contention at the Travelers Championship, as he faltered early, but there’s every reason to think he can land a second win of the season here. His win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, one of the Signature Events earlier this season, was eye-catching, even if he did rely on a bit of good fortune. He’ll no doubt need that again here, but that’s the same for everyone, again, not-named Scottie Scheffler.

One of the biggest reasons for his success this season is his improved putting, as he ranks 33rd in SG Putting, which is well above average. He’s often struggled on the greens and failed to take advantage of his incredible ball striking, but that’s rarely been the case this season. Now ranking 8th in SG Tee-to-Green, 14th in SG Approach, and 5th in SG Around-the-Green, Henley’s game has been complete this season, and that’s why he’s sat 5th in SG Total overall.

A lack of distance won’t hinder Henley here, which is a big plus, as that’s the only downside to his game. He’s far from the longest off the tee, but is deadly accurate, and that’s fine round here.

His form deserves a second-season win, and this looks like the right course for him to find it.

The Bonus Pick: Hideki Matsuyama 45/1 e/w (bet365 3 Places Market)

Like the Harris English play, I am going to take a shot on Hideki Matsuyama recording a podium finish, rather than taking the extra places on offer.

It’s been a hit-and-miss season for Matsuyama, who started it in the best way with an incredible -35 victory at The Sentry, but has failed to record a top 10 finish since. The good news is that there are very clear signs of a return to form, and often when Matsuyama provides these hints, he follows up with something special.

As a two-time winner last season, one of which came here in this event, Matsuyama has since added The Sentry win this year, meaning he’s won three times since the start of 2024. Given he endured a winless year in 2023, it’s been a great bounceback for the Japanese star. Injuries and a loss of form have hindered Matsuyama’s consistency this season, but he’s playing some good golf again of late, and could well be in the mix here for a second year running.

Matsuyama already lost in a playoff at this course back in 2021, and in the two years he’s played this as a playoff event, he’s finished 16th and 1st. When 16th he opened with a 67 and closed with a 65 to give us a hint last year, and now we have some recent form to go by, which suggests he could be on his way to another great finish at TPC Southwind.

In his last five starts, Matsuyama has ranked 6th, 23rd, 1st, 38th, and 5th in SG Approach. He’s then ranked 24th, 37th, 12th, 43rd, and 13th in SG Tee to Green in that period. His driver, however, has been holding him back, but an improved performance in that department at the Open Championship offers hope.

Despite his lack of consistency this year, Mastsuyama is still the 12th-ranked player in the world, is a course winner, and has won at the corresponding Sony Open as well. He finished really strongly over the final three rounds at the Wyndham after a poor start, to force his way into the top 20, and it was a similar story at the Open, where he finished 16th, again getting better after every round. If he can get off to a quicker start here, like he did when 13th at the Rocket Classic, then I can see him adding a 12th PGA Tour title to his collection.

We know Hideki likes to repeat form at familiar golf courses, and he can double up his win tally here at the FedEx St Jude Championship, just as he did when defending his Waste Management Phoenix Open title.