Fed Ex St. Jude Championship Preview

Moving on to Memphis. 

That means the FedExCup playoffs are officially here. The FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind marks the first of three PGA Tour postseason events. For the 70 players who qualified for the playoffs, they’ll vie for a $20 million purse with the winner collecting $3 million. However, only the top 50 in the FedExCup standings after this week move on to the BMW Championship, so those on the outside are looking to make a jump. 

From its field, course, history, tee times and how to watch, here’s everything you need to know for the 2025 FedEx St. Jude Championship. 

The field 

The last 70 standing have made it to Memphis. 

Well, in this case, 69. 

Rory McIlroy, already locked into next week’s BMW Championship, is sitting out the FedEx St. Jude, but everyone else eligible to tee it up in Memphis is. 

The field is highlighted by Scottie Scheffler, who has 4,806 FedExCup points, 1,362 more than Rory McIlroy and 2,211 points clear of Sepp Straka (No. 3). 

Nos. 4-10 are Russell Henley, Justin Thomas, Ben Griffin, Harris English, J.J. Spaun, Tommy Fleetwood and Keegan Bradley. 

Those sitting between Nos. 40-60, with the top 50 advancing to the postseason’s penultimate event, are: Tom Hoge (40), Matt Fitzpatrick (41), Xander Schauffele (42), Aldrich Potgieter (43), Harry Hall (44), Akshay Bhatia (45), Si Woo Kim (46), Jake Knapp (47), Jordan Spieth (48), Wyndham Clark (49), Min Woo Lee (50), J.T. Poston (51), Kurt Kitayama (52), Bud Cauley (53), Joe Highsmith (54), Aaron Rai (55), Jhonattan Vegas (56), Max Greyserman (57), Stephan Jaeger (58), Mackenzie Hughes (59) and Tony Finau (60). 

Anyone who finishes in the top 50 after this week is eligible for every signature event in 2026.

The defending champion is Hideki Matsuyama, who won last year shortly after being robbed in the London airport.

The course 

What’s the key to victory at TPC Southwind? 

“It’s sort of one of these golf courses where it demands a little more precision than maybe some other golf courses that we play throughout the year,” McIlroy said last year, “and if you keep your ball in play and on the fairway, you’re always going to have a decent chance to make birdies and shoot a good score.”

The course was designed by Ron Prichard with Tour players Hubert Green and Fuzzy Zoeller serving as consultants. It opened in 1988, hosting the Federal Express St. Jude Classic the following year. 

It’s a 7,288-yard, par-70 bermudagrass layout with 4,500-square-foot greens (third smallest on Tour this season), 75 bunkers, 11 water hazards, 22 acres of fairway and 115 acres of rough. 

In 2024, the course was the 24th toughest on Tour, yielding an average scoring average of 68.94. Its hardest holes were both the 453-yard par-4 18th and the 205-yard par-3 14th, both playing 0.196 strokes over par, making them the 94th most difficult holes on Tour. Its easiest hole, meanwhile, was the 530-yard par-5 16th, which was the Tour’s 22nd least difficult. 

History: Off the track 

The FedEx St. Jude Championship was founded as the Westchester Classic in 1967 and stayed in the area until the inception of the FedExCup playoffs in 2007. Then, it was known as the Barclays, moving around the New York metropolitan area for a decade as the first postseason opener. 

In 2014, it was contested at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J.—and Phil Mickelson had two nearly identical bizarre moments. 

During the second round, Mickelson tried to drive the drivable par-4 5th hole, but his sliced shot onto the cart path, with the ball bouncing into the hospitality area. 

So he played his second shot from there. 

“My drop was going to be in hay,” he said. “I had a clear lie on nice ground there and played it.”

Nevertheless, he hit his shot off the platform into the greenside en route to a bogey. 

Then, it was deja vu. 

The same thing happened in Round 3. The lefty sliced his drive and it bounced up into the same hospitality area, exclaiming “not again” after hitting his tee shot. This time, though, Mickelson had a tougher shot with the concession tent blocking his line. But he pitched onto the green and made par. 

Later that morning, I, a 14-year-old at the time, arrived for my volunteer cashier shift at that very concession stand. When I walked up to the area, I saw two spray-painted circles and the words, “Phil was here.” Unaware of what had occurred the previous 24 hours, I looked up the highlights and was in awe. 

Eleven years later, how many remember those Mickelson swings over the fact that he finished 78th, or that Hunter Mahan won? 

Now, Mickelson is a divisive figure in the sport. But those two swings represent a simpler time in golf. 

How to watch (all times ET)

  • Thursday: 2–6 p.m. (Golf Channel)
  • Friday:  2–6 p.m. (Golf Channel)
  • Saturday: 1–3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3–6 p.m. ET (NBC)
  • Sunday: Noon–2 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 2–6 p.m. ET (NBC)

ESPN+ will also have featured coverage during each round. 

First and second round tee times 


This article was originally published on www.si.com as FedEx St. Jude Championship Preview: Field, Course, History, Tee Times, How to Watch.

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