Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: Wyndham Championship (Joohyung Kim)
THIS WEEK: FedEx St. Jude Championship, Memphis, Aug. 11-14
Course: TPC Southwind (Par 70, 7,243 yards)
Purse: $15M (Winner: $2.7M)
Defending Champion: Tony Finau (The Northern Trust)
FedExCup Leader: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 3-7m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 1-3 p.m (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (NBC); Sunday, 12-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2-6 p.m. (NBC)
Streaming: Four daily stream feeds on ESPN+
Twitter: @FedExChamp
NOTES: This is the first leg of the three-event FedEx Cup Playoffs, with the champion earning an $18 million bonus. The top 125 players in the standings qualified, with Rickie Fowler claiming the final spot. … Tommy Fleetwood (personal), Daniel Berger (back injury), Nate Lashley (toe) and Lanto Griffin (back surgery) are not playing this week. … The top 70 after this event will qualify for the BMW Championship. … An average of 5.33 players have moved into the top 70 through their play in the first leg of the playoffs over the past three years and qualified for the BMW Championship. … Players who have competed in the LIV Golf series were banned by the PGA Tour from participating. … Memphis has played host to a PGA Tour event every year since 1958. … Patrick Cantlay is attempting to become the first back-to-back FedEx Cup champion, while Finau seeks to become the first player to successfully defend his title at the Playoff opener. Finau snapped a five-year winless drought at last year’s Northern Trust to open the playoffs by beating Cameron Smith on the first playoff hole. … Matt Kuchar (No. 54 in the standings) and Adam Scott (No. 77) are the only two players who have qualified for the Playoffs all 16 seasons. … Kim is the first player born in the 2000s to win on tour and will make his first start as a member this week.
BEST BETS: Rory McIlroy (+1000 at BetMGM) is seeking to become the first three-time winner of the FedEx Cup. His five playoff event victories is second all-time only to Dustin Johnson’s six. … Scottie Scheffler (+1400) leads the tour with four wins this year and is attempting to join Jordan Spieth (2014-15) as the only players to win the Masters and the FedEx Cup in the same season. … Smith (+1600) is making his first start since winning The Open Championship. He also won The Players this year. … Cantlay (+1600) has streaks of three straight top-10 finishes and six straight top-15s, including a T2 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic his last time out. … Justin Thomas (+1800) has qualified for the Tour Championship each of the past six years. … Jon Rahm (+2200) finished third last year after holding the 54-hole lead. He is also making his first start since a T34 at The Open. … Finau (+2200), technically the defending champ although it came at Liberty National under a different tournament name, has won his past two starts. The last player to win three consecutive starts on tour was Johnson during the 2016-17 season.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: BMW Championship, Wilmington, Del., Aug. 18-21
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: AIG Women’s Open (Ashleigh Buhai)
THIS WEEK: ISPS Handa World Invitational, Ballymena, Northern Ireland, Aug. 11-14
Course: Galgorm Castle (Par 73, 6,621 yards), Massereene Golf Club (Par 72, 6,517 yards)
Purse: $3M, $1.5M each for men and women’s events (Winners: $225,000 each)
Defending Champion: Pajaree Anannarukarn
Race to the CME Globe leader: Minjee Lee
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 12 a.m.-8 p.m. ET; Saturday, 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m.; Sunday, 6:30-11:30 a.m. (All times Golf Channel)
Twitter: @World_Inv_Golf, @ISPSHanda
NOTES: The event features 132 men and 132 women competing in separate 72-hole stroke play tournaments. The fields will be cut to the top 60 and ties after 36 holes, with all players playing one round on each course, and another cut to the top 35 and ties after 54 holes in each tournament. … Anannarukarn defeated Emma Talley on the second playoff hole to win the inaugural co-sanctioned event last year. … The average age of winners on tour this year is 26.24. … Lee leads the tour in official money ($3.7M), scoring average (69.173) and average total strokes gained (2.370).
NEXT TOURNAMENT: CP Women’s Open, Ottawa, Canada, Aug. 25-28
Champions Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Shaw Charity Classic (Jerry Kelly)
THIS WEEK: Boeing Classic, Snoqualmie, Wash., Aug. 12-14
Course: The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge, Snoqualmie, Wash. (Par 72, 7,264 yards)
Purse: $2.2M (Winner: $330,000)
Defending Champion: Rod Pampling
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Steven Alker
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Friday, 11 p.m.-2 a.m. ET; Saturday, 6-8 p.m.; Sunday, 5-7 p.m. (All times Golf Channel)
Twitter: @BoeingClassic
NOTES: The 54-hole, no-cut event returns to The Club for the fifth consecutive season (there was no event in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic). … Padraig Harrington has a win, a T2 and a T3 in his past three starts. … Kelly has won three of his past six starts. … Miguel Angel Jimenez has nine top-10s this year and has finished in the top-10 in each of his three previous event starts. … Alker leads with 10 top-10s this year and hasn’t finished worse than T11 since March.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, Endicott, N.Y., Aug. 19-21
–Field Level Media