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 (Lucas Glover)
THIS WEEK: FedEx St. Jude Championship, Memphis, Tenn. Aug. 10-13
Course: TPC Southwind (Par 70, 7,243 yards)
Purse: $20M (Winner: $3.6M)
Defending Champion: Will Zalatoris
FedEx Cup leader: Jon Rahm
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS); Sunday, 12-2 p.m. (GC), 2-6 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
Twitter: @FedExChamp
NOTES: The top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings qualified for the St. Jude, the first leg of the playoffs, down from a field of 125 last year. The top 50 players in points after Sunday will make it to next week’s BMW Championship, along with qualifying for all signature events in 2024. … Jon Rahm enters the playoffs with a 174-point lead over Scottie Scheffler. Each player is looking to win his first FedEx Cup, which comes with an $18 million bonus. … In third place entering the week is Rory McIlroy, who beat out Scheffler to win the 2022 FedEx Cup, the third of his career. … Max Homa and U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark are fourth and fifth in points. … The only player to move from outside the top 70 into the playoff field last week was Glover, who earned his fifth career PGA Tour title by beating Russell Henley and others down the stretch. Glover leapt from No. 112 to No. 49 in the standings. … For the second straight week on tour, a tournament’s 2022 champion will not be on hand to defend. Zalatoris underwent back surgery earlier this season and will not return to competition before October.
BEST BETS: Scheffler (+650 at BetMGM) is the favorite despite a speed bump in his dominant season. His T23 finish at The Open Championship in his last start was his first time finishing outside the top five of an event since April. Scheffler hasn’t won since The Players Championship in March. … McIlroy (+900) has been just as spectacular since his surprising missed cut at the Masters. He has finished in the top 10 of seven straight events, including a win in Scotland last month. … Patrick Cantlay (+1600), the 2021 FedEx Cup champion, has yet to win in Memphis, but three of his past four wins on tour have come at playoff events, including back-to-back BMW Championships. … Brian Harman (+4500) will make his first start since his runaway win at The Open. He has finished in the top 12 of four straight starts, and at TPC Southwind last year he finished T3. … Sepp Straka (+5000) lost a heartbreaking playoff to Zalatoris at the St. Jude last year, involving a water ball on the third playoff hole. The Austrian has shown some terrific form this summer, winning the John Deere Classic and tying for second at The Open.
NEXT WEEK: BMW Championship, Olympia Fields, Ill., Aug. 17-20
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Women’s Scottish Open (Celine Boutier)
THIS WEEK: AIG Women’s Open, Surrey, England, Aug. 10-13
Course: Walton Heath Golf Club (Par 71, 6,649 yards)
Purse: $7.3M (Winner: $1.095M)
Defending Champion: Ashleigh Buhai
Race to the CME Globe leader: Boutier
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV/Streaming: Thursday-Friday, 6 a.m.-1 p.m. ET (USA Network); Saturday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. (USA); Sunday, 7 a.m.-12 p.m. (USA), 12-2 p.m. (NBC, Peacock)
Twitter: @AIGWomensOpen
NOTES: The 144-player field will be cut to the top 65 players and ties after 36 holes. … Boutier has soared into the CME Globe lead since the LPGA began its European swing. After winning her first major title, the Evian Championship, in her native France, Boutier captured the Women’s Scottish Open to open up a 576.4-point lead on Ruoning Yin. … Last year, Buhai outlasted In Gee Chun in a four-hole playoff at Muirfield to win her first major title. … Ten past Women’s Open champions are in the field this week, including legends like Laura Davies, Catriona Matthew and Stacy Lewis. … Rose Zhang, the 20-year-old budding star out of Stanford, has finished in the top 10 at all three majors she’s played since turning pro. She played the Women’s Open as an amateur twice, missing the cut in 2021 and tying for 28th last year. … This marks Walton Heath’s first time hosting the Women’s Open. It has served as a Ryder Cup venue (1981) and hosted the 2011 Senior Open Championship.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: ISPS Handa World Invitational, Antrim, Northern Ireland, Aug. 17-20
PGA Tour Champions
LAST TOURNAMENT: The Senior Open (Alex Cejka)
THIS WEEK: Boeing Classic, Snoqualmie, Wash., Aug. 11-13
Course: The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge (Par 72, 7,217 yards)
Purse: $2.2M (Winner: $330,000)
Defending Champion: Miguel Angel Jimenez
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Steve Stricker
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Friday, 10 p.m.-12 a.m. (Golf Channel — Tape delay); Saturday, 6-8 p.m. (GC); Sunday, 4-7 p.m. (GC)
Twitter: @BoeingClassic
NOTES: Jimenez defeated David McKenzie by two strokes at last year’s tournament. The Spaniard has not won on the PGA Tour Champions since then. … Three-time PGA Tour winner Boo Weekley, who turned 50 on July 23, is making his tour debut this week. … Also in the field is Fred Couples, a native of nearby Seattle. … Stricker is taking off again this week after skipping The Senior Open. With five victories this year, Stricker has won $3,593,060 — more than double Bernhard Langer, who is second on the Schwab Cup money list. … Seven tournaments remain before the Schwab Cup playoffs begin.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Shaw Charity Classic, Calgary, Alberta, Aug. 18-20
LIV Golf League
LAST TOURNAMENT: LIV Golf Greenbrier (Individual: Bryson DeChambeau; Team: Torque)
THIS WEEK: LIV Golf Bedminster, Bedminster, N.J., Aug. 11-13
Course: Trump National Golf Club Bedminster (Par 71, 7,524 yards)
Purse: $20M Individual (Winner: $4M), $5M Team (Winner: $3M)
Defending Champion: Henrik Stenson
Season Leaders: Individual, Talor Gooch; Team, 4Aces
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Friday, 1-6 p.m. ET (CW App); Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (CW Network)
Streaming: Friday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. ET (LIVGolfPlus.com, YouTube)
Twitter: @livgolf_league
NOTES: The 54-hole event features 12 teams competing with a shotgun start. … Three events remain during the regular season that will crown the individual champion. The team standings at the end of the regular season will determine the seeds for the season-ending Team Championship at LIV Golf Miami. … DeChambeau is coming off the first sub-60 round in LIV Golf history, a final-round 58 that propelled him to victory at Greenbrier. It was DeChambeau’s first LIV title. … Stenson won at Trump Bedminster last year in his LIV Golf debut, shortly after his European Ryder Cup captaincy was stripped as a result of his defection from the PGA and DP World tours. … Gooch is the only three-time individual winner in 2023.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: LIV Golf Chicago, Rich Harvest Farms, Ill., Sept. 22-24
–Field Level Media