St. Jude Classic-Fantasy Golf Picks
Tiger’s big win at the Memorial spiked the TV ratings and refocused the sports world on the PGA Tour. This week the tour moves from Ohio to Memphis, Tennessee to its annual venue at the TPC Southwind for the St. Jude Classic. The course is one of the most difficult in the regular rotation and is a tough par 70 highlighted by the hole difficult par 3 at #14 that is almost always one of the hardest on tour.
Last week, it was Tiger that tamed Muirfield village for the fifth time. Many in our Fantasy CPR (including me) had Tiger rostered and ready. MT Cup won the week with 212 points and moved into third for the spring segment which wraps up this week behind “Not at the table Carlos!” and “Boss of the Moss.” For the season MT Cup leads overall after claiming his third win of the year.
Here’s my picks for this weekend in Tennessee:
A Group
Zach Johnson-Nobody is hotter than Johnson right now and the course fits his style so he’s going to be an extremely popular this weekend. He won two weeks ago at the Colonial after finishing runner-up in two of his three previous starts. Af if you needed another reason to pick him, in three starts at the St. Jude he has two top-15’s
Camillo Villegas-His recent form hasn’t been great, but their isn’t much depth in the A Group and Villegas has four top 20’s in his six appearances at this event and hasn’t missed a cut.
B Group
Dustin Johnson-Johnson looked good finishing in the top 20 in his first tournament back from a back injury. This is his first trip to TPC Southland, but his length is always an X-factor.
David Toms-Toms has dominated the event and has two wins on his way to becoming the all-time money leader at the event. He finished t10 at the Players before MC at Colonial.
Rory McIlroy-McIlroy has missed two consecutive stateside cuts and three overall, but his talent makes him a threat every time he tees it up. I’ll start with him on my bench and see how he starts.
Brandt Snedeker-The Tennessee native and Vanderbilt graduate would get a huge boost from the crowd if he can put together a solid opening couple of rounds. He shot 69 in the opening round at the Memorial but WD before the weekend. He has six top 20’s and a win so far in his 11 starts.
C Group
Graeme McDowell-In 2009 he tied for seventh in his only other appearance at St. Jude. McDowell has been inconsistent in his last few tournaments but is always one of my favorite options in the C Group.
Bob Estes-Estes is another player who always shows well at TPC Southland. He won in 2001 and has seven top-10’s. He’s played well this year too posting five top 25s this year.