2021 FedEx St Jude Invitational/Prop Plays
03 August 2021
The upcoming PGA Tour event is heading to Memphis, Tennessee, at TPC Southwind. This course has plenty of Champion Bermuda grass, which many golfers have performed well on.
Each winner of this event for the last several years has shot fairly high scores, which could show up once again. In addition, the field has many top golfers, so this could be an exciting show.
Tournament details
- Date: Aug 5–8, 2021
- Course: TPC Southwind
- Watch on: CBS, GOLF
- Purse: $10,500,000
Betting Overview
Even though the course has respectable Bermuda grass for some, there are plenty of bunkers and hazards to play a role on each hole. Points are on the line for the FedEx Cup playoffs, so golfers will need to step up if they want to take over the standings.
Golfers need to be accurate with their drives and irons here. With the amount of hazards available, players have to be precise when they strike, or they risk losing valuable strokes.
Head to Head Matchup to Watch
Dustin Johnson (-36.055) and Brooks Koepka (-24.766) are two golfers to pay attention to. They are both highly favored to win here on the betting market, but they should be chosen with caution.
Johnson is the defending champion but has struggled throughout the year in a few events that make it difficult to pick him here. Koepka has not quite returned to form, but he is getting closer with every tournament he enters.
Dunkel Index For This Event
The Dunkel Index is showing these top 10 golfers that could win this event. The following ten are:
- Collin Morikawa -22.101
- Brooks Koepka -24.766
- Xander Schauffele -26.744
- Scottie Scheffler -26.867
- Hideki Matsuyama -26.947
- Viktor Hovland -26.983
- Paul Casey -27.004
- Daniel Berger -27.045
- Jordan Spieth -27.162
- Jason Kokrak -27.206
*index is subject to changes
Golfers That Could Win
Paul Casey (-27.004) has kept up with the competition lately with fairly accurate approaches on the greens and strokes gained. Casey would be an interesting value play to place top 10 here. In addition, he has also placed fifth in both greens in regulation and ball striking over the last 24 rounds.
Viktor Hovland (-26.983) makes an appearance with some momentum on his side. His last 24 rounds have been competitive too, when he is smashing golf balls and gaining an advantage on the longer holes.
Potential Winning Pick
It all points to a close and exciting show, but Collin Morikawa (-22.101) is a favorite among the market and for the right reasons. Looking at the last 24 rounds for Morikawa, he has led in several categories needed to get the job done.
These include strokes gained approach, ball striking, and gained greens in regulation. In addition, he is second best during this time at avoiding bogeys.
According to the market odds and his recent play, he is definitely an attractive betting option. Look for him to at least place top five and potentially win.
Prop Plays
Top 10 Finish: Scottie Scheffler (+200)
Scheffler has been knocking on the door for his first Tour victory and this could be the weekend. The 25-year-old former Longhorn won’t be intimidated by this strong field either.
In fact, the stiff competition seems to bring out the best in his game as he’s finished in the Top 10 in the last three majors and four of his last five starts overall.
Scheffler’s complete game has allowed him to consistently shoot low scores and he comes into this tournament ranked No. 5 in birdie average with 4.34 per round.
Rated No. 4 in this week’s Dunkel Index, we’ll look for Scheffler (+200) to put together another strong effort this week and finish in the Top 10.
Top 20 Finish: Viktor Hovland (-150)
Hovland is coming off a 14th place finish in the Olympics as he represented Norway in Tokyo. While that didn’t earn him a medal, it was his fourth Top 15 finish in his last six tournaments that he’s finished.
The 23-year-old has been no stranger to the PGA leaderboards with a first, two seconds and two thirds this season.
Like Scheffler, Hovland has been a birdie machine and comes in ranked No. 3 on the Tour with an average of 4.37 per round.
Rated No. 6 in this week’s Dunkel Index, we’ll take Hovland (-150) to stay in contention this weekend and pick up a Top 20 finish.
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