The PGA TOUR is walking in Memphis this week for the start of the FedExCup Playoffs. The top 70 players in the FedExCup Standings (except for Daniel Berger) will tee it up at TPC Southwind for this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship. It’s a star-studded limited-field, no-cut event that should provide plenty of drama and usually some wild finishes. The water-heavy par-70 is set up for wide variations of scoring, presenting risk-reward chances for players as they look to move into the top 50 and move on to next week’s BMW Championship. Let’s look at the many available options and pinpoint a few of my best bets for Round 1 of the FedEx St. Jude Championship on DraftKings Sportsbook.
The 69 players in the field will tee off in groups of two from the first tee, beginning at 8:10 a.m. ET. Jackson Koivun will play as a solo at that tee time, with the bigger names later in the day. The marquee group for the first two days will be Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, who play together in the 9:30 a.m. ET tee time. The weather is expected to be fairly consistent across Thursday’s Round 1, with very high temperatures but steady winds. The early players will get an advantage of avoiding the hottest temperatures of the day, which may give them an advantage. Be sure to check how the round is going and how the course is playing to adjust your strategy if needed as Round 1 unfolds
In this post, we’ll focus on my three best bets for Round 1 of the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Thursday, August 13.
Michael Thorbjornsen Under 68.5 – Round 1 O/U (+104)
Thorbjornsen is one of the three young golfers on the rise who have broken through with big wins in the last three weeks since The Open Championship. He claimed his first PGA TOUR win at the Rocket Classic two weeks ago, where he led the field in GIR% and birdies, ranked fourth in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, and also placed in the top 20 in Strokes Gained: Approach, Driving Distance and Driving Accuracy.
His big week was his third top-10 of the season and pushes him to No. 38 in the FedExCup Standings coming into the playoffs. Earlier this season, he finished T3 at the WM Phoenix Open and T7 at the Genesis Scottish Open, gaining strokes in all major SG categories in each of those three top finishes.
The 24-year-old only has to go two-under to get under this prop line and getting it at plus money feels like a very good value. The course average for the last few years at TPC Southwind is right around -1 to -1.5, so he just has to be above-average to work below this number. Given his recent form and his solid course fit, he has a great chance of getting the early win in this prop on Thursday.
Thorbjornsen will be playing alongside Sepp Straka at 9:00 a.m. ET, which should help them get in most of the round before the hottest temperatures of the day arrive. His momentum should help him make a playoff run, and if he holds in the top 50, he’ll qualify for all of next year’s Signature Events.
Xander Schauffele/Sam Burns Over 9.5 Birdies or Better – Round 1 (-108)
At 1:35 p.m. ET, Xander Schauffele and Sam Burns tee off as each player looks to get his first win of the season after several near misses. They both come in with good form and course history, and either one of the two players can carry the load to help the duo get to at total of 10 birdies.
Let’s start with Schauffele; he’s coming off a runner-up finish to Thorbjornsen in Detroit, where he racked up 20 birdies in four rounds. He started the week with five birdies and finished with six birdies on Sunday. He had a T18 at The Open Championship in his previous start and has totaled 11 top-25 finishes in his last 15 events.
Schauffele has also placed in the top 25 in three straight years at this week’s venue, highlighted by a runner-up finish in 2024. He had 22 birdies in four rounds in that event and posted 16 more birdies in his four rounds last year. He has a chance at getting to five or six birdies with a good round on Thursday, especially given how strong his tee-to-green game has been over the last six months.
Burns has also been on a great roll with three top-five finishes in his last five events, including a third-place finish at The Open Championship and a runner-up finish at the U.S. Open. I highlighted him as one of my top pivot plays for fantasy golf this week. He matched Schauffele’s 22 birdies in 2024 and had 17 birdies while finishing just outside the top 25 last year.
Either Burns or Schauffele could get to six birdies or better, or they could each have five birdies or better to get to this total. Burns is +105 to get over 4.5 birdies and Schauffele is +100, but I prefer to play the two of them together in this combined prop since either one could cover for the other with a fast start.
Michael Kim (+100) over Nick Taylor – 2 Ball (3 Way) – Round 1
Let’s finish this week’s Round 1 best bets with a fun head-to-head matchup from one of the latest tee times. Nick Taylor and Michael Kim tee off at 1:55 in the penultimate pairing. Kim comes in with plenty of momentum and has strong course history, giving him a good chance to take down the steady Canadian.
Taylor starts the week at No. 63 in the FedExCup Standings, while Kim is at No. 61. Taylor’s season, though, has cooled off during the summer while Kim has been trending upwards. He did have a top-25 finish at the Travelers Championship, but that T25 is his only finish in the top 25 in his last nine events. Since then, he made the cut at the Scottish Open, The Open Championship, the Rocket Classic and the Wyndham Championship, but he finished outside the top 55 in each of his last three events. He also hasn’t had a ton of success on this week’s course, finishing 65 and T44 in the last two seasons.
Kim finished T59 behind Taylor last year, but he did have a pair of top-20 finishes at the FedEx St. Jude Classic (at this course) in 2016 and 2018. He comes in with much more momentum this season, though, after a successful return to the U.S. after missing the cut at both the Scottish Open and The Open Championship.
Right after those two missed cuts, he posted a T10 at the 3M Open, thanks in large part to a 59. He built on that in Detroit with a T8 at the Rocket Classic two weeks ago, and also made the cut at the Wyndham last week, finishing T54, ahead of Taylor. He has been under 70 in 10 of his 12 rounds over the last three weeks and comes in with plenty of momentum to a course where he’s had success.
That excellent form makes him a strong bet to consider in this head-to-head matchup, although since it’s a 3 way prop, he’ll have to finish ahead of Taylor since a tie will be scored as a loss not a push in this format. The three possible outcomes boost this to a juicy plus-money play, though, for Round 1.
