2018 Fed Ex St. Jude Classic

[Frank-0-Sport]

2018 marks the last edition of this tournament in its current format, and in its current calendar spot on the PGA Tour. In 2019, the St Jude Classic becomes a WGC event, replacing Firestone's WGC Bridgestone Invitational two months later in early August.

The particulars for this week are ...
Purse: $6.6 Million -- 1st Prize: $1.188 million  | See also (click-on each)   The-Field and Monday Qualifiers

At the beginning of this week, the St Jude's Official World Golf Ranking field-strength (SoF) rating was 208. Now, after the withdrawal of several players who gained entry into the US Open via the sectional qualifiers, the SoF rating has come down to 191.  The St Jude winner will still qualify for the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, which invites winners of International Federation of Tours events that have a minimum field-strength (SoF) of 115 !!

If you go to the OWGR web-site's Events Page, you can adjust the TOUR Filter to PGA Tour, then toggle "SoF" until the tournament ranking order shown is as follows -- Players Championship (854) 1st highest, Masters Tournament (794) 2nd highest, WGC Match Play (733) 3rd highest, and so on. As it stands now, the St. Jude (191) would be down near the bottom, between Valero Texas (212) and AT&T Byron Nelson (178).

 

Edited June 7, 2018 by Frank-0-Sport

[fishgolf]

Seems like being a primer to a major has its issues.  Watching the tournament now.  Curious why Justin Thomas, Jordan Speith, and Tiger aren't playing? 

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, fishgolf said:

Seems like being a primer to a major has its issues.  Watching the tournament now.  Curious why Justin Thomas, Jordan Speith, and Tiger aren't playing? 

Why would they?

Tiger doesn’t play the week before a major. Others follow suit so they can peak.

[HJJ003]

20 minutes ago, fishgolf said:

Seems like being a primer to a major has its issues.  Watching the tournament now.  Curious why Justin Thomas, Jordan Speith, and Tiger aren't playing? 

I would think it is beneficial in their opinions to get to the major venue sooner and fresher. Different sport altogether, but in my track and field days we almost NEVER had a meet the week before a championship or major event. 

Edited June 7, 2018 by HJJ003

[fishgolf]

 

18 minutes ago, iacas said:

Why would they?

Tiger doesn’t play the week before a major. Others follow suit so they can peak.

Seems a good many from The Memorial are playing this week and will be next week - hence my inquiry.  They'll be playing practice rounds and spending time at the range anyway, so why not just play in this event?  Is there also some strategy as to which events they play and not play that has nothing to do with resting prior to a major? 

[iacas]

44 minutes ago, fishgolf said:

Is there also some strategy as to which events they play and not play that has nothing to do with resting prior to a major? 

Yes.

44 minutes ago, fishgolf said:

They'll be playing practice rounds and spending time at the range anyway, so why not just play in this event?

• They can't practice as much as they want.
• They can't travel to Shinnecock Hills and play it on, say, Friday.
• They can't relax and rest up, instead having to sweat it out grinding out 18 holes in Memphis.

There are a lot of reasons not to play this week for some of the top players who try to peak for majors.

Dustin Johnson is playing this week, which is a bit of a surprise, but Phil always liked playing before a major, too. Everyone's a bit different.

[MrGolfguy67]

On 6/7/2018 at 6:57 PM, iacas said:

Dustin Johnson is playing this week, which is a bit of a surprise

DJ is leading right now at -10 (67,63) headed to the weekend, good decision so far.

[iacas]

12 minutes ago, MrGolfguy67 said:

DJ is leading right now at -10 (67,63) headed to the weekend, good decision so far.

Doesn't make it a good decision if it hurts his chances of winning next week.

[MrGolfguy67]

Makes it a great decision if he wins this week

[iacas]

6 hours ago, MrGolfguy67 said:

Makes it a great decision if he wins this week

I disagree.

Majors matter more.

[MrGolfguy67]

You're saying that DJ winning the St Jude means he has no chance to win the US Open? Looks like it. 

If he wins this week it will be great for him, winning a PGA Tour event is a huge deal for anyone.

He'll likely take his good form and momentum in winning at St Jude to the Open and do very well there also.

[Shindig]

18 minutes ago, MrGolfguy67 said:

You're saying that DJ winning the St Jude means he has no chance to win the US Open? Looks like it. 

How did you get that from Erik's comment?

Obviously, winning a PGA Tour event is a good thing for the winner.  No one disputes that.

However, if participating this week -- even for the winner -- hurts his chances of winning next week (whether due to exhaustion, familiarity with a different course, etc), then it wasn't a good decision.  I know you and I play golf to relax, but it's still work for these guys, and tournament golf is a lot more exhausting than recreational play or practice.

[MrGolfguy67]

24 minutes ago, Shindig said:

...if participating this week -- even for the winner -- hurts his chances of winning next week then it wasn't a good decision. 

Problem is, y'all don't know this will happen, don't even have a clue actually. Y'all are guessing that he's hurting his chances by playing this week.

[Shindig]

6 minutes ago, MrGolfguy67 said:

Problem is, y'all don't know this will happen, don't even have a clue actually. Y'all are guessing that he's hurting his chances by playing this week.

Neither of us said it hurts his chances for certain.  You were guessing with this however:

58 minutes ago, MrGolfguy67 said:

He'll likely take his good form and momentum in winning at St Jude to the Open and do very well there also.

 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, MrGolfguy67 said:

You're saying that DJ winning the St Jude means he has no chance to win the US Open?

I never said that, no.

[MrGolfguy67]

35 minutes ago, Shindig said:

You were guessing with this however:

 

Actually i stated a fact of something that often happens.

 

Amateur Braden Thornberry is on fire today, 6 under thru 15 to get to (-7) 3 shots from the lead. Henrik Stenson & Shane Lowry are each 4 under today and also making that Saturday move.

Edited June 9, 2018 by MrGolfguy67

[Shindig]

42 minutes ago, MrGolfguy67 said:

Actually i stated a fact of something that often happens.

Really?  How often has the winner of a major won the week prior?  Or even had good play (however defined) the week prior?  How often has the winner of a major missed the week before?

[HJJ003]

Out of everyone in the top 10 currently, I would say DJ would be my favorite to win. If he does it will be three straight years of multi win seasons. Pretty cool. Really needs another major though.