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Betting PGA: 3 players to back Top 40/20 in the FedEx St. Jude Championship

Pamela Maldonado
Betting analyst
·3 min read
2

The playoffs begin in the PGA starting with the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. Only the top 70 players will advance to the BMW Championship before the final 30 move on to the Tour Championship.

For this week, the players will take to TPC Southwind, a par 70 clocking in at just over 7,200 yards. With undulated fairways, penal rough and the course looking to play firm and fast, I’m looking to the ball strikers to contend. If they have a good history with Bermuda greens, then that’s a bonus.

Joohyung Kim

Top 20 +170
Top 10 +350
Top 5 +800
To win +4000

The South Korean is coming off a win in last week’s Wyndham Championship and has never played TPC Southwind. Not exactly a combo that makes for an enticing top-20 play in a field as strong as this.

However, I am banking on a few things. For starters, Kim has now gained strokes in every category in four of his last five events. He’s only lost one stroke around the green and that came last week. I want to continue backing that type of consistency.

Secondly, Kim does have a 23rd-place finish in the U.S. Open and followed that up with a solo third in the Scottish Open, two of the stronger field events he’s played.

Lastly, which is probably not entirely a great reason to be using, Kim gained nearly 13 strokes putting to win Wyndham, another Bermuda greens course. What if he’s just really good on Bermuda greens? Kim is fifth in the field for accuracy and top 20 from tee to green. The risk of plus money for a top 20 is a fair one. I would much prefer a top-40 option but at -140, that for me, is a risk not worth taking.

Joohyung Kim takes a practice swing during the third round of the Wyndham Championship on Aug. 6. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
Joohyung Kim takes a practice swing during the third round of the Wyndham Championship on Aug. 6. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

Taylor Pendrith

Top 40 +110
Top 20 +280
Top 10 +700
Top 5 +1600
To win +10000

On Bermuda greens, Pendrith has back-to-back top 20s, T13 in The Players Championship and T13 in the Wyndham, gaining strokes in all but one category in both events. He lost just under a stroke last week putting.

Pendrith is another player who has never played at this course, but he now has four straight top-20 finishes, though in much weaker fields. He is top 15 in scrambling and top 30 from tee to green in 2022, so perhaps he can continue on that trend.

Tyrell Hatton

Top 40 -135
Top 20 +190
Top 10 +400
Top 5 +900
To win +5000

Bermuda is Hatton’s best putting surface. On these greens this season, he has seven top-21 finishes, including a T13 in The Players and a T8 last week. His best finish here was a T17 in last year’s event and when looking at his performance in strong-fields, Hatton did finish 13th in the PGA Championship and T11 in the Open Championship.

After losing strokes on approach in three straight events last month, Hatton has now gained strokes with his irons in his last three straight. In fact, Hatton has gained strokes in all data lines in back-to-back events. That's a lot of positive marks to Hatton’s name to not consider him for either a top 40 or top 20.