FedEx St. Jude Championship: Young and Hatton fancied at TPC Southwind

The FedEx Cup Playoffs kick off on Thursday with the top 125 players on the PGA Tour hoping to be $10million richer in a couple of weeks. After four wins in 2022, it’s unsurprising that Scottie Scheffler is the current leader in the FedEx Cup and he’ll be hoping to rubberstamp his position at the head of affairs at this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship. 

He’s of course one of the fancied contenders and only sits behind Rory McIlroy (11/1) in the betting at 16/1. Both will surely go well, but we’re nailing our colours to a different mast.

Young’s time might have finally come

Having finished second five times on the PGA Tour this season as well as third on two other occasions, it’s pretty remarkable that Cameron Young hasn’t got his first win yet. In all honesty, he hasn’t done much wrong in those runner-up performances and it feels like it’s simply a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’ until he’s lifting a trophy for the first time on the PGA Tour.

And that could easily come this week at a course that should suit. TPC Southwind is a course where the best drivers excel – the last five winners ranked an average of sixth in Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee – and with Young second off the tee this campaign, there are virtually no players better than the American with the driver. Some might argue that his approach play isn’t as good as it should be, but he hits it so far and so straight that he’s almost always in position to attack the flags, so he gives himself more margin for error than most.

To back up Young’s case further, he’s arguably the most in-form player in world golf at the moment. Since missing the cut at the Masters, he’s played eight times and his numbers are quite staggering. Granted, he missed the cut at both the U.S. Open and Scottish Open, but bar that he’s finished third twice and second three times. The other outing came at the Memorial Tournament, where he played well for three rounds before a totally out of character 84 on Sunday dropped him down the leaderboard.

Many might think this is too big a stage for him to open his PGA Tour account, but he finished third at the PGA Championship where he did little wrong when in contention and then a solo second at the Open where he really impressed, particularly on Sunday where he recovered from a bogey on the first to shoot a 65 which included an eagle on the last.

He comes in after another very solid showing when second at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and looks very solid at 28/1.

Tyrrell looks the flavour of the week

At a bigger price of 60/1, Tyrrell Hatton might just be coming into form at the business end of the season.

The Englishman has been pretty quiet by his own standards this season, but has shown glimpses over the last few weeks that he might be getting back to his best. He played solidly to finish in a tie for 24th at the Scottish Open and then was tied for 11th at the Open where a Saturday 73 was the big reason for him not getting closer to the leaders.

He was back in action at last week’s Wyndham Championship and played nicely enough for the first three rounds, but really caught fire on Sunday posting a bogey-free 64. He drove it much better there and if he can continue that at TPC Southwind, the rest of his game is in a good enough state to contend here.