2026 St. Jude Championship Preview, Full Field And Odds

The 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first leg of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Playoffs, begins August 13-16 in Memphis, Tennessee, at TPC Southwind. This no-cut event features the top 70 players, with only the top 50 advancing to the BMW Championship, and ultimately the top 30 to the Tour Championship. Boasting a $20 million purse, the tournament draws the game's best. Past winners include Justin Rose and Hideki Matsuyama. Pre-tournament odds position Scottie Scheffler as the favorite at +450, with Rory McIlroy at +1000. Scheffler is a top pick to win, while Viktor Hovland is a long shot at +3600. Other notable bets include Rory McIlroy for a top 5 and Colin Morikawa for a top 10, alongside value picks like Rickie Fowler for a top 20.

The 2026 FedEx Cup Playoffs are here, and the first leg of the playoffs starts with the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Unlike full field tournaments, the PGA Tour has created a unique final stretch run for the game’s best players.

For the St. Jude Championship the top 70 players make the field. It is a no cut event, but only the top 50 will qualify for the second leg, the BMW Championship next week. After that tournament only the top 30 qualify for the Tour Championship at East Lake.

It all starts with the St. Jude Championship, and you’ll see the best players in the game in the field this week. It might not have the feel of a major tournament, but it will certainly be worth watching.

Let’s take a look at the details of the upcoming St. Jude Championship:

It’s still important to take a look at the past winners of this event:

Let’s take a look at pre-tournament winner odds:

When it comes to picks for this event, I’d start with my favorite and long shot picks. The favorite pick is the winner pick I like the most. For the long shot winner, that is a golfer who has over +2000 odds to win. It is a long shot pick for a reason, and finding those can be like finding a needle in a haystack.

Here are my favorite and long shot picks for the 2026 St. Jude Championship:

I’ve said this a lot this season in these prediction articles, but I stand by it. Scottie Scheffler is too good to not win more tournaments. Unfortunately, Scheffler is running out of time, and only has one tournament win to his record this season. I believe Scheffler will be able to claim victory at some point during the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and why not at the St. Jude?

My long shot play at one time was an educated guess as to who might perform well on that specific course, etc. However, I’m turning this into a “gut pick”. This tournament has often been won by a lesser-known player, and I’ll go with Viktor Hovland this week as my long shot play.

Depending on how Rory McIlroy plays at TPC Southwind, I may or may not stay away from him outside of majors. It makes you wonder if Rory is now a “majors only” type golfer who doesn’t have the desire to play, and win, these lesser tournaments on the schedule. We’ll see how he does in Memphis.