Ignore Fowler and co, the St Jude Classic rewards longshots
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With next weekend’s US Open looming on the horizon, time is running to Golf’s elite to hone their touch and vision before the second Major of the season.
And the final opportunity to do so comes at the St Jude Classic at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.
Rickie Fowler is 8/1 favourite, and granted he boasts a first, fourth, sixth and third from his last five events.
Second-favourite Brooks Koepka looks destined to go well this weekend too at 12/1, having finished second and third in Memphis in the last two years.
But ominously this tournament rarely sees those near the top of the betting end the weekend at the summit of the leaderboard.
Indeed since 2013 we’ve had 70/1, 175/1, 300/1 and 33/1 winners.
So let’s go with the flow and pick out a few longer shots.
Billy Horschel – 25/1
After a T4 in the Honda Classic and a T13 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Billy Horschel looked set for a fine 2017.
But then came four straight missed cuts, and everything seemed to go awry.
Horschel is made of sterner stuff however, and brought it all together at the Bryon Nelson last month to claim his fourth PGA Tour title.
The Floridian goes well at Southwind too, posting a tenth, sixth and eighth in his last three visits.
Brian Gay – 80/1
At 45-years-old, American Brian Gay is using the most of his experience this season.
From 15 entries this year Gay has made 11 cuts, including two top-sixes.
He’s proving consistently strong this year, and allied to a great record in Memphis – 2009 winner and sixth last year – looks an excellent option at 80/1.
Sung Kang – 100/1
A quick look at the form book for South Korea’s Sung Kang suggests he should be substantially shorter than 100/1.
The 29-year-old has missed just one cut from his nine events.
And in that run has come a second at the Shell Houston Open, sixth during the Texas Valero, 11th at the RBC Heritage and a 20th at Byron Nelson.
He’s yet to win on the PGA Tour, but on current form he’ll be giving each-way and top-20 backers plenty of joy on Sunday.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
