The WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational brings another stellar field to TPC Southwind for the last event before the PGA Championship.
(CBS Miami) — The WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational slides back a month on the revised PGA Tour schedule. The new temporary spot — July 30 through August 2 — puts it a week before this season’s first major. Despite scheduling, this year’s event is sure to be a far cry from the typical warm-up event.
For one thing, it’s a World Golf Championship tournament, which puts it a step above the standard Tour stop. The purse ($10.5 million) is bigger, and more FedExCup points (550) are on the line. And while not quite on par with a major, it will certainly feel like one this year.
The upcoming FedEx St. Jude boasts the top eight players in the world and 45 of the top 50. That includes recent number one Jon Rahm. “The guy is just supremely talented,” says CBS Sports golf analyst Trevor Immelman.” And the consistency that he’s showed… He’s played at 85 PGA Tour events since he’s been a pro; 37 of those he’s been in the top 10, with a number of wins. So, the consistency that he continues to compete with, in the biggest tournaments against the strongest fields, really is impressive.”
The player he replaced, Rory McIlroy, is also back in action after missing the 3M Open. “Since the return to golf, his play hasn’t quite been up to the standards that we’re used to from him,” Immelman points out. “The interesting thing with McIlroy is it generally just takes something small with him, and then he catches fire and he gets on a run. And he’ll go on a run for two or three months and rattle off three, four, five wins quite quickly. And so he normally just needs a little bit of a spark to get going.”
This would be the time to do it, with the PGA Championship in a week and the FedExCup Tournaments shortly after.
Defending champion Brooks Koepka, who has dropped from the top spot to number six over the course of a strange 2020, will also be looking to turn things around. “He’s been struggling with a left knee injury,” notes Immelman. “He had thought that he would be able to get that sorted during the break.
