2020 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational pre-tournament notes

Dates: July 27-August 2, 2020

Where: Memphis, Tennessee

Course: TPC Southwind (35-35—70/7,277)

Field size: 78

Defending champion: Brooks Koepka

Purse: $10,500,000 ($1,820,000/winner)

FedExCup: 550 points to the winner

Format: 72-hole stroke play

Things to Know

• Jon Rahm makes his first start as No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking
• Brooks Koepka returns for title defense; will also defend at next week’s PGA Championship
• 44 of the top 50 in the OWGR are in the field, the most on the PGA TOUR since the 2019 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational
• Each of the last four champions of the event entered the week in the top three of both the FedExCup standings and OWGR; Justin Thomas is the only player currently in each top three

 Notes on the field

• 26 of the top 30 in current FedExCup standings, including each of the top five
• All five of the top five in the OWGR (fourth such event out of eight since the season resumed)
• 44 of the top 50 in OWGR (most on the PGA TOUR since the 2019 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational)
• Each of the seven winners since the season resumed in June (Daniel Berger, Webb Simpson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Michael Thompson)
• 16 winners of WGC events, including each of the last five winners of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational: Shane Lowry (2015), Dustin Johnson (2016), Hideki Matsuyama (2017), Justin Thomas (2018), Brooks Koepka (2019)
• Six FedExCup champions: Brandt Snedeker (2012), Henrik Stenson (2013), Billy Horschel (2014), Jordan Spieth (2015), Justin Thomas (2017), Rory McIlroy (2016, 2019)

FedExCup and the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

• Three weeks (four events) remain until the start of the FedExCup Playoffs
• The winner of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational has qualified for the TOUR Championship in 12 of 13 years since the inception of the FedExCup
• Tiger Woods (2007, 2009) and Vijay Singh (2008) have won the event and the FedExCup in the same season
• Each of the last four champions entered the week in the top three of the FedExCup standings (Dustin Johnson/3/2016, Hideki Matsuyama/3/2017, Justin Thomas/2/2018, Brooks Koepka/1/2019) 

Current FedExCup standings

• The top 10 in the FedExCup at the conclusion of the PGA TOUR Regular Season will be recognized through the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 program and be well-positioned entering the FedExCup Playoffs

Position	Player	Points	Wins	Top-10s	Points Behind	Starts	Projected Bonus
1	Justin Thomas	1,889	2	8		13	$2 million
2	Webb Simpson	1,660	2	6	229	9	$1.5 million
3	Sungjae Im	1,542	1	6	347	20	$1.2 million
4	Bryson DeChambeau	1,514	1	8	375	12	$1.1 million
5	Rory McIlroy	1,291	1	6	598	10	$1.0 million
6	Patrick Reed	1,279	1	6	610	14	$850,000
7	Collin Morikawa	1,256	1	5	633	16	$700,000
8	Jon Rahm	1,224	1	5	665	10	$600,000
9	Brendon Todd	1,204	2	3	685	19	$550,000
10	Lanto Griffin	1,105	1	3	784	22	$500,000

A look back at the 2019 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

Pos.	Name	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Brooks Koepka	68	67	64	65	264 (-16)
2	Webb Simpson	69	66	68	64	267 (-13)
3	Marc Leishman	69	69	63	67	268 (-12)
T4	Tommy Fleetwood	68	70	65	66	269 (-11)
T4	Matthew Fitzpatrick	67	64	69	69	269 (-11)
T4	Rory McIlroy	69	67	62	71	269 (-11)

•  Brooks Koepka shot a final-round 65 to win by three strokes and earn his first WGC title
• Koepka became the fifth player to win a WGC and a major in the same season, joining Tiger Woods (eight times), Geoff Ogilvy (2006), Rory McIlroy (2014) and Dustin Johnson (2016)
• Koepka clinched top honors in the inaugural Wyndham Rewards Top 10 and became the first player with three wins on the season
• McIlroy entered the final round with a one-stroke lead over Koepka before finishing T4

Player Notes

World No. 1 Jon Rahm (No. 8 FedExCup)

• Making first start since moving to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking following his win at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide
• 22 previous instances of players making their first PGA TOUR start as World No. 1 have resulted in five wins: Ian Woosnam/1991 Masters Tournament, David Duval/1999 BellSouth Classic, Vijay Singh/2004 RBC Canadian Open, Adam Scott/2014 Charles Schwab Challenge, Dustin Johnson/2017 WGC-Mexico Championship
• Along with Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas, is one of four players with at least one win in each of the last four PGA TOUR seasons (2017 Farmers Insurance Open, 2018 The American Express, 2019 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, 2020 the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide)

FedExCup leader Justin Thomas (No. 3 OWGR)

• 2017 FedExCup champion and current FedExCup leader
• Holds the FedExCup lead for the 38^th week in his career, one shy of Dustin Johnson for third-most in the FedExCup era
• Only player currently in the top three of both the FedExCup standings and OWGR; each of the last four winners of the event entered the week in the top three of both
• Earned ninth of 12 PGA TOUR victories at 2018 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational
• Tied with Bryson DeChambeau for most top-10s on TOUR during the 2019-20 season (8)

Defending champion Brooks Koepka (No. 6 OWGR, No. 155 FedExCup)

• Will defend titles in each of the next two weeks, having won the 2019 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and 2019 PGA Championship
• Enters the week No. 155 in the FedExCup standings with just three weeks remaining until the start of the FedExCup Playoffs; has not finished worse than 35^th in the FedExCup since joining the PGA TOUR in 2014-15
• One top-10 in 10 starts on the season (7^th/RBC Heritage)
• Earned seventh PGA TOUR win at the event in 2019

Rory McIlroy (No. 2 OWGR, No. 5 FedExCup)

• Six top-fives in 10 starts during the 2019-20 season
• Seven top-10s in nine starts at the event, including a win in 2014
• Leads the PGA TOUR in Scoring Average (68.899); last player to win the Byron Nelson Award in consecutive seasons: Tiger Woods (2005, 2006, 2007)
• Enters the week No. 5 in the FedExCup standings; no player has ever won the FedExCup in consecutive seasons

Additional Player Notes

• All three players with multiple wins on the season are in the field (Justin Thomas, Webb Simpson, Brendon Todd)
• Bryson DeChambeau enters the week No. 4 in the FedExCup standings, with one win (Rocket Mortgage Classic) and seven additional top-10s in 12 starts on the season
• Patrick Reed, who won the WGC-Mexico Championship earlier in the season, is looking to become the first player since Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama in 2016-17 to win multiple World Golf Championships titles in a season
• With a win (Workday Charity Open) and a runner-up (Charles Schwab Challenge) since the season resumed, Collin Morikawa has moved from No. 41 to No. 7 in the FedExCup standings over the last seven weeks

• Viktor Hovland, the highest-ranked rookie in the FedExCup standings (No. 23), is making his first career start in a World Golf Championships event
• Henrik Stenson is making his first start since the season resumed in June and just his fourth of the season (MC/Houston Open, T20/WGC-HSBC Champions, MC/Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard)

• There are four Canadian players in the field, the most for any World Golf Championships event (Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes, Nick Taylor)

Tournament Notes

• Since 2003, there have been 1,276 hole outs at TPC Southwind, the most of any course on the PGA TOUR
• Since 2003, there have been 5,670 balls hit in the water at TPC Southwind, the most of any course on the PGA TOUR

Tournament Records

• Low 18-hole score: 61 (four times; most recent: Hideki Matsuyama/R4/2017)
• Low 36-hole total: 125 (Tiger Woods/2000)
• Low 54-hole total: 192 (Tiger Woods/2000)
• Low 72-hole total: 259 (Tiger Woods/2000)
• Largest margin of victory: 11 (Tiger Woods/2000)
• Playoffs: 2 (most recent: Tiger Woods def. Stewart Cink, 2006)
• Wire-to-wire winners: 2 (Tiger Woods/2000, Stewart Cink/2004)