Pro Golf Now
Fansided

Dark horse candidates to win WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

By Christopher O'Day

Jim Furyk, 2003 U. S. Open champion, blasts from a sand trap on the sixth hole Thursday, October 23, 2003 at the Funai Classic at Orlando, Florida. Furyk's approach shot hit the cup and rolled into the trap and he bogeyed the hole. (Photo by A. Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
Jim Furyk, 2003 U. S. Open champion, blasts from a sand trap on the sixth hole Thursday, October 23, 2003 at the Funai Classic at Orlando, Florida. Furyk's approach shot hit the cup and rolled into the trap and he bogeyed the hole. (Photo by A. Messerschmidt/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 6
Next
Jim Furyk
HARTFORD, WI – JUNE 16: Jim Furyk of the United States lines up a putt on the first green during the second round of the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills on June 16, 2017 in Hartford, Wisconsin. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) /

Jim Furyk – 100/1

With all of these top-level talents in Memphis and tons of the top-ranked players in the world, there always seems to be an older veteran who sneaks under the radar and shows up Sunday to make a run up the leaderboard.

Furyk is actually right behind Reavie in driving accuracy, hitting 74.07% of fairways and ranking third. He turns that into a ton of GIR as well, ranking 19th and hitting 69.74% of greens. Combining those numbers means that there is a 51.66% chance that Furyk hits both the fairway and the green in regulation on any given hole.

He is top 50 in both SG around the green and SG putting, rankings 50th and 46th, respectively. Where he really shines is in those approach shots, just outside of the top ten. He gains .778 shots and sits 11th.

Looking a bit deeper, Furyk throws darts with his wedges. From 100-125 yards, he is 5th overall on average distance. He is 30th from 75-100 yards and ends up 3rd overall from 50-125 yards.

Even though Furyk is a slight negative off the tee overall, everything else in his game is so good that he comes in 20th overall in total SG. If you were going to tell me the PGA was heading to a shorter course, why wouldn’t I pick a solid vet with a crazy good game from 125 and in? That’s why Jim Furyk takes the last spot on my dark horse rankings.

Next. Shane Lowry wins the 2019 British Open at Portrush. dark

Best of luck to everyone playing in the 2019 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. It should be a fantastic golf tournament, and more importantly, for a fantastic cause.

Home/Golf Power Rankings