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2021 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational: Top 10 power rankings at TPC Southwind

By Mike Randleman

Jul 27, 2019; Memphis, TN, USA; General view of a tee box marker FedEx Express van on the fourth hole during the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic golf tournament at TPC Southwind. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 27, 2019; Memphis, TN, USA; General view of a tee box marker FedEx Express van on the fourth hole during the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic golf tournament at TPC Southwind. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jul 28, 2019; Memphis, TN, USA; Brooks Koepka walks past the championship trophy on his way to the first tee during the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic golf tournament at TPC Southwind. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 28, 2019; Memphis, TN, USA; Brooks Koepka walks past the championship trophy on his way to the first tee during the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic golf tournament at TPC Southwind. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /

For the last decade, TPC Southwind has turned into The House That Dustin Johnson Built. Two wins and seven top-25s speak for themselves.

Brooks Koepka is now at least splitting the mortgage.

They’re not rivals like Brooks vs. Bryson, but they no longer give off the same gym bro vibes as they used to.

Koepka’s success at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational likely has little to do with this adversarial relationship, but it’s fun to speculate.

Koepka has never finished worse than T-37th (2017) in Memphis and has only gotten better since this event evolved into a World Golf Championship.

Koepka outdueled Rory McIlroy by six shots in the final group on Sunday in 2019 to win by three over Webb Simpson in second place and by five over McIlroy in a tie for fourth.

Koepka posted 68-67-64-65.

The former Florida State Seminole nearly repeated in 2020. He was in fourth place going into Sunday and right in the mix. A closing 69 wasn’t enough to outlast Justin Thomas. Thomas matched the low round of the day to post 65 to win by three over Koepka, Tom Lewis, Daniel Berger and Phil Mickelson.

Koepka’s resume in Tennessee also features a T-3rd (64-67-71-70) in 2015 and T-2nd (70-65-69-66) in 2016 when it was the old FedEx-St. Jude Classic.

Eleven of his last 12 rounds at TPC Southwind are under par.

What’s the reason for his success here? Koepka described why prior to last year’s event.

“…this golf course, it’s so fun to me, because I feel like if you play well, you can really shoot 7, 8 under, but if you’re just slightly off, you can shoot even par or 1 over,” Koepka said in a Tee Scripts transcript. “To me, that’s the sign of a good golf course and I enjoy that challenge. You can get off to a really good start here and it just kind of feeds you If you get through those first four or five holes, and you can be 1, 2 over very quickly.”

BK ranks third on the PGA Tour in strokes gained tee to green (1.528) and is fourth in total strokes gained (1.876).

Koepka played well early in the year with a win at the Phoenix Open. The four-time major champion played admirably well on an ailing knee, particularly by finishing top six in the final three majors.

Now appearing in better health, the 31-year-old owns three top-10s leading into Memphis. Koepka has been off for two weeks since Royal St. George’s and should be ready to go at a place he dominates.

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