2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship: Top 10 Power Rankings

Patrick Cantlay has finished on the top half of the leaderboard in each of three trips to TPC Southwind.

All were at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, where he peaked in 2019 with T-12th (65-68-73-68) and followed with T-35th (70-70-65-67) in 2020 and T-23rd (71-67-69-67) last year.

The reigning FedEx Cup champion is in position to defend his crown.

Even without an individual win, Cantlay is in great shape thanks in part to his co-victory alongside Xander Schauffele that earned both of them the full 500 FedEx Cup points.

The former UCLA Bruin also claims three runner-up finishes. Two came in playoffs at the WM Phoenix Open and RBC Heritage. The other was in Cantlay’s last start at the Rocket Mortgage Classic where he was among the trio of chasers five shots back of Tony Finau.

The 30-year-old ranked eighth in the field in Detroit in total strokes gained approach (4.529). That’s a good harbinger for Memphis. While he’s still in the upper third for SG approach on the season (50th, .324 per round), it’s still his statistical weakness, so it’s encouraging to see him improve there.

In 2021-22, Cantlay is seventh in total SG per round (1.741) and ninth in SG putting (.583).

Taking advantage of the two par-5s on the card is critical. He’s first in par-5 scoring average (4.42). There are 14 par-4s out there, and he’s third there (3.96).

Cantlay has finished in the top 14 of his last four FedEx Cup Playoffs events.