Scottie Scheffler Leads Star-Studded 2026 St. Jude Championship Field as FedEx Cup Playoffs Begin
The PGA Tour’s race for the FedEx Cup enters its decisive stage this week as the 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship gets underway at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.
The tournament runs from August 13-16, with the opening event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs bringing together the top 70 players in the standings. Unlike a traditional PGA Tour event, there will be no cut, but the stakes remain enormous: only the top 50 players after four rounds will advance to next week’s BMW Championship.
The field will then be reduced again, with only the top 30 players qualifying for the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake.
The St. Jude Championship carries a $20 million purse and will be played over the par-70, 7,288-yard TPC Southwind layout.
Among the biggest names in Memphis is world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who enters the tournament as the leading pre-event favorite at +450, according to the odds listed in the preview.
Scheffler has recorded only one tournament victory this season, but his consistency and status among the world's elite make him the player many will be watching most closely during the playoffs.
The Forbes preview backed Scheffler to win, arguing that he remains too strong a player to go without another major victory during the season.
“Scottie Scheffler is too good to not win more tournaments,” the preview stated.
Scheffler will face a strong challenge from Rory McIlroy, who is listed at +1000, while Cameron Young and Xander Schauffele are both priced at +1800. Tommy Fleetwood follows at +1950.
The tournament also provides an opportunity for several players looking to make a strong move before the field is reduced for the BMW Championship.
Viktor Hovland was identified as a potential long-shot contender at +3600. The preview described the pick as more of a “gut pick,” pointing to the unpredictable nature of the event and its history of producing winners outside the most obvious favorites.
Past champions underline that point. Justin Rose won in 2025, while Hideki Matsuyama captured the title in 2024. Lucas Glover won in 2023, followed by Will Zalatoris in 2022 and Tony Finau in 2021.
That recent history could add another layer of intrigue to this year's tournament. Although Scheffler enters as the headline favorite, the limited 70-player field means every round could have significant consequences for the FedEx Cup standings.
Players such as Collin Morikawa, Ludvig Åberg, Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark will also be looking to make their presence felt as the postseason begins.
With the FedEx Cup title and a place in the final stages on the line, the St. Jude Championship is more than simply another tournament on the PGA Tour schedule. For 70 players, it is the beginning of the most important stretch of the season.
Source: Forbes, Jeff Hartman, “2026 St. Jude Championship Preview, Full Field And Odds,” published August 12, 2026.
Analysis: Scottie Scheffler Faces High-Stakes Test as FedEx Cup Playoffs Begin in Memphis
The 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship arrives with a familiar question hanging over the PGA Tour: can anyone stop Scottie Scheffler when the season reaches its most important stage?
Scheffler enters the opening event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs as the betting favorite, but the story is more complicated than simply identifying the player most likely to win. The tournament at TPC Southwind is the first step in a three-event elimination process, and every player arrives with a different objective.
The PGA Tour's playoff structure makes this week particularly important. The opening field is made up of the top 70 players in the FedExCup standings, with the field shrinking to the top 50 for next week's BMW Championship and then to 30 for the Tour Championship. PGA Tour regulations confirm that progression.
That means Memphis is not merely about winning a $20 million tournament. It is about survival.
Scheffler's biggest question
Scheffler is unquestionably the headline name.
The Forbes preview identifies him as the favorite at +450 and argues that his quality makes another victory during the playoffs highly plausible. But there is an interesting contradiction surrounding the world No. 1: he has produced only one victory this season despite maintaining the level of consistency expected from one of golf's dominant players.
That makes the St. Jude Championship a fascinating opportunity.
Scheffler does not necessarily need to win to strengthen his position. A strong finish would give him valuable momentum heading toward the BMW Championship and potentially the Tour Championship.
Recent reporting also confirms that Scheffler enters the playoffs at the top of the FedExCup standings.
The pressure, therefore, is not simply about proving that he can win. It is about converting an excellent regular season into a playoff run that ends with the FedExCup trophy.
Rory McIlroy provides the biggest threat
If Scheffler is the favorite, Rory McIlroy is arguably the biggest name capable of disrupting the expected storyline.
McIlroy is listed immediately behind Scheffler in the supplied odds, and the two players are among the central figures in this year's playoff race.
McIlroy's presence creates another major storyline because he has repeatedly demonstrated that he can produce extraordinary golf when the stakes are highest. The question entering Memphis is whether he can bring that level of performance to TPC Southwind.
The Forbes analysis raises doubts about McIlroy's motivation in tournaments outside the majors. That is an opinion rather than an established fact, and it should be treated carefully. Still, it highlights the unusual pressure surrounding McIlroy: whenever one of the sport's biggest stars enters a tournament, expectations are naturally much higher.
A strong showing in Memphis would immediately change the conversation.
The field is deeper than the favorites suggest
One reason this tournament could become unpredictable is the quality of the field behind Scheffler and McIlroy.
Xander Schauffele, Cameron Young, Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick, Ludvig Åberg, Viktor Hovland, Wyndham Clark and Rickie Fowler all have legitimate reasons to attract attention.
The latest PGA Tour preview describes the field as containing 69 of the top 70 players in the FedExCup standings.
That depth makes it difficult to treat the tournament as a two-man race.
Golf also creates a unique problem for favorites. Unlike team sports, the best player does not have another player to compensate for a bad day. A few poor holes can completely change a tournament.
TPC Southwind can therefore punish even elite players who fail to control their games.
Why the top-50 battle may be more important than the winner
The most compelling part of the tournament might not involve the trophy at all.
For players near the FedExCup bubble, the battle for a place inside the top 50 could be enormous.
Only 50 players move forward to the BMW Championship. PGA Tour regulations establish that the BMW field consists of the top 50 players after the St. Jude Championship.
That creates two different competitions within the same tournament.
At the top, players such as Scheffler and McIlroy are trying to strengthen their positions and build momentum toward East Lake. Near the bottom, players are fighting simply to keep their seasons alive.
This dynamic can make the final round particularly dramatic.
A player sitting outside the top 50 could suddenly find himself needing one excellent round to change his entire postseason. Conversely, someone comfortably inside the qualifying positions could fall out with a poor finish.
History suggests that surprises are possible
The tournament's recent history also warns against assuming that the favorite will automatically win.
Justin Rose won the event in 2025, while Hideki Matsuyama, Lucas Glover, Will Zalatoris and Tony Finau were the previous champions listed in the supplied preview.
That history gives credibility to the idea that TPC Southwind can produce a winner outside the most obvious group of favorites.
It also explains why Viktor Hovland has been highlighted as a long-shot possibility.
Hovland at +3600 is obviously a much bigger risk than Scheffler, but playoff golf often rewards players who find their best form at exactly the right time.
The question is not necessarily who has been best all season.
It is who is playing best this week?
The real pressure starts now
The FedEx Cup Playoffs are designed to create pressure, and the 2026 format does exactly that.
There are three tournaments. The field gets smaller after each one. Players cannot simply rely on their regular-season reputation.
The PGA Tour's official regulations list the progression clearly: top 70 for St. Jude, top 50 for BMW and top 30 for the Tour Championship.
That makes the St. Jude Championship the opening test of whether the game's biggest stars can handle the postseason.
Scheffler has the strongest position on paper. McIlroy has the experience and pedigree to challenge him. Players such as Schauffele, Fleetwood, Åberg, Hovland and Fitzpatrick have the opportunity to disrupt the expected order.
And behind them, dozens of golfers are fighting for survival.
That is why this tournament deserves more attention than a normal PGA Tour stop.
It is not simply about four rounds in Memphis.
It is the beginning of the final race for the FedEx Cup.
Bottom line: Scheffler deserves to be the favorite, but the safest prediction is not necessarily that he wins. The more significant expectation is that he will remain near the top of the leaderboard and put himself in a strong position for the BMW Championship. With 20 players eliminated after this stage, however, the biggest drama may come from the battle happening behind him.
Sources: PGA Tour regulations and 2026 PGA Tour/FedEx St. Jude Championship previews.
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