The first leg of the three-part FedEx Cup Playoffs begins this week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

TPC Southwind is the site for the opener from Memphis, Tennessee, after it hosted a World Golf Championships event the last three years.

The top-125 golfers on the points list do battle this week, with only the top-70 at the conclusion of play Sunday heading onto the BMW Championship.

Patrick Cantlay will defend his crown, as he attempts to be the first ever golfer to win back-to-back FedEx Cups (only Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have won multiple Cups in their career).

The winner after the Tour Championship will take home a cool $18 million dollars.

Only four players who qualified for the postseason (Tommy Fleetwood, Daniel Berger, Lanto Griffin and Nate Lashley) are not teeing it up in Memphis.

Canada is well represented in the playoffs, with six making the top-125 cut.

Those players, and their starting positions are as follows – Corey Conners (30), Mackenzie Hughes (46), Adam Hadwin (50), Taylor Pendrith (60), Adam Svensson (90), and Nick Taylor (123).

Let’s start with some outright winners (I’m still riding high after my correct +3200 pick of Jooyhung Kim to win last week’s Wyndham Championship) to snag the trophy, then follow that with first-round leaders and longshots.

Outright Winners

Justin Thomas +1800

Justin Thomas has fond memories of TPC Southwind, having won at this track in 2020 at a World Golf Championships event against an elite field.

JT is still riding high off his second PGA Championship Wanamaker Trophy back in May, where he followed that up with a close call at the title at the RBC Canadian Open.

In his last eight rounds at this course, he’s put together some impressive stats, ranking first in SG: tee-to-green and ball striking.

He’s also second in approaching the green and seventh in total strokes gained.

Since that Canadian Open run at the title (he ended up third), he’s played some rather uncharacteristic golf for his skill set, two of which were on links courses at the Scottish Open and Open Championship.

He’s back at a track that he’s familiar with and has had success on, which makes him a solid option.

All he does is win big events, with a major, the Players Championship, and the aforementioned WGC tournament his last three triumphs.

Four golfers have shorter odds than him, as he sports decent +1800 value at Fanduel.

Jon Rahm +2000

As my good friend and TSN Edge’s Luke Bellus said to me, anytime you see Jon Rahm with a ‘2’ in front of number to win outright, it’s an auto bet.

I couldn’t agree more, especially because he has better value than the top-six golfers on the board.

The fiery Spaniard shows up in the big events, as evidenced by his eight top-10’s in his last nine postseason tournaments.

Included in that is his victory at the 2020 BMW Championship.

While he’d be the first to admit his game hasn’t been firing on all cylinders in 2022, he did taste success at the Vidanta Open in Mexico.

The sky is the limit for Rahm, and that’s when he has some pedestrian results (by his lofty standards), it seems like he’s not doing super well.

That isn’t exactly true, as he’s posted top-12’s in three of his last six starts.

In the last 24 rounds, nobody has gained more strokes off-the-tee than Rahm.

He’s had some success at this venue in the past, placing seventh in 2019.

While he hasn’t been racking up victories this year, as Luke said, anytime you get him at +2000 or higher, it’s an autobet.

Sungjae Im +2900

Trying to figure out which Sungjae Im will show up in the 2021-22 PGA Tour season is a bit of a fruitless endeavour.

He won the Shriners Children’s Open late last year for his second victory on the main circuit.

He followed that up brilliantly, with five top-20’s in his next six starts.

Then, he had a lull in his game for five weeks with nothing better than a T-20th, followed by a bounce back, with four straight top-25’s.

Is your head spinning yet? The madness continues, as he then missed two straight cuts and was T-81st at the Open Championship, second to last of those who made the weekend.

Surely he continued playing poorly, right? Completely wrong, as the last two times teeing it up he’s been runner-up at the 3M Open and Wyndham Championship.

In those eight rounds, he’s fourth in total strokes gained and ball striking.

He’s been clutch against tougher fields in recent playoffs past, as he was third place at the BMW Championship last year.

In an ideal world his +2900 number would be a bit higher, but he sports reasonable enough odds, especially for a player with two straight runner-ups.

First-Round Leaders

Tony Finau +3400

Nobody in golf is as hot as Tony Finau is, as he won two straight weeks at the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic.

He’s also the defending champ, in a manner of speaking, as he won the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs last year, albeit when it was the Northern Trust at a different venue.

The last 24 rounds on tour, he’s racked up some ridiculous numbers, ranking first in total strokes gained, tee-to-green and ball striking.

The phenomenal numbers don’t end there, as he’s second in approach, third in short game and fourth off-the-tee.

Twelve of his last 16 rounds he’s shot 68 or better.

He also tees off in the morning, when the greens won’t be chewed up and the wind will be slightly less breezy, making him a great target on Fanduel.

Cameron Young +4000

Playing alongside Finau is Cameron Young, who has done everything but win in his rookie campaign.

The sweet swinging 25-year-old has racked up seven top-3’s, with five of them runner-ups.

Included in that was a T-3rd at the PGA Championship and a solo second place at the Open Championship (where he led after day one).

The Open, along with a T-2nd in Detroit have been his results in his last two tournaments.

He’s also been strong on Thursday’s, ranking tenth in first round scoring average.

In the last 24 rounds, he’s tops in SG: off-the-tee, and around-the-green, and second tee-to-green.

Young can make birdies in bunches also, ranking seventh in birdie average.

Add that all up, and at +4000, he marks a very tantalizing possibility to grab the first round lead.

SLEEPERS

Tyrrell Hatton Top 10 - +500

Tyrrell Hatton is no stranger to competing in big events, as he won the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational and also has six DP World Tour titles to his credit.

He’s progressively gotten better in the last three championships as well.

The always entertaining and at times combustible Hatton was T-24th at the Scottish Open, T-11th at the Open Championship, then T-8th at the Wyndham Championship last weekend.

He’s also been solid at this venue, placing T-17th last year when it was a World Golf Championships event.

His tee-to-green game has been on point, as he gained over seven shots on his competitors at the Wyndham.

For a player trending in the right direction, a top-10 at +500 on Fanduel is a reasonable expectation.

Taylor Moore Top 20 - +550

You’d be forgiven if you hadn’t heard of Taylor Moore, as he’s not quite a household name as of yet.

If he continues his fine form, however, he might just become that.

15 of his last 20 rounds have resulted in sub-70 scores.

In his last four stroke play tournaments, he’s had top-25’s in all of them.

Those have been – T-24th at the John Deere, T-21st at the Barbasol, sixth at the Rocket Mortgage and T-5th at Wyndham.

Granted, those have been against considerably weaker fields than he faces this week, so it’s important to curb your enthusiasm a little.

However, expecting him to squeak out a top-20 isn’t something of a monumental task, given his recent play of late.