This week’s fantasy golf rankings for the FedEx St. Jude Classic are being released a tad later than normal due to the amount of player withdrawals from the field. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a few more drop out by Thursday’s start time.
*Notable WDs as of Wednesday morning: Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott, Russell Knox, Patton Kizzire, Ollie Schniederjans, Patrick Rodgers, Lucas Glover, Jamie Lovemark, Bud Cauley, Beau Hossler, J.J. Spaun, Will MacKenzie, Steve Marino, K.J. Choi
The St. Jude field is weaker than normal with players fine tuning their game and gearing up for next week’s US Open. I’ll be focusing on the “Prestige Rank” column more than normal when configuring my DFS lineups this week. At the end of each tournament, Taylor (@Sgrignoli3) back tests the rankings data and “Prestige Rank” continues to have an outstanding correlation to finishing results. In a weak-ass field like the St. Jude, the cream should rise to the top of leaderboard by Sunday.
Below you will find a breakdown of Taylor’s rankings model for TPC Southwind, top 25 fantasy golf rankings for St. Jude and my picks of the week.
Rankings Model Breakdown
The “Course Stats Rank” incorporates a wide range of player statistics, each individually weighted. This range includes the past 4, 8, 12, 24, 50 and 100 rounds played.
This week’s weighted course statistics for the St. Jude Classic include:
- Strokes Gained: Tee to Green
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Birdie or Better Gained
- Bogey Avoidance
- Strokes Gained: Par 4
“Current Form Rank” is derived from the average number of Strokes Gained: Total per tournament played this season.
“Course History Rank” is derived from the average number of Strokes Gained: Total per year played at this event/course. *Several players may not have course history so their course history weight percentage has been shifted to current form.
The “Prestige Rank” column was back-tested and has consistently shown positive results. “Prestige Rank” is derived from a combination of current Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) and Vegas odds to win the week’s event.
The “PAS Power Index” is generated by calculating and combining the categories mentioned above: course stats (weighted at 40%), current form (weighted at 25%), course history (weighted at 5%), and prestige rank (weighted at 30%).
Top 25 Rankings | St. Jude Classic
Winner: Tony Finau
Sleeper: Matt Jones
Buster: Charl Schwartzel