2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship Power Rankings: Top 10 Golfers To Watch

August 12, 2026

Ian McNeill ranks his top-10 players to watch at the 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship from TPC Southwind. His data-backed insights into who is primed for success.

Over the next three weeks, the best players in the world will get together to contest the season's final prize.

The race to the FedEx Cup begins this week at TPC Southwind, a course with a long history of Sunday afternoon drama. Sudden-death playoffs have decided the winner in three of the four years since it became the Tour's maiden Playoff stop, and with star names like Jordan Spieth, Max Homa and Jackson Koivun all sitting outside the Top 50 cutoff for next week, there are sure to be fireworks all over the golf course.

At the top of the standings sits an established World No. 1, two frontrunners for 2026 Player of the Year honors, and a host of proven champions looking to jumpstart their playoff run with a statement win. There are no shortage of storylines in the Bluff City this week -- here are my top 10 players to watch at the 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship!

No. 10 - Viktor Hovland

Viktor Hovland comes back from the delay with a birdie to go one back of Scottie Scheffler's lead 🔥😤

📺 NBC pic.twitter.com/m9WSywYesh

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 28, 2026

From Justin Thomas to Will Zalatoris, Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Rose, TPC Southwind has always favored precision ball-striking. And not many players in this field have been as dialed in as Viktor Hovland over the last two months.

Despite missing the cut in each of the last two Majors, Hovland has gained nearly a stroke per round on the field with his approach play since the start of June -- third in this field -- while ranking inside the top 10 in season-long driving accuracy.

But while his ball-striking remains the cornerstone of Hovland's profile, the strides he's made with his short game have been the catalyst for his best season since his breakout campaign in 2023. In 18 starts between the DP World and PGA Tours this year, Hovland has gained strokes around the green in 10 of them, and his per-round ARG numbers over the last 36 rounds are actually better than those of Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler.

He's also gained strokes putting in each of his last four appearances at Southwind, most notably posting a +3.31 putting performance in his runner-up finish here two years ago.

It's been three years since Viktor ruled the golfing world with his dominant Playoff run to the FedEx Cup. And while he's not quite back among the game's elite, the signs are increasingly difficult to ignore: Hovland may not be far away from reclaiming his place among the best players on the planet.

No. 9 - J.J. Spaun

It would have been a herculean task for J.J. Spaun to come anywhere close to the magic of his 2025 season. And while his win at the Valero won't ever be mistaken for the career-defining victory that his U.S. Open was, I wouldn't be so quick to call his 2026 campaign a complete regression.

In fact, by many metrics, Spaun has morphed into an even more complete player this season, increasing his tee-to-green output by more than two-tenths of a shot per tournament, becoming a more accurate driver on a field-adjusted basis, and reaffirming his status as one of the five best iron players on Tour.

TPC Southwind should be an ideal venue to flex those elite traits. Spaun logged the best ball-striking performance of his season here last year (+9.89) en route to a runner-up finish behind Justin Rose, and he enters this week's event as the Tour's most prolific iron player from 150-200 yards.

Spaun ranks in the 98th and 97th percentiles in Strokes Gained and proximity from that key range, respectively, but it's his ability to turn those approaches into legitimate birdie opportunities that really separates him. Over the last 12 months, nobody on Tour has generated more premium birdie chances with a mid-iron in hand, with a remarkable 8.8% of his approaches from 150-200 yards finishing within eight feet of the hole. For perspective, Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick sit at 4.8% and 6.0%, respectively.

His putter has been the downfall of many a close week in 2026, but remember, Spaun rose to the top of last year's leaderboard despite a negative -0.8 rating on the greens. 12 months later, he's shown he still has the tools to utilize that blueprint again. The results log might suggest a step back from the 35-year-old Californian, but I'm not convinced we've seen the best golf of Spaun's season just yet.

No. 8 - Si Woo Kim

There haven't been many better iron players on Tour than the first two names on this list, but from the very start of 2026, Si Woo Kim has come out of the gates with the intent to prove he's one of the game's elite.

Twenty-two starts, 11 top-10s and six top-5s have propelled the South Korean to a career-best seventh in the FedEx Cup standings, and for a player once known for his immense volatility, Si Woo's 2026 campaign has been characterized by one of the more bankable profiles in the sport.

In fact, only the top two players in the FedEx Cup standings -- Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick -- have gained more strokes than Si Woo from tee through green this season. And around a course like TPC Southwind, his combination of precision driving and elite middle-iron play may make him as clear of a stylistic fit as can be found in this field.

Kim ranks fourth in this field in season-long driving accuracy (69.1%) and second only to J.J. Spaun in scoring chances created from our key range of 150-200 yards. And while he can't boast the runner-up finishes of Spaun or Hovland at TPC Southwind, Kim is far from a stranger to success on this layout. He fired a Thursday 62 in 2022 to claim the first-round lead, and has finished 16th and 14th in two of the last three seasons -- including logging the best ball-striking week of his 2025 campaign last year (+10.50).

The numbers suggest it's only a matter of time before Si Woo adds a fifth career title to his resume. And with a profile seemingly tailor-made for TPC Southwind, this may be as good a spot as we'll see all season for him to make it happen.

No. 7 - Collin Morikawa

Collin Morikawa is on the charge.

This approach on the 9th hole sets up his fourth birdie of the day, as he moves to -3. pic.twitter.com/2PDP70Oi5E

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 16, 2026

On a golf course that has historically rewarded accurate driving and elite iron play, Collin Morikawa will undoubtedly be among the first names that come to mind.

Third in Fairway Percentage and second in season-long approach play, the profile has remained very much intact for the World No. 10, even through a stretch in April and May where he publicly struggled with painful back spasms.

But over his last two starts, Collin has looked far closer to the player who began his season on a breakneck charge toward the top of the world rankings.

A third-place finish at the Travelers Championship was defined by a final-round 61 -- and the best ball-striking week he's had since his win at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February (+10.50).

And while a T18 at the Open Championship won't have fully satisfied Morikawa's lofty ambitions, the 2021 Champion Golfer of the Year did gain more than five strokes on approach while leading the field in driving accuracy.

But apart from those established traits, a new dimension has entered the profile of the two-time Major champion, who is currently enjoying far and away the best putting campaign of his already illustrious career.

In 13 starts in 2026, Morikawa has lost strokes putting on only four occasions -- a 31% clip that has precipitated a 71-spot rise in the Tour's season-long putting rankings (156th → 85th).

With this new weapon at his disposal, Collin is well on his way to achieving what he verbalized in this very press room two years ago:

"Obviously a guy like Scottie, his consistency is very, very high. Every day I'm trying to raise that bar. I want to raise it as high as possible to when I'm playing average, I'm up there in the top 5 and contending."

From a statistical standpoint, that bar is now as high as it's ever been.

No. 6 - Hideki Matsuyama

2024 FedEx St. Jude Champion Hideki Matsuyama parlayed an Olympic Bronze medal into a ninth career PGA Tour victory two years ago. But coming into this year's Playoffs, you could argue the Japanese ace is flying as high as he has in years.

His three consecutive top-10s in Minnesota, Detroit and Greensboro mark the best run Matsuyama has had on the PGA Tour since 2016, and even within this incredible stretch, you could argue that none of those courses would have suited him better than TPC Southwind.

Over the last two seasons, only three players have been more prolific middle-iron players than Hideki -- sitting in the 97th percentile in Strokes Gained from 150-200 yards and the 98th in Proximity from the Fairway (a range that accounted for 42% of approaches here last season).

And as of late, Hideki's long game has provided him ample opportunities to flex those elite approach skills. He's sat above the field average in driving accuracy in each of his last six starts -- including a 73.8% rating through three rounds at Sedgefield.

We've talked in detail about his resurgent putting year -- which only continued with a +4.76 rating at Sedgefield last week. If that facet is truly sorted, it's difficult to find a single hole to pick at in the profile. Though he's made a career of flying under the radar, it's hard to call Hideki a dark horse anymore. The way he's playing, Matsuyama has earned his spot among the favorites this week.

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No. 5 - Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy remains one of the most dangerous players in the world when his game is firing on all cylinders. The problem is that, in the four months since his Augusta triumph, we've seen far fewer of those moments than we're used to.

His history in Memphis doesn't inspire a ton of confidence, either. In six appearances since the FedEx St. Jude began drawing an elite field, Rory has just two top-10 finishes and has finished outside the top 40 on three occasions.

The talent hasn't gone anywhere. It's just shown up in flashes. McIlroy logged the best driving week of his career in more than a decade at Royal Birkdale (+10.68), while his putter has shown plenty of life as well, gaining more than four strokes on the field in three of his last five starts.

The approach game remains the sticking point. Since the U.S. Open, McIlroy has lost a combined 6.1 strokes on approach across three starts -- a stretch that makes it difficult to project him with the same confidence as some of the names above him.

McIlroy doesn't exactly fit the mold I've outlined for so many others on this list. But while the fit at TPC Southwind may not be the cleanest, a locked-in McIlroy is a threat to make any bear case look foolish.

No. 4 - Tommy Fleetwood

Tommy Fleetwood nearly jars it from 150 😳🎯

The lad from Southport is charging, one back of The Open lead after a birdie here on 11

📺 NBC pic.twitter.com/sS7DOQ673A

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 18, 2026

Tommy Fleetwood spoke with ESPN last night and called TPC Southwind "one of the best golf courses of the year." Coming off a characteristically consistent yet winless season, perhaps that affinity for the layout is exactly what the Englishman needs to finally clear the final hurdle here.

It wouldn't be the first time Southwind has brought out the best in Fleetwood. He's finished just one shot short of the sudden-death playoffs in two of the last three seasons -- and painfully held a two-shot lead walking off of the 15th green last year.

That near-miss history tracks with a stretch of form that's been building well before this week. Fleetwood has finished inside the top 15 in six consecutive starts, and over his last 40 rounds, he ranks inside the top 30 in all four Strokes Gained categories -- perhaps the clearest statistical representation of a player without a single discernible hole in his profile.

Unlike names like Si Woo Kim or J.J. Spaun, whose games are defined by one standout skill carrying the rest of the bag, Tommy's game is built on the absence of a weakness -- and that well-roundedness has served him particularly well around Southwind. Only Scottie Scheffler has struck the ball better than Fleetwood here over the last two seasons, and his combination of precision off the tee and rock-solid iron play should once again give him ample opportunities to score.

It's a formula that's already carried him to the doorstep of a victory here twice. And after proving at East Lake last year that he has the game to finish the job when the pressure is at its highest, Fleetwood arrives in Memphis with perhaps another great opportunity to exorcise his past Southwind demons.

To this point, Sam Burns' 2026 has been characterized by the three shots that have kept him from achieving the status of a multiple-time Major winner. But with two of the three Playoff events set to be contested on Bermuda courses, there is still a chance for Burns' stellar season to be rewarded.

Here at TPC Southwind, Sam has already logged finishes of 2nd and 5th in six career starts. But although he's occupied a spot among the game's best for half a decade now, the Louisianan has never entered the Playoff stretch with this much momentum.

His 2nd- and 3rd-place finishes at Shinnecock and Birkdale were characterized by the best ball-striking stretch of his entire career: gaining an average of 6.4 strokes to the field with his driving and approach play over his last five starts -- the best mark of anyone in these Playoffs.

Couple these newfound baselines with one of the more impressive Bermuda track records in the game (+0.73 putting per round over the last four seasons), and suddenly Burns arrives at Southwind with one of the more undeniable projections of the week. The pieces are all there. Southwind might just be where the math finally works out.

A career-defining regular season for Matt Fitzpatrick ultimately ended in disappointment, missing the cut at Royal Birkdale. But sitting second in the season-long FedEx Cup points race, the Englishman still has three virtually guaranteed chances to add to his three-win tally.

It's not difficult to find the case for Matt around a course like TPC Southwind. His two ball-striking cornerstones -- 17th on Tour in driving accuracy, 1st in Strokes Gained: Approach -- represent an eerily similar profile to many past champions in Memphis (Rose, Glover, Matsuyama, etc.).

And unlike many of the game's premier ball-strikers, Fitzpatrick doesn't give anything back on or around the greens. He sits 2nd on Tour this season in Strokes Gained: Around the Green, and his flat stick is just as trustworthy: 8th in this field on Bermudagrass greens, with an incredible 22.49 strokes gained putting across seven career starts at TPC Southwind alone, tops in the field by nearly six shots.

Outside of Scottie Scheffler, you won't find a more reliable weekly projection on Tour than the World No. 4. And given his history on Bermudagrass, there's every chance he becomes the second consecutive Brit to hoist the FedEx Cup three weeks from now at East Lake.

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