FedEx St. Jude Championship Betting: First Round Leader Odds and Pick

Beating the heat may be the way to play the first-round leader market in Memphis.

Tom Kim has a favorable early tee time Thursday at TPC Southwind. / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

The FedEx Cup playoffs starts this weekend as the PGA Tour heads to Memphis, Tenn.

While the top players in the world will try to further their respective claim to win the FedEx Cup, let's focus on the first round and who can get off to a good start on Thursday. The first-round market is far more volatile than the tournament outright market, and certain conditions may set up for a strong start.

Here's who I'm picking to be the first round leader at the FedEx Cup St. Jude.

PGA Tour FedEx St. Jude First Round Leader Odds

• Scottie Scheffler: +1100
• Xander Schauffele: +1600
• Rory McIlroy: +1800
• Collin Morikawa: +2200
• Ludvig Aberg: +2800
• Patrick Cantlay: +3000
• Tommy Fleetwood: +3300
• Viktor Hovland: +3500
• HIdeki Matusyama: +3500
• Tom Kim: +3500
• Corey Conners: +3500

Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook

FedEx St. Jude First-Round Leader Pick

Tom Kim (+3500)

Kim will benefit from an early tee time before the temperatures teeter towards 100 degrees in the afternoon in Memphis with an 8:50 a.m. tee time. 

While the wins haven’t rolled in this summer, Kim has been firmly in the mix for most of it, finishing top 10 in the Olympics as well as second at the Travelers, losing in a playoff to top playoff seed and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. 

Kim has thrived in Memphis, finishing T24 last season and T13 the year prior. Further, he has been in fine form in the lead up to this year’s event, 11th in strokes-gained tee-to-green over the last three months as well as 14th in strokes-gained approach and 10th in strokes-gained ball striking. 

Before the course firms up, Kim can take advantage, finding the fairway off the tee (11th in driver accuracy) and fire at the pin. 

Kim has been trending up for the last several months, and a hot start to the FedEx Cup playoffs seems more than possible with an advantageous tee time in a setting where he has thrived in the past. 

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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