2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational
The 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational was the 22nd WGC Invitational held July 30 – August 2 at the TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee. Originally planned for July 2–5, it was rescheduled and played with no spectators in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]
 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | July 30 – August 2 |
| Location | Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. 35.057°N 89.779°W |
| Course(s) | TPC Southwind |
| Tour(s) | PGA Tour European Tour |
| Statistics | |
| Par | 70 |
| Length | 7,244 yards (6,624 m) |
| Field | 78 players |
| Cut | None |
| Prize fund | $10,250,000 |
| Winner's share | $1,745,000 |
| Champion | |
 Justin Thomas | |
| 267 (−13) | |
| Location Map | |
  TPC Southwind Location in the United States  TPC Southwind Location in Tennessee | |
FedEx Cup leader Justin Thomas won his second WGC Invitational title, and returned to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking having last held that position in June 2018. Thomas became the third-youngest player to win 13 times on the PGA Tour since 1960, behind Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.[2]
Venue
Course layout
TPC Southwind was designed by Ron Prichard, in consultation with tour pros Hubert Green and Fuzzy Zoeller. TPC Southwind opened thirty-three years ago in 1988, and is a member of the Tournament Players Club network operated by the PGA Tour.
| Hole | Yards | Par | Hole | Yards | Par | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 434 | 4 | 10 | 465 | 4 | |
| 2 | 401 | 4 | 11 | 162 | 3 | |
| 3 | 554 | 5 | 12 | 406 | 4 | |
| 4 | 196 | 3 | 13 | 472 | 4 | |
| 5 | 485 | 4 | 14 | 239 | 3 | |
| 6 | 445 | 4 | 15 | 395 | 4 | |
| 7 | 482 | 4 | 16 | 530 | 5 | |
| 8 | 178 | 3 | 17 | 490 | 4 | |
| 9 | 457 | 4 | 18 | 453 | 4 | |
| Out | 3,632 | 35 | In | 3,612 | 35 | |
| Source: | Total | 7,244 | 70 | |||
Field
The field consists of players drawn primarily from the Official World Golf Ranking and the winners of the worldwide tournaments with the strongest fields.[3][4] In order to ensure a field of 78 players, changes were made to the exemption criteria with the addition of players ranked outside the top-50 in the world rankings. The adjustment was due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]
- 1. Playing members of the 2019 United States and International Presidents Cup teams.
An Byeong-hun (2), Abraham Ancer (2,3,4), Patrick Cantlay (2,3,4), Bryson DeChambeau (2,3,4,5), Tony Finau (2,3,4), Rickie Fowler (2,3,4), Adam Hadwin, Im Sung-jae (2,3,4,5), Dustin Johnson (2,3,4,5), Matt Kuchar (2,3,4), Marc Leishman (2,3,4,5), Li Haotong, Hideki Matsuyama (2,3,4), Joaquín Niemann (5), Louis Oosthuizen (2,3,4), Pan Cheng-tsung, Patrick Reed (2,3,4,5), Xander Schauffele (2,3,4), Webb Simpson (2,3,4,5), Cameron Smith (2,3,4,5), Justin Thomas (2,3,4,5), Gary Woodland (2,3,4)
- Adam Scott[6] (2,3,4,5,6) and Tiger Woods[7] (2,3,4,5) did not play.
- 2. The top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking as of March 15, 2020 (rankings frozen for 13 weeks).
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (3,4,6), Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Paul Casey (3,4,5), Matthew Fitzpatrick (3,4), Tommy Fleetwood (3,4,5), Sergio García (3,4), Tyrrell Hatton (3,4,5), Billy Horschel (3,4), Jazz Janewattananond (3,4,6), Kevin Kisner (3,4), Brooks Koepka (3,4,5), Shane Lowry (3,4), Graeme McDowell (5), Rory McIlroy (3,4,5), Collin Morikawa (3,4,5), Kevin Na (3,4,5), Victor Perez (3,4,5), Jon Rahm (3,4,5), Chez Reavie (3,4), Scottie Scheffler, Brandt Snedeker, Henrik Stenson (3,4), Erik van Rooyen (3,4), Matt Wallace (3,4), Bernd Wiesberger (3,4,5), Danny Willett (3,4,5)
- Shugo Imahira (3,4,6), Francesco Molinari (3,4), Justin Rose (3,4), and Lee Westwood[8] (3,4,5) did not play.
- 3. The top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking as of July 20, 2020.
Daniel Berger (4,5), Jason Day (4), Viktor Hovland (4), Ryan Palmer (4), Kevin Streelman (4)
- 4. The top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking as of July 27, 2020.
- 5. Tournament winners, whose victories are considered official, of tournaments from the Federation Tours since the prior season's WGC Invitational with an Official World Golf Ranking Strength of Field Rating of 115 points or more.[lower-alpha 1]
Cameron Champ, Tyler Duncan, Lucas Herbert, Matt Jones, Andrew Landry, J. T. Poston, Sebastian Söderberg, Nick Taylor, Michael Thompson, Brendon Todd
- 6. The winner of selected tournaments from each of the following tours
- Asian Tour: Indonesian Masters (2019) – Jazz Janewattananond, also qualified under categories 2, 3 and 4.
- PGA Tour of Australasia: Australian PGA Championship (2019) – Adam Scott, also qualified under categories 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
- Japan Golf Tour: Bridgestone Open (2019) – Shugo Imahira, also qualified under categories 2, 3 and 4.
- Japan Golf Tour: Japan Golf Tour Championship (2020) – Cancelled
- Sunshine Tour: Dimension Data Pro-Am (2020) – Christiaan Bezuidenhout, also qualified under categories 2, 3 and 4.
- 7. Alternates to fill field to 78 (if necessary) from the Official World Golf Ranking as of July 20, 2020
- Ian Poulter (53)
- Matthew Wolff (55)
- Kang Sung-hoon (58)
- Bubba Watson (59)
- Jordan Spieth (60)
- Corey Conners (63)
- Jason Kokrak (66)
- Tom Lewis (67)
- Joel Dahmen (68)
- Shaun Norris (69)
- Phil Mickelson (70)
- Keegan Bradley (72)
Thomas Pieters(73) – did not play- Max Homa (74)
- Mackenzie Hughes (75)
- Robert MacIntyre (76)
Nationalities in the field
| North America (41) | South America (1) | Europe (20) | Oceania (5) | Asia (7) | Africa (4) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Canada (4) |  Chile (1) |  England (8) | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia (5) |  China (1) |  South Africa (4) |
 Mexico (1) |  Northern Ireland (2) |  Japan (1) | |||
| United States (36) |  Scotland (1) |  South Korea (3) | |||
 Ireland (1) |  Taiwan (1) | ||||
 Austria (1) |  Thailand (1) | ||||
 France (1) | |||||
 Norway (1) | |||||
 Spain (3) | |||||
 Sweden (2) |
Round summaries
First round
Thursday, July 30, 2020
With only one top-10 finish since August 2019, defending champion Brooks Koepka tied his career-best score with a 62 to take the first-round lead. Koepka has a reputation of peaking during major season, and the first major of the season is due to be held the following week.[9]
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brooks Koepka | United States | 62 | −8 |
| T2 | Rickie Fowler | United States | 64 | −6 |
| Brendon Todd | United States | |||
| 4 | Kang Sung-hoon | South Korea | 65 | −5 |
| T5 | Max Homa | United States | 66 | −4 |
| Matt Kuchar | United States | |||
| Chez Reavie | United States | |||
| Justin Thomas | United States | |||
| T9 | Abraham Ancer | Mexico | 67 | −3 |
| Bryson DeChambeau | United States | |||
| Sergio García | Spain | |||
| Viktor Hovland | Norway | |||
| Im Sung-jae | South Korea | |||
| Phil Mickelson | United States |
Second round
Friday, July 31, 2020
Brendon Todd took a 36-hole lead attempting to gain his third victory this PGA Tour season, two strokes ahead of Rickie Fowler who was also aiming for his first World Golf Championship win.
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brendon Todd | United States | 64-65=129 | −11 |
| 2 | Rickie Fowler | United States | 64-67=131 | −9 |
| T3 | An Byeong-hun | South Korea | 68-65=133 | −7 |
| Brooks Koepka | United States | 62-71=133 | ||
| Chez Reavie | United States | 66-67=133 | ||
| T6 | Matthew Fitzpatrick | England | 70-64=134 | −6 |
| Kang Sung-hoon | South Korea | 65-69=134 | ||
| T8 | Jason Day | Australia | 68-67=135 | −5 |
| Im Sung-jae | South Korea | 67-68=135 | ||
| Louis Oosthuizen | South Africa | 68-67=135 | ||
| Webb Simpson | United States | 69-66=135 |
Third round
Saturday, August 1, 2020
Brendon Todd maintained his 36-hole lead. Tom Lewis tied the tournament and course record with a 9-under 61 to move 47 spots up the leaderboard.
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brendon Todd | United States | 64-65-69=198 | −12 |
| 2 | An Byeong-hun | South Korea | 68-65-66=199 | −11 |
| 3 | Rickie Fowler | United States | 64-67-69=200 | −10 |
| 4 | Brooks Koepka | United States | 62-71-68=201 | −9 |
| 5 | Justin Thomas | United States | 66-70-66=202 | −8 |
| T6 | Matthew Fitzpatrick | England | 70-64-69=203 | −7 |
| Phil Mickelson | United States | 67-70-66=203 | ||
| Louis Oosthuizen | South Africa | 68-67-68=203 | ||
| Chez Reavie | United States | 66-67-70=203 | ||
| T10 | Christiaan Bezuidenhout | South Africa | 71-69-64=204 | −6 |
| Joel Dahmen | United States | 72-67-65=204 | ||
| Jason Day | Australia | 68-67-69=204 | ||
| Im Sung-jae | South Korea | 67-68-69=204 | ||
| Tom Lewis | England | 73-70-61=204 | ||
| Shane Lowry | Ireland | 68-69-67=204 | ||
| Webb Simpson | United States | 69-66-69=204 |
Final round
Sunday, August 2, 2020
Final leaderboard
| Champion |
| (c) = past champion |
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par | Money ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Thomas (c) | United States | 66-70-66-65=267 | −13 | 1,745,000 |
| T2 | Daniel Berger | United States | 71-67-67-65=270 | −10 | 695,000 |
| Brooks Koepka (c) | United States | 62-71-68-69=270 | |||
| Tom Lewis | England | 73-70-61-66=270 | |||
| Phil Mickelson | United States | 67-70-66-67=270 | |||
| T6 | Jason Day | Australia | 68-67-69-67=271 | −9 | 268,333 |
| Matthew Fitzpatrick | England | 70-64-69-68=271 | |||
| Shane Lowry (c) | Ireland | 68-69-67-67=271 | |||
| Louis Oosthuizen | South Africa | 68-67-68-68=271 | |||
| Chez Reavie | United States | 66-67-70-68=271 | |||
| Xander Schauffele | United States | 68-70-67-66=271 |
Notes
- The "Strength of Field Rating" is a measure of the overall quality of players in the field. It is used by the Official World Golf Ranking to determine the number of ranking points available at each tournament, subject to tour minimums.
References
- "PGA Tour announces schedule adjustments for remainder of 2019–20 FedExCup season, releases fall portion of 2020–21 PGA Tour Regular Season schedule". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
- "Justin Thomas holds off Brooks Koepka to win FedEx-St. Jude Invitational, reclaims No. 1 ranking in golf". Boston Globe. Associated Press. August 2, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
- Bolton, Rob. "2020 Qualifiers for majors, The Players, WGCs". PGA Tour. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
- "Inside the Field: WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational". PGA Tour. July 24, 2020. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
- Hoggard, Rex (July 9, 2020). "WGC-FedEx St. Jude will alter exemptions in order to increase field size". Golf Channel. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- Lavner, Ryan (July 23, 2020). "Adam Scott to return in two weeks at PGA Championship". Golf Channel. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- Harig, Bob (July 24, 2020). "Tiger Woods opts to skip WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational". ESPN. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
- Huggan, John (July 25, 2020). "Lee Westwood not playing in PGA Championship because 'America doesn't take [the coronavirus] as seriously as the rest of the world'". Golf Digest. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
- Shedloski, Dave (July 30, 2020). "PGA Championship 2020: Brooks Koepka's biggest roadblock to a three-peat isn't a sore knee. It's history". Golf Digest. Retrieved July 31, 2020.