TPC Southwind rewards precision, not power. Viktor Hovland and Jackson Koivun bring the iron play and ball-striking to threaten in Memphis this week in August.
The FedEx St. Jude Championship opens the FedExCup Playoffs at TPC Southwind, and this is the kind of course that can expose anyone who shows up without control of his golf ball.
Viktor Hovland and Jackson Koivun stand out as two intriguing names in Memphis because both arrive with the kind of iron play and ball-striking this par-70 layout demands.
Michael Brennan earned his spot the hard way, winning the Wyndham Championship after closing with a 6-under final round. There’s no victory lap, though.
He goes straight from Greensboro into a 70-player playoff field where only the top 50 in the FedExCup standings will move on to the BMW Championship.
TPC Southwind measures 7,288 yards, but brute force isn’t the point. Missed fairways can turn into immediate problems, the greens are small, and water is everywhere.
More than half of approach shots come from 100 to 175 yards, making wedge play and mid-irons especially important.
That profile points directly at Hovland.
Over his last 24 rounds, Hovland ranks first in proximity from 100 to 150 yards and second from 150 to 175.
His season has been uneven, but his approach game has come alive. He finished third at the RBC Canadian Open and won the Travelers Championship, and he has gained strokes on approach in every start since the middle of May.
The concern is still the driver. Hovland lost 1.9 strokes off the tee at The Open, and TPC Southwind isn’t especially forgiving when tee shots drift.
Still, his history in Memphis and the return of his iron game make +4000 an eye-catching outright number in a field this size.
Koivun brings a different kind of intrigue. The young star has been piling up competitive rounds, including a victory at the 3M Open, but fatigue is the obvious question. The upside is enormous. Over the last 36 rounds, Koivun ranks among the top five in Strokes Gained: Ball-Striking, blending fairway-finding with elite iron play.MORE: FedEx Cup Playoffs Chaos: Scheffler Favored, Sleepers Lurking
That makes the +4500 first-round-leader price especially interesting. If Koivun arrives sharp instead of drained, he has the profile to attack TPC Southwind immediately.
Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy will command most of the attention, but Memphis has enough trouble to punish even the biggest names. Hovland and Koivun offer two very different ways to bet on precision winning the week.
