Featured Groups: FedEx St. Jude Classic

This week we head to Memphis, Tennessee, and TPC Southwind, which has hosted the FedEx St. Jude Classic since 1989. Designed by Ron Prichard with input from Hubert Green and Fuzzy Zoeller, TPC Southwind features undulating fairways and many lakes, streams and ponds. There’s also a windmill and a pair of grain silos, remnants of the dairy farm that once occupied the site. Since the 2007 inception of the FedExCup Playoffs (just 11 weeks away), five winners of the FedEx St. Jude Classic have advanced all the way to the Playoffs finale, the TOUR Championship: Woody Austin (2007), Justin Leonard (2008), Brian Gay (2009), Dustin Johnson (2012) and Daniel Berger (2016). PGA TOUR LIVE is scheduled to air from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday. After Featured Groups, the coverage will switch to Featured Holes at 4 p.m. The Featured Holes are the 239-yard, par-3 14th, which features an elevated tee and demands a forced carry over water, and the 530-yard, par-5 16th, which plays uphill but is still reachable in two shots by the long hitters. PGA TOUR LIVE can also be viewed on Twitter from approximately 8 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Thursday and Friday. (Note: All times Eastern; FedExCup ranking in parentheses.) MORE: PGA TOUR LIVE times | Tee times THURSDAY Kevin Chappell (31), Billy Horschel (18), Cody Gribble (58): This group features recent TOUR winners Chappell (Valero Texas Open) and Horschel (AT&T Byron Nelson), plus the breakout champ of the Sanderson Farms Championship last October (Gribble). Chappell didn’t play TPC Southwind last year, but showed promise with a second-round 64 on the way to a T22 finish in 2015. Horschel is riding high after his playoff win over Jason Day. And Gribble, who missed the cut in his only other FedEx St. Jude start in 2013, is a much-improved player now. Tee time: 8:40 a.m. off 10th tee Daniel Berger (36), Rickie Fowler (8), Adam Scott (66): Berger is trying to find the form that saw him capture his first PGA TOUR win at TPC Southwind a year ago, when at 23 he became the second youngest winner in the history of the tournament. Fowler has been knocking on the door for his second win this season (T3 at Shell Houston Open, second at Memorial Tournament Presented by Nationwide). Scott, a 13-time TOUR winner, returns to Memphis this week for the first time since he finished seventh in his FedEx St. Jude Classic debut in 2007.   Tee time: 8:50 a.m. off 10th tee FRIDAY Graeme McDowell (102), Jim Furyk (149), Russell Henley (16): Henley has been the hottest player in the group after notching his third TOUR win at the Shell Houston Open. He tied for seventh at TPC Southwind a year ago. McDowell comes to Memphis having made five straight cuts. And don’t be surprised if you hear a lot about Furyk this week, which marks the 40th anniversary of the first 59 on TOUR (Al Geiberger). Eight different players have recorded sub-60 scores on TOUR, but only one, Furyk, has done it twice with a 59 and a 58. Tee time: 8:40 a.m. off 10th tee Phil Mickelson (43), Hudson Swafford (22), Brooks Koepka (17): Mickelson says he’ll skip the U.S. Open to attend his oldest daughter’s high school graduation, so the FedEx St. Jude went from tune-up event to main event. As it should. He has two seconds (2013, 2016) and a T3 (2015) in recent years at TPC Southwind, and is looking to break a victory drought that goes back to 2013. Koepka finished T2 and T3 here in 2016 and 2015, respectively. Swafford was having his best season after winning the CareerBuilder Challenge but has missed three straight cuts.  Tee time: 8:50 a.m. off 10th tee

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