Lee Westwood and Others Who Will Be in the Hunt at the FedEx St. Jude Classic

It will be Lee Westwood, winner of the FedEx St Jude Classic 12 months ago, who will head both the field and the betting in this year’s tournament in Memphis starting Thursday.

It will be remembered that Westwood won the tournament in 2010 after a four hole play-off with Ryder Cup team mate Robert Karlsson and American, Robert Garrigus.

The win was only Westwood’s second win on the USPGA Tour and his first for 12 years but it was the catalyst that propelled him to the top of the world rankings by the end of the year.

Indeed until just a couple of weeks ago, Westwood was back at number one but has had to settle for second place currently behind his ultra consistent compatriot, Luke Donald, who defeated Westwood in a play-off in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth to go top.

Back-to-back wins in the St Jude would give Westwood a huge confidence boost going into the US Open at Congressional next week, particularly since Donald, who is the FedEx Cup leader at the moment, will not be playing the St Jude this week, nor will Tiger Woods, thus making Westwood a leading candidate to win his first "Major."

There are a number of other players who can boast to being in good form currently, including Westwood, who has won two of his last five events, was second in the PDA, tied 9th in the Ballantine’s and was in a tie for 11th in the US Masters.

Form like that completely justifies why he will start favourite to retain his St Jude Crown this week, especially on a course he clearly has experience on.

David Toms is another player in great form who will be competing in Memphis this week. The 2001 PGA Champion has enjoyed four top five finishes in his last eight tournaments including a win in the Crown Plaza Invitational a three weeks ago and a second place after a play-off for the Players Championship in early May.

Toms is the highest placed player in the FedEx Cup standings in the field this week and is second favourite to win.

Other "Major" winners in the field include, Padraig Harrington, Zach Johnson, Geoff Ogilvy, YE Yang, Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen. Not one of these can be ruled out of course and all will head to Memphis looking for the form to take them on to Congressional.

Another player expected to be in the hunt for honours this week will be Spain’s Sergio Garcia, who appears to have ‘stopped the rot’ and is now moving the right way again the world rankings. Although the closest he has come to winning a tournament this year was his eighth place achieved at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in April, he has not missed a cut this year and will be well suited by this course. 

However, the tip for the 2011 St. Jude Classic is for Lee Westwood to retain his crown. His current form cannot be overlooked and the fact he won here 12 months ago only adds to the confidence to a player who is undoubtedly the most in form in the World right now.

St Jude Classic Pick: Lee Westwood to win.