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Tournament Stats:
Stanford St. Jude Championship
June 7 - 10, 2007
TPC Southwind
Memphis, TN
Par: 70 / Yardage: 7,244
Purse: $6 million with $1.08 million going to the winner
Defending Champion: Jeff Maggert
Results & Scores 2006 Stanford St. Jude Classic
Box Score of 2006 Stanford St. Jude Classic
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:258 (John Cook in 1996)
54-Hole Record:
189 (John Cook in 1996)
36-Hole Record:
126 (John Cook in 1996 and David Frost in 1999)
Low round of tournament:
59 (Al Geiberger in the second round of the 1977 Stanford St. Jude Classic)
Tournament information:
The Stanford St. Jude Championship began in 1958 as the Memphis Open. Started by seven local businessmen, the tournament became their vision while in the grill of the Colonial Country Club in Memphis, TN. With an initial purse of $20,000, winner Billy Maxwell collected $2,800. The modern St. Jude Championship began two years later, in 1960. The founders of the Memphis Open donated $600 to entertainer Danny Thomas, who helped found the St. Jude Charity. That year, the tournament was renamed the Memphis Invitational Open.The tournament consistently grew throughout the 60s. By 1969, Danny Thomas had decided to lend his name to the tournament and in 1970, the first Danny Thomas Memphis Classic was played. That same year, the St. Jude Children's Hospital became the event's only charity. In 1972, The Danny Thomas Memphis Classic changed courses to the Colonial Country Club South Course in Cordova, TN. Lee Trevino won the first tournament at the new course. It was his second straight victory. Trevino would go on to claim the title a third time in 1980.
In 1977, the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic welcomed former president Gerald Ford, who was out of office and playing a lot of golf. Ford competed in the Celebrity Pro-Am, and amazingly, hit a hole-in-one on the fifth hole. However, that feat would soon be surpassed by Al Geiberger who shot a record 59 in the second round of the tournament. Sports Illustrated called it "one of the most significant athletic achievements of the century."
For the 1985 tournament, Danny Thomas and other tournaments officials decided it would be best if the tournament incorporated St. Jude's more, so the tournament was re-named the St. Jude Memphis Classic. The name didn't last long because, a year later, FedEx became the official sponsor of the event and re-named it the FedEx St. Jude Classic. In 1989, the FedEx St. Jude Championship underwent its second course change, this time to the TPC at Southwind. The tournament has been held at Southwind every year since. This year marks the first year of the Stanford St. Jude Classic.
Course information:
The TPC at Southwind opened in 1988 and became the home of the FedEx St. Jude Classic in 1989. The course was designed by Ron Prichard, with aid from Hubert Green and Fuzzy Zoeller. The course opened as a small, tight course with lots of trees, bunkers, and water hazards. Originally, Southwind featured zoysia grass on the fairways and Bent Grass on the greens.The course stayed this way until after the 2004 FedEx St. Jude Classic. Following the tournament's conclusion, the course was closed for renovation.During the renovation, all greens were redone and the grass was switched from bent grass to Champion Bermuda Grass. Many of the fairways were narrowed and re-contoured to make an already tight course, even tighter. Additionally, 15 new bunkers were added, bringing the total number of sand traps to 96; three of the ten water hazards were enlarged; and over 125 trees planted on the course. Overall, the course yardage increased by more than 200 yards, to its current length of 7,244 yards. After the renovation, the course now has a rating of 75.9 and a slope rating of 138.
If players are looking for a breather during the St. Jude, they will find no solace at Southwind as 15 of the 17 holes played over par last year. The tight, difficult front 9 seems like a pre-cursor to the hellacious back. The trouble begins immediately, with numbers 10, 11, and 12. The trio provides a degree of difficulty, the par 4 10th played to a 4.062 average last year. The next hole can be tricky, it's a 165-yard, par 3 that bears a close resemblance to the famed 17th hole island green at TPC Sawgrass. The only difference is the target on this hole is double the size of the 17th at Sawgrass. Another tough hole was number 14, a 231-yard Par 3 that is annually on the list of "Most Difficult Par 3's on Tour." Last year it was the 91st hardest hole on the PGA Tour and played to a 3.253 average. The difficulty of the back 9 reaches a crescendo with holes 17 and 18. Both par 4s, the 17th is a 490 yard par 4 that was the 37th toughest hole on the PGA Tour playing to a 4.349 average. 18 is almost as tough playing to a 4.264 average, the 83rd toughest hole on the PGA Tour in 2006. .
The Buzz:
Good news, bad news. First the big "buzz" is of course on next week's U.S. Open and the news floating back on how tough the course is.Several played it on Monday and already the stories are coming in on how tough it is. In Gerry Dulac's piece he has several players saying that the winning score can be anywhere from 6 over (Adam Scott) to 8 or 10 over (Vijay Singh). Geoff Ogilvy had to best quote as he said, "You're better off on the fairway 230 yards out than you are in the rough 120 yards out." Guess that Ogilvy should know according to his fitness trainer Vern McMillan, he estimated that Ogilvy lost seven balls on Monday and shot 85. Down right scary.
Now on to Memphis and the Stanford St. Jude Classic. The big difference is after a wonderful 21 year relationship with FedEx, the shipping company moved on to a bigger sponsorship with the FedEx Cup but the tournament got another great company in Stanford Financial Group to sponsor the event and make sure that St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is again a big winner through money brought in.
With this move the tournament is on firm ground and got a great field of foreign player and Tour members to come. Unfortunley Phil Mickelson had to withdraw on Tuesday, making this statement on his website . Still without Phil the Stanford St. Jude will have 11 of the world's top 30 ranked players.
One other sad note about this week's event, Loren Roberts who lives in the Memphis area and has been a staple at the Stanford St. Jude Classic since 1981 could be calling it quits after this year's event. Roberts, who won last week's Boeing Championship at Sandestin has been a regular member of the Champions Tour and has been phasing himself off the PGA Tour.
Here are some things to look for this week:
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Here are some of the secrets that it will take to play well this week at the Stanford St. Jude Championship:
Lots of changes to the tournament in the date and the new sponsor, but the changes to the course itself from two years ago has gone over pretty well. It must of been a hit because more top players and those with marquee value are in this years field after a less than stellar field of players last year. Even with the changes two years ago the course still remains the same, tough. It's a bit longer than before, but the landing areas in the fairway's have always been generous and has stayed the same. This doesn't mean the course is a rollover, there is thick rough to contend with but again those that hit it accurately will score low this week. One thing in common of all the past champions except for Dicky Pride, Notah Begay and last year's winner Jeff Maggert is the knack of hitting greens. Most of the champions since 1990 not only did well the week of the FedEx but also in the year they won:(Chart on the bottom)
Here are some more key stats to look to for this week:
- In picking a winner, it should be more feel that strategy. You see hitting a lot of greens is important, but look at Jeff Maggert last year, he felt himself around the course hitting lots of fairways (he was first) but more importantly he putted lights out (only took 99 for the week). So yes hitting greens is important but when you take less than 100 putts for the week (only been done 20 times since 1997) you are going to win.
- Another trend that Maggert's victory reintroduced was the non-marquee name winning. In the last decade at Memphis Maggert joins the list of Len Mattiace, Bob Estes, Notah Began III and Ted Tryba that have won the event. So don't look for that marquee name to be on top of the leaderboard on Sunday.
- In trying to pick a winner, look at those that seem to be just starting to play well. Maybe it means those that have had a good finish in the Memorial last week or the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial two weeks ago will do the deed. Look at how long Rory Sabbatini played well between the Masters and his Colonial win, look for that kind of player to do well. Also look for a player that has had tournaments ruined by one poor round, that was the case with Maggert last year.
- Hitting greens will be at a premium, just like in a U.S. Open hitting lots of greens goes a long way in this event. Look for the winner to hit globs of greens this week.
- Look for a winning score of 267 this week, that's the average winning total since TPC Southwind was first used in 1989.
- Since 1989 only two champions, Dicky Pride in 1994 and Notah Begay III in 2000 were younger than 30. Five of them were over 40 the oldest being Greg Norman in 1997 at 42 years, 4 months and last year's winner Maggert who was 42 years, 3 months.
- Before last year winning the FedEx St. Jude Classic had been part of big seasons for the last six winners. Each had finished the season ranked in the top 25 on the PGA Tour money list the year that they were victorious at the TPC Southwind. The players are Notah Begay III (2000, 20th), Bob Estes (2001, 9th), Len Mattiace (2002, 18th), David Toms (2003, 8th; 2004, 22nd) and Justin Leonard (2005, 12th). Maggert broke that streak when he finished 60th on the money list.
Hitting greens not only at Memphis but for the rest of the year: Champion # of greens hit at St.Jude rank Greens hit for year rank 2006-Jeff Maggert 39 T47th 65.4% 98th 2005-Justin Leonard 48 T4th 65.3% 94th 2004-David Toms 51 1st 68.5% T20th 2003 David Toms 58 1st 68.0% 39th 2002-Len Mattiace 53 T11th 65.7% 75th 2001-Bob Estes 50 T22nd 68.5% 45th 2000-Notah Begay III 50 T16th 65.7% 104th 1999-Ted Tryba 58 1st 65.6% 60th 1998-Nick Price 51 T-8th 65.5% 89th 1997-Greg Norman 59 1st 69.9% 10th 1996-John Cook 61 1st 70.1% 9th 1995-Jim Gallagher, Jr. 50 T-26th 66.9% 66th 1994-Dicky Pride 54 T-14th 62.8% 152nd 1993-Nick Price 55 T-12th 71.3% 6th 1992-Jay Haas 57 1st 69.1% 36th 1991-Fred Couples 47 T-29th 69.6 16th 1990-Tom Kite 54 1st 70.2% 3rd
