Exciting chase awaits in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Lucas Glover knows they’re coming for him but the veteran five-time PGA TOUR winner is going to ride his recent form surge as hard as he can, as long as he can, after setting up a one-shot lead at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

A week after winning the Wyndham Championship just to get into the FedExCup Playoffs, Glover moved to 14 under at TPC Southwind through 54 holes to be one ahead of Valspar Championship winner Taylor Moore and two clear of England’s Tommy Fleetwood.

Glover is now the +200 betting favorite with BetMGM Sportsbook, with Moore at +450 and Fleetwood +450.

Three shots back lie Jordan Spieth and Max Homa, now +900 to make a run to the title on Sunday.

While the champion will most likely come from the top five on the leaderboard, the players in a six-way tie for sixth will be firing at pins trying to apply plenty of pressure.

Three-time FedExCup winner Rory McIlroy (+1800) leads that crew who will start at nine under, five shots off the pace. He is joined by Patrick Cantlay and Viktor Hovland, both at +2500, as well as Tom Kim and Sungjae Im at +4000. Charles Schwab Challenge winner Emiliano Grillo is +6000 to win starting from the same spot.

But if any of those players are to catch Glover, they’ll need some help. Because while the veteran has shown a propensity to have a dodgy putter at times, he’s produced brilliant golf over the last fortnight.

Even when he “chunked a wedge” on the opening hole Saturday, Glover responded by chipping in for birdie. And while he missed a few putts late in his round he said they weren’t “nervy” misses, just “bad strokes”.

This week he leads the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green – something five of the last eight winners at TPC Southwind have done. But he’s also second in SG: Approach and third in SG: Around the Green. This has allowed him to sit in the middle of the pack on the greens and still lead.

He doesn’t intend to let up.

“The first nine holes is just pedal to the metal because they're coming. Best players in the world are right behind me,” Glover said of his Sunday game plan. “Then see where we stand on the turn maybe. I won't have too much interest until late, but I never saw Belichick coach the fourth quarter without knowing the score, so I'll probably have to look a little bit.

“If I take care of myself and do what I think I can and know I can, then I think I'll have a good chance come tomorrow afternoon.”

Moore took down Spieth at the Valspar Championship earlier this year so he’s taking in a positive demeanor despite missing five of his last seven cuts coming into the week. He ranks second for the week in SG: Tee-to-Green giving further evidence of the stats importance.

“I was a couple shots back on Sunday at Valspar and won there, and I think anytime you're within a couple shots going into the back nine on Sunday, you've got a legit shot,” Moore said. “Definitely in a good position, and just going to go try to do it again.”

While on the subject of SG: Tee to Green we should check in with Homa. He’s slated third this week and it helped him push into contention with a 5-under 65 on Saturday. With two wins earlier this season Homa becomes a sneaky contender.

“I just didn't do anything poorly. It was quite nice. I got one spot of bother on six and hit an awesome chip and made a putt, so it was fun. Stress free,” Homa said.

“I've been driving it well this week (second in SG: Off the Tee), which makes this course a bit easier to avoid disaster, I guess. Just was solid throughout the whole bag, so that was nice.”

Disaster is the one issue that could hold Spieth back. TPC Southwind has supplied more water balls than any other TOUR course since 2003 and with his approach play being below his best this week, danger lurks around many corners.

But at sixth in SG: Around the Green and 11th in SG: Putting, Spieth still believes he can secure a first win of the season.

Fleetwood is chasing a first PGA TOUR win of his career. With four of his last five starts finishing inside the top 10, this may well be his perfect opportunity. He sits two off the pace off the back of his work on the greens as he leads the field in SG: Putting.

A year ago, Will Zalatoris got over the hump of his first win, Fleetwood could very well do the same. The Englishman is not a complete novice having won multiple times on the DP World Tour.

“The easiest thing to do is force things and try too hard, and I just want to go out there and first of all, enjoy it. It's a great opportunity. But just play my game. Trust myself, play my game, and see where that ends up,” he said.

“If you've done that, you can live with yourself at the end of the day if you felt like you did everything within your power and then see where we go from there. I'm playing very well… there's a lot of great golfers, but clearly this is another good chance, and looking forward to tomorrow really and seeing how it goes.”

His European Ryder Cup teammate McIlroy on the other hand might try to force things.

“I'm going to need to go out tomorrow and shoot something like Justin Rose shot this morning, like a 61, 62 to have a chance,” McIlroy said. “But I feel like you break it down, 4-under a nine… I feel with the way I'm hitting it, the way I'm playing, it's doable.”

Given McIlroy is sixth in SG: Tee to Green this week and second in the stat this season, he’s no doubt your best pick from the far adrift chasers. Cantlay is fifth on the season and eighth this week so he too could surge.

But at the end of the day, I’m going to depart from my recent fades of the man and lean towards Glover going back-to-back.