FedEx St. Jude Classic

The FedEx St. Jude Classic is a regular golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It has been played annually in Memphis, Tennessee since 1958. It is currently played at TPC at Southwind.

In 2011, the total purse was $5,600,000, with $1,008,000 going to the winner.

An earlier version of the event was played at Chickasaw Country Club in 1945 and 1946. The current tournament was founded in 1958 as the Memphis Open and was played annually at Colonial Country Club first in Memphis, then in Cordova, Tennessee until 1989.

In 1969, actor Danny Thomas agreed to lend his name to the tournament in exchange for his St. Jude Children's Research Hospital becoming the tournament's charity. Accordingly, the tournament changed its name the next year to the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic. In 1977, President Gerald Ford, who had just left office, hit a hole-in-one at the tournament's Celebrity Pro-Am. The same year, Al Geiberger shot a PGA Tour record 59 (13-under-par) round.

In 1986, Federal Express became the title sponsor. For the first three years of their sponsorship, they increased the purse $1 for each package they shipped on the Friday of the tournament.^[1][2][3] The purses went from $500,000 to $605,912 in 1986, from $600,000 to $724,043 in 1987, and from $750,000 to $953,842 in 1988.

In 1989, the event moved from Colonial Country Club to its present location at the TPC at Southwind in Memphis. In 2007, The Stanford Financial Group took over as the tournament's title sponsor, and it was renamed Stanford St. Jude Championship. In 2009, the tournament changed its name to St. Jude Classic^[4] following accusations that the Stanford Financial Group was a Ponzi scheme. FedEx returned as title sponsor in 2011.^[5]

The winner of the tournament each year is given a blue and white seersucker jacket.

Winners

^PO Indicates a win in a playoff
Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.
Main sources^[9][10][11]

Multiple winners

Five men have won the St. Jude Classic more than once through 2010.

• 4 wins
  • Dave Hill: 1967, 1969, 1970, 1973

• 3 wins
  • Lee Trevino: 1971, 1972, 1980

• 2 wins
  • Nick Price: 1993, 1998
  • David Toms: 2003, 2004
  • Justin Leonard: 2005, 2008

Tournament highlights

• 1958: Billy Maxwell wins the first Memphis Open. He beats Cary Middlecoff by one shot.^[12]
• 1961: Local favorite Cary Middlecoff beats Gardner Dickinson and Mike Souchak by four shots.^[13]
• 1965: Jack Nicklaus, who played in Memphis very infrequently, beats Johnny Pott on the first hole of a sudden death playoff.^[14]
• 1966: Bert Yancey wins by five shots over Gene Littler but only after nearly missing his Sunday tee time. A last moment phone call from his caddy kept Yancey from being disqualified.^[15]
• 1967: Dave Hill goes wire-to-wire for his first Memphis win. He defeats Johnny Pott by two shots.^[16]
• 1970: Dave Hill becomes the first Memphis winner to successfully defend his title. He defeats Homero Blancas, Frank Beard, and Bob Charles by one shot.^[17]
• 1971: Lee Trevino wins in Memphis for the first time. He defeats Jerry Heard, Hale Irwin, Lee Elder and Randy Wolff by four shots.^[18]
• 1973: Dave Hill earns his 4th and final Memphis win. He beats Allen Miller and Lee Trevino by two shots.^[19]
• 1977: Al Geiberger shoots a second round 59, then holds on to win the tournament by two shots over Gary Player and Jerry McGee.^[20]
• 1980: Lee Trevino triumphs in Memphis for the third and final time. He beats Tom Purtzer by one shot.^[21]
• 1981: After making a birdie on the 72nd hole to win by two shots over Tom Kite and Bruce Lietzke, Jerry Pate leaps into the lake adjoining the 18th green.^[22]
• 1986: Mike Hulbert birdies the 72nd hole for his first ever PGA Tour win. He wins by one shot over his roommate for the week, Joey Sindelar.^[23]
• 1992: Jay Haas shoots 64–64 over the last 36 holes to win by three shots over Dan Forsman and Robert Gamez.^[24]
• 1996: John Cook shoots a PGA Tour record 189 for 54 holes on his way to a six shot win over John Adams.^[25]
• 1997: Greg Norman birdies the final three holes to beat Dudley Hart by one shot.^[26]
• 2000: Notah Begay III beats Bob May and Chris DiMarco by one shot.^[27] It is his first win after being convicted of drunken driving in March of the same year and having to spend seven days in jail.
• 2003: David Toms shoots a final round 64 to get his first of back-to-back Memphis titles. He beats Nick Price by three shots.^[28]
• 2005: Justin Leonard ties the record for the highest final round score by a Memphis winner, a 73, on his way to a one-shot victory over David Toms.^[29]
• 2010: Lee Westwood defeats Robert Karlsson and Robert Garrigus in a sudden-death playoff after Garrigus comes to the 72nd hole with a three-shot lead before finishing with a triple bogey.^[30]

References

External links

• Official site
• Coverage on PGA Tour's official site
• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital