Making picks for the 2020 WGC - FedEx St. Jude Invitational

Written by: Scott Schaeffer

Controversy accompanies the guys' picks for this week's events in Reno and Memphis:

"THE READ": Doubling as a gambling aficianado and psychiatrist, DJ was able to coax Max Homa back on track last week as he contended late into Sunday afternoon. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Deej is ridin' with Max for a top 20 again this week.

The rib is the heavy hitter in DJ's lineup, as he will need to find the form he had up until COVID halted the Tour. Minimally, he will need to find enough form to hold off Patrick Cantlay should DJ's parlay prevail. The other three legs of the parlay feature some of the Tour's premier iron players in Webber, Billy Ho and Morikawa, who should all stand out on this "Pete Dye" designed second-shot golf course. Who will win on Tour next: Spieth or Finau? If DJ is right, it could be the recently-turned 27-year-old, who will play with Rory on Thursday and Friday.

After a somewhat disappointing week in Minnesota, DJ is still feeling the Burn(s) out in Cali this week. Let's please keep a fire truck on site for the sake of that great state given what they've already endured.

"THE READ": Straka flocka flame deserves a "round of applause" from Icarito for finshing strong and bringing home the nugs last week. Claiming its time to get more technical now that he's well into positive figures, Neil is riding hard with JT this week...who will have the familiar face of Bones Mackay on the bag while Jimmie Johnson is on the mend. With a JT, Xander 1, 2 combo this week, Neil's lead may end up being technically insurmountable.

Ride or die Chez is back in action this week. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Neil is aware and backing him again, this time to Top 20. His results at Muirfield could translate nicely to Southwind, a course that again emphasizes ball-striking. Looooord Tyrrell, Bryson, and Rahmbo (as everyone knows him by) could all be running hot in their own unique and beautiful ways if Icarito's make-hay-parlay is successful.

"THE READ": Here's where the aforementioned controversy begins. Randy, noted for his conservative approach, has in fact alotted less than the required 100 points to his picks this week. Moreover, he has made six picks in a formula restricting us to making only 5/week (parlays may use more than one leg to count as one wager.) The committee is aware of the situation and discussing potential sanctions/ramifications. The committee is not prepared to comment on whether they will speak to the competitor (Randy) while play is still occurring (a la Dustin Johnson @ Oakmont) or wait until play has completed (a la Jon Rahm @ Memorial.)

Nonetheless, Randy's picks must be evaluated at the moment as if they will all count. Ian Poulter must beat the likes of Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick, Danny Willett, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and of course Mike Wallace to finish as low chap hailing from the land of the Sirs. Corey Conners has promised Randy a "sorry", or maybe even an "ope" if he's unable to beat all other Canadians. Sungjae as low Asian rounds out Randy's nationality trend this week.

The entire spring break crew is included in the big guy's matchup picks for this week (again, Randy made a scummy six-pack of bets). His love for Rickie is again evident.

"THE READ": The controversy continues. Tron has long complained about the five pick restriction, and believes he may have found his way around in this week by placing round robins in his lineup. Sprinkling the 'Cuda with Mav McNealy & Kris Ventura is very on brand for TC and will surely keep him plugged in. Ryan Ruffels, a personal hearthrob of TC, will need to put four rounds together to pull out a dub in Omaha.

Despite some recent shaky play, Tron becomes the third to back Sungjae this week in Memphis...even going so far as to say he will beat ROY candidate Scottie Scheffler. In all honesty, the rest of his picks may or may not be worth going over...because only Tron will know how successful of a week he had. The rest of us are either too lazy or too uninformed to make the effort to track his successes this week. His results will have as much certainty as the Seahawks/Packers replacement refs game.

"THE READ": Soly followed CDC guidelines while picking a "boog" this week. DBalwaysvibin obviously has a great history at Southwind, but missed the cut in '18 and wasn't eligible to compete in last year's event given its recent WGC status. He will look to draw on the better memories rather than the recent ones

Swinging big, Soly is picking three other potential winners in Morikawa, honest Abe and Webber. All are second-shot-specialists who may be able to hide their streaky putting on some of the smallest greens on Tour. Being in the position he is in, it seems Soly is willing to risk digging a greater hole for a chance to move closer toward the positive figures.

"THE READ": No love for the world number 1 so far, so I'm happy to oblige. No holes in his game...nor the game of Justin Thomas, another of my favorites this week. Bones should give him some extra juice. Matt Fitzpatrick strikes it straight and putts it like its his fate, good enough to garner my meaningless endorsement this week. Billy and P Reed aren't getting much respect in this week's top heavy field, but I like how their game's profile on Southwind. Finally, my bias is coming out in my backing of Spieth. It seems like it's close, right? Is it really just me?

The standings below are as of completion of last week's MMM. If you like my perspective and want more content related to the crew's picks and year-to-date status, I can be found on twitter and instagram @total_misread. If you're making picks and kicking our butts...let us know!

There were plenty of winners last week and now three of the five of us are in the black for the season. DraftKings Sportsbook: https://sportsbook.draftkings.com/lea...

-Scott Schaeffer