FedEx St. Jude Championship Sleepers: 2 Best Longshot Picks

Below, bettors can find a pair of potential longshot picks for the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

In 2025, Justin Rose won this event at lofty odds. The 2013 U.S. Open winner closed at 90-to-1 to win, beating out J.J. Spaun, Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood.

It marked a stark departure from 2024, when 30-to-1 shot Hideki Matsuyama won at TPC Southwind. However, the tournament saw 150-to-1 shot Nick Dunlap finish T-5.

Let’s get to the predictions based on golf odds from BetMGM.

2 Best FedEx St. Jude Championship Sleepers 2026

Akshay Bhatia (+6600) | Top-10 Finish + Ties (+375)

Bhatia showed extreme volatility since his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this year. Now, he gets a chance to replicate prior success at TPC Southwind.

Over his last five starts, Bhatia missed the cut three times. However, he also recorded a top-20 finish at the U.S. Open and a top-five finish at the Travelers Championship.

Most concerning about his last start is below-average driving metrics. In Detroit, Bhatia lost 2.72 strokes off the tee, third-worst in the field.

But he responded by gaining 1.81 SG: APP for the event, eighth-best in the field.

The record could be explained by constantly finding himself out of position, but he still owns high iron potential.

He spiked to +1.74 SG: APP or better in his first two rounds at Shinnecock Hills. At TPC River Highlands, he failed to spike but gained against the field in three of four rounds.

At this price, he offers intrigue due to his earlier win and strong course history. In two visits to TPC Southwind, Bhatia finished no worse than 12th.

Add in the fact he paced the field in SG: Ball Striking at the PLAYERS – a comparable ball-striking course to Southwind – and I like Bhatia’s profile this week.

Sungjae Im (+6600)| Top-10 Finish + Ties (+425)

The irons are finally starting to take a turn for the better. If Im sees further improvement on approach, it could lead to his first top-10 finish since May.

Quality driving and putting led Im to three top-20 finishes over his last four events. He also showed a penchant for avoiding disaster off the tee when rough penalties are high.

Over his last 50 rounds on courses where the missed fairway and rough penalties are their most extreme, Im ranks fourth in total driving and sixth in driving accuracy.

This year, he gained off the tee in four straight and eight of his last 10 events. What prevented him from contending over that span was lackluster iron play.

Since the Truist Championship, Im has gained on approach only once in 13 events. But that success came two events ago before he finished on -0.01 SG: APP at the Wyndham last week.

In his last two events, he lost more than 0.2 SG: APP only once in eight rounds. Most encouraging? He finished above average 66.7% of the time in his last 12 rounds.

Now he heads to Southwind, where he finished 17th or better three times in his last four appearances. The sample includes a T-6th in 2023.