 Brendan Riley, 7, of Wynne, Arkansas, holds up a large golf ball that several professional golfers signed Wednesday at TPC Southwind. (Ronnie Ramos/Daily Memphian)
Welcome to Tournament Central, the daily newsletter you signed up for and will receive for the next five days to keep you up to date on the FedEx St. Jude Invitational from TPC Southwind.
We will bring you exclusive content, as well as a one-stop roundup of all the coverage by our team of six reporters, editors and photographers.
John Varlas: Collin Morikawa got a grip in Memphis in 2020
Unlike most PGA Tour events, this is an elite, small-field tournament with almost all of the biggest names in golf. The field of 66 players includes 48 of the top 50 players in the world and nine of the top 10.
The only top 10 player missing is the world’s top-ranked player, Jon Rahm, who had committed to playing and then withdrew two weeks ago and has since tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
 Rory McIlroy signs autographs Wendesday afternoon at TPC Southwind. (Ronnie Ramos/Daily Memphian)
But the rest of the world’s top players were here Wednesday, practicing under a breezy, sun-kissed day at TPC Southwind. If you’re a golf fan, Wednesday is a best-kept secret. All the players are here, practicing and usually much more relaxed before the tournament starts.
Fans, especially kids, waited by the putting green for their favorite player to walk by. Rory McIlroy stopped and signed autographs, much to the delight of Brendan Riley, 7, of Wynne, Arkansas. He got McIlroy’s autograph on an oversized golf ball.
John Varlas: FedEx St. Jude Invitational tee times for Friday, Aug. 6
McIlroy will tee off tomorrow in an all-star group with Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka at 9:59 a.m. With such a small field, the tee times are compressed: all the players will tee off Thursday and Friday between 9:15 and 11:05 a.m. If you’re coming to the tournament, here are the tee times for the first two rounds.
In addition to this newsletter, which will arrive in your inbox every evening, you can keep up with the action on the course by following our live Tournament Central blog on our website. I’ll be hosting the blog, answering questions (leave them in the comments section at the bottom of the blog) and providing analysis as the event unfolds.
Players to watch: Reporter John Varlas already has written previews on Dustin Johnson coming to Memphis on a roll, Jordan Spieth’s ascension to the Ryder Cup team and defending champ Justin Thomas reconnecting with a special friend here in Memphis.
Geoff Calkins: Calkins: Another win for Memphis, delivered by FedEx
Tournament changes: The big news early this week is that next year’s tournament will be vastly different than this year’s version. The elite World Golf Championships are being scaled back and Memphis is moving on up to host the first event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs next year. The field will double in size to the top 125 players in the FedEx standings, which assures Memphis an elite field.
Columnist Geoff Calkins calls it a win for the city of Memphis.
Thanks for subscribing to this one-week newsletter, and for reading The Daily Memphian. More to come tomorrow!
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