Tag: FedEx St. Jude Championship

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Sports Sports Feature

Game Recap ’24

Seth Henigan (Photo: Wes Hale)

If the Bluff City had an Athlete of the Year for 2024, it was University of Memphis quarterback Seth Henigan. The senior piled up records like a greedy 5-year-old under the Christmas tree. Henigan became the first Tiger signal-caller to toss 100 touchdown passes (104) and climbed to 13th on the FBS career passing-yardage chart (14,266). Best of all, he led Memphis to an 11-2 record, a third straight postseason victory (over West Virginia in the Frisco Bowl), and finished his career with 34 wins, a mark no future Tiger quarterback is likely to match. Add the heroics of running back Mario Anderson Jr. — 1,362 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns — and Memphis is all but certain to finish in the AP Top 25 for only the fourth time in program history.

The Tigers’ gridiron success made for some late-year balance to an otherwise disappointing 12 months in Memphis sports. Ravaged by injuries (and a lengthy suspension for star guard Ja Morant), the Memphis Grizzlies missed the NBA playoffs for the first time in three years. The only silver lining: A miserable record (27-55) earned the Grizz the ninth selection in the draft, a pick they used to acquire towering center Zach Edey, the two-time national college player of the year at Purdue. As 2025 approaches, Memphis is near the top of the Western Conference standings. Let’s call 2024 a hibernation year in Grizzlies history.

College basketball was no less disappointing. Coach Penny Hardaway’s Tigers roared to a 15-2 start, climbing to a ranking of 10th in the country … only to bumble their way through their American Athletic Conference schedule, finishing with a mark of 22-10 and missing out on the NCAA tournament. David Jones won the AAC scoring title in his only season in blue and gray, but an 11-7 record in that league doesn’t impress come March.

On the diamond, slugging first baseman Luken Baker starred for the Redbirds, leading the International League in home runs a second straight season despite a late-summer promotion to the St. Louis Cardinals. Baseball America’s Pitcher of the Year, Quinn Mathews, finished his season with Memphis, tossing his 200th strikeout of the season — a minor-league rarity — in a Redbirds uniform. Look for Mathews to anchor the 2025 rotation (until the Cardinals decide he’s needed in St. Louis).

Memphis said goodbye to our USL Championship soccer club, 901 FC. Without a soccer-only stadium in the plans, the franchise is moving to Santa Barbara, California, after six up-and-down seasons at AutoZone Park. For the sports historians, 901 FC put up an overall record of 76 wins, 62 losses, and 45 draws.

Hideki Matsuyama won the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship (FESJC) at TPC Southwind, this being the third year Memphis has hosted the opening tournament of the FedEx Cup playoffs. Along with the Southern Heritage Classic and the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, the FESJC is an annual reminder that Memphis can put on a show like few other cities in the world of sports. Let the 2025 games begin. 

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We Recommend We Saw You

WE SAW YOU: Party on the Green

Marsha and Mark Anthony (Photos: Michael Donahue)

Guests arrived in shorts and FedEx caps to “Party on the Green,” the fourth-annual bash thrown by Alex and Rick Gardner during the FedEx St. Jude Championship at their home on the 15th green at TPC Southwind.

Alex and Rick Gardner
Veronica Gomez and
Justin Gallagher
Liliana McKenna and
Hunter Parker

The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital connection happened when they began using Evite Online Invitations for the party, says Rick, president of Fremont-Wright, which owns architectural and engineering firms around the country. Evite has “a great system where you can just link to a charity of your choice,” Rick says. So, donating to St. Jude was a “no-brainer.”

Justin Harness and Lexi Brazeal
Micheal Bush and Charles Chandler

This year, they decided to “make it a true benefit for St. Jude” instead of just donating money online. Alex was “actually in communication with people at St. Jude that are involved with the tournament and they helped out with banners and pop-ups in the house.”

Michael Bi and Madison Spence
Nuphet Insixiengmay, Abbey Burgett,
Michael Gardner, and Corinne Gardner

About 150 people attended. “I don’t think there’s anybody who hasn’t known someone who has a child that had to go to St. Jude,” Alex says. 

The party “spread a lot of good cheer.” 

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Sports Sports Feature

Phil’s FESJC

Phil Cannon

This is arguably the greatest week of the year for Memphis sports. Seventy of the finest golfers on the planet arrive in the Bluff City for the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first of three playoff tournaments to decide the winner of this year’s FedEx Cup. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler will be here. Xander Schauffele — winner of the PGA Championship and the British Open — will be here. So will Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas. Memphis is the center of the golf universe for a precious, if humid, weekend.

I always think of Phil Cannon when the FESJC rolls around. We lost the longtime tournament director much too soon (in 2016), but Phil’s imprint on the event lives on, and in ways that go beyond any plaque or statue. The hundreds of volunteers who make you feel like the tournament belongs to you, personally? That’s Phil Cannon’s influence. A media center equipped with every tool a reporter might need to best share a story? That’s Phil Cannon’s influence. And the ongoing bonds between our tournament and both St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and FedEx? That’s Phil Cannon’s priority list, living and breathing, making the FESJC distinct from any other golf tournament in the world.

Phil was the primary source for my very first feature in Memphis Magazine, way back in June 1994. He treated me like a veteran scribe in town for Sports Illustrated. I have little doubt every writer who crossed his path would tell you the same thing. Phil Cannon was a Memphis treasure. When the FESJC makes sports headlines every summer, I’m reminded that he still is.

• The Memphis Redbirds unveiled a new sign on the outfield wall at AutoZone Park last Saturday, a tribute to the 1938 Negro American League champion Memphis Red Sox. It made for a glorious night at the ballpark, Memphis beating Gwinnett, 8-2, while wearing uniforms commemorating the city’s Negro League team of days gone by.

It’s a good start for a franchise and facility that desperately needs to better embrace the history we’ve seen over the ballpark’s first quarter-century. That lone red chair on the right-field bluff? That’s where Albert Pujols (yes, that guy) hit a baseball to win the 2000 Pacific Coast League championship for Memphis. But there’s no plaque to tell a new fan why September 15, 2000, is an important date in Memphis sports history. Just an oddly placed red seat. 

And how about a reminder (poster?) that Yadier Molina played here, and actually caught his first game with Adam Wainwright on the mound at AutoZone Park? (The two broke the major-league record for starts by a battery in 2022.) You might recognize highlights of David Freese from the 2011 World Series. Did you know Freese hit game-winning home runs in the 2009 PCL playoffs, helping Memphis to its second championship? A visual reminder would make AutoZone Park a better, happier place.

• The U.S. Olympic basketball teams (men and women) both brought home gold medals from the Paris Games. Salute to LeBron James, Breanna Stewart, and the many future Hall of Famers who handled the uncomfortable role of heavy favorite and made it to the podium. It makes for a good time to remind voters for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame that Memphis legend Penny Hardaway is the only member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team — also gold medalists — not currently enshrined. The only one. Mitch Richmond is in the Hall of Fame, for crying out loud, but not Penny Hardaway. Let’s get this corrected.

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From My Seat Sports

Destination: Southwind

Chad Ramey (courtesy PGA TOUR)

Nearing the end of his rookie season on the PGA Tour, Chad Ramey will be in the field at this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship. Having earned his first win in March, Ramey has reached 80th in the FedExCup standings. (The top 125 players will compete at Southwind in the first of three playoff tournaments.) The Fulton, Mississippi, native — a graduate of Mississippi State —  shared some thoughts before making his playoff debut.

What have you learned about yourself as a rookie on the PGA Tour?

I’ve been able to go to a lot of new places, and play a lot of great golf courses. I can’t complain at all, picking up my first PGA Tour win. I wish I’d been a little more consistent, but I’ve learned a lot, and can build off that.

What stands out in your memories of that win at the Corales Puntacana Championship?

Those four rounds were really good, but they were far from perfect. You don’t have to be perfect to win. You’re gonna miss golf shots. It’s whoever moves on and gets over them the quickest. I can get in trouble with myself when I want everything to be perfect. Sometimes things can be good, and you create a problem in trying to make them better. I’m working on that.

Did nerves hit you on Sunday?

No doubt. They were there from the first tee to the last putt. I kept telling myself they’re just thoughts, feelings. Stay within myself and execute the game plan. Trust that hard work will pay off.

Have you played Southwind? 

I Monday-qualified [for the FESJC] in 2015. And being so close to home, I’ve actually played it quite a bit. I really like the course. I’ve never played it as firm as it was during the tournament. The PGA Tour is going to set it up as firm and fast as they can. I think it’s very fair. If you can get the ball in position off the tee, you’ll have enough scoring clubs in your hand. 

This is the first time in Memphis for the FedExCup Playoffs. What’s your perspective as a player on the magnitude of the event?

Everyone’s going to be on high alert, hoping to make the top 70 and get to Delaware [for the second playoff tournament]. This will be my first playoff experience. Can’t wait to be there.

Have you visited St. Jude? Any thoughts on the charitable impact the FESJC makes?

It’s absolutely amazing, what St. Jude does. I haven’t had the chance to visit the hospital, but I’d love to. The caddy bibs, with the pictures the children draw . . . it’s a great foundation. I couldn’t be more proud of what St. Jude does.

The Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour has shaken the sport this year. Do you have thoughts on the changing landscape?

Golf’s in a weird spot right now. I haven’t put a lot of thought into it, to be honest. I’ve tried to be focused on the PGA Tour. My entire life, this is where I’ve wanted to play. And I’m staying true to that.

You attended the Masters as a fan when you were 10 years old. What would playing at Augusta mean to you at this stage of your growing career?

It would mean everything. I’ve never played there. It would be special to finally get there. A dream come true. The ultimate goal was to play on the PGA Tour, but for the Masters to come along with it . . . that would be special.