THE FedEx Cup play-offs start this week in Memphis, and with only three events standing between them and an $18million payday, all the big guns are there – apart from the LIV rebels, of course.

Rory McIlroy is the clear favourite at a best priced 11-1, but that looks way too short in such a competitive field.

McIlroy has had a three week break since he let the Open title slip through his grasp, even if it was in the face of a turbo-charged finish from Cameron Smith.

That disappointment is not one McIlroy will get over easily, and he could be a bit rusty. So I’m going to look elsewhere.

World No 1 Scottie Scheffler is second favourite but I still think we may have seen the best of him in the first half of the year.

And at the risk of being forced to eat my words for a second time by Tony Finau, I simply cannot see him making it THREE wins in a row.

Hot shot: Patrick Cantlay, 18-1.

The reigning FedEx Cup champion continued his stunning run of form by finishing second to Finau at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and this could be the time to strike.

He has now finished T3-T14-T13-T4-T8-T2 in his last six starts, and that elusive first solo win of 2022 cannot be far away. With pay-outs on the top eight this week, he has to be the main pick.

The world No 4 finished just outside the top twenty in this event last year, but that was mostly down to a slow start. And in his current form, he should come hurtling out of the gates this time.

Mid price: Sam Burns, 33-1.

You get the impression Burns is never going to be the most consistent player around , with plenty of patchy efforts thrown in alongside his three wins this season.

But it is worth keeping on the right side of him on courses where he has played well in the past – and a play-off defeat here a year ago means this is definitely one of those tracks that suit his eye.

A couple of 64s in the second and final rounds reinforced that point, and I don’t think we have seen the last of the world No 11 on the leaderboard this year.

Long shot: Taylor Pendrith, 100-1

The Canadian shared second place with Cantlay a couple of weeks ago, and has been knocking on the door almost as regularly.

Pendrith’s last five outings have seen him finish T13-T13-T11-T2-T13. And he will turn up in Memphis fresher than most after being forced to miss three months of the season with a rib injury.

I was impressed by the way Pendrith played the final 37 holes of the Wyndham bogey-free last week, and he will want to go further after qualifying for the play-offs for the first time.

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