MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The battle at the top of the leaderboard at the FedEx St. Jude Championship is always intense but we must not forget the grinding going on to survive in the FedExCup Playoffs at TPC Southwind.

With projections changing by the second, one shot can be the difference between moving on to the BMW Championship next week or ending your season. Just ask Justin Thomas!

While there is no cut for the 70 players battling it out in Memphis, Tennessee, the motivation to grind back up the leaderboard is higher for some than others.

FedExCup leader Jon Rahm had a round to forget with his 3-over 73 leaving him tied for 65th. Despite this he still currently projects to hold on to the top spot in the FedExCup standings, such was his dominant regular season.

Rahm’s pride will ensure he tries to fight back but he must also weigh up how much energy to expel in the hot and muggy Memphis weather given he is locked in for both the BMW Championship and the TOUR Championship.

Others don’t have that luxury.

Here are three contenders you could see highly motivated to fight for every shot over the next three days.

HIDEKI MATSUYAMA (-3, T15)
ODDS: Win: +3500; Top 5: +650; Top 10: +260: Top 20: -110

The former Masters champion put together a reasonable 67 on Thursday and given he started the week in 55th place in the FedExCup standings was feeling pretty good. But while a 2-way T25 is the minimum result he needs to have any hope of advancing to the BMW Championship the Japanese superstar currently is actually projected at 57th despite being T15.

The problem is he’s tied with 18 other players at this point and will need to push ahead over the next three days. Matsuyama is just one shot away from projecting inside the top 50 and with the carrot in front of him should be able to ride his great ball-striking.

Matsuyama lost strokes off the tee on Thursday, hitting just five of 14 fairways, well under his usual clip of 61%. If he returns to his best for the remainder of the week he becomes a contender.

HAYDEN BUCKLEY (-3, T15)
ODDS: Win: +18000; Top 5: +2500; Top 10: +900: Top 20: +280

Like Matsuyama, Buckley opened with a 3-under 67 to sit in the logjam at T15. Starting the week 53rd in the FedExCup standings he now projects 56th but could make the BMW Championship with as little as a 2-way tie for 27th.

Buckley won’t be relying on being that low. His Thursday round came with the help of his reliable driver. At +1.612 he was second in the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and was also seventh in SG: Tee-to-Green.

Over the season Buckley has sat in the positive in SG: Putting so today's -1.214 was an outlier. He will need to make more over the coming days to find his way to Chicago.

PATRICK RODGERS (Even, T47)
ODDS: Top 20: +600

Rodgers entered the week feeling relatively safe at 43rd in the FedExCup standings but an opening 70 has left him projected outside looking in. Rodgers now projects to 52nd and without a ticket to Chicago. But the reality is he’s just a few shots out of being back in the comfort zone.

It wasn’t long ago Rodgers looked set for his first TOUR victory at the Barracuda Championship only to fall to Akshay Bhatia in a playoff. He vowed to learn from that moment, another of near misses over his career.

While winning in Memphis might be a tall ask, climbing back into the field for Chicago is a more than attainable goal and should carry a positive mental load with it. Rodgers was 12th in SG: Off the Tee on Thursday but lost almost two strokes (-1.981) on approach, ranked 65th out of 70 players. He also ranked 56th in SG: Around the Green.

These don’t marry up with his season numbers so if he can shake off the slow start the motivation to perform should remain high and he is at juicy odds to get himself into the top 20.