Top Europeans invading land of Elvis

Top European players Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Padraig Harrington and Ian Poulter are using the St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn., as a tune-up for next week's U.S. Open while most of the top Americans are taking the week off.

The TPC Southwind course they'll play bears little resemblance to what they'll face at Pebble Beach, but they will face a strong field when play begins today with eight of the world's top 20 players on hand. Other notables in the field include Robert Allenby, Camilo Villegas, Zach Johnson, Justin Leonard and Retief Goosen. Perhaps the lure of getting some ribs at the Rendezvous, a famous downtown restaurant, acted as an extra attraction.

Brian Gay, who won the event last year by five shots, will be defending his title, and David Toms, who won the St. Jude Classic in 2003 and 2004, also is back after finishing tied for second a year ago. Adding a little flavor to the field will be Jordan Spieth, the 16-year-old Texas amateur who made a strong showing in the Byron Nelson Championship last month. You can expect McIlroy and Spieth to get plenty of face-time on the CBS broadcast this weekend if either is a factor. The tournament will be telecast by the Golf Channel (today 3-6 p.m., Friday 3-6 p.m.) and CBS (Saturday 3-6 p.m., Sunday 3 -6 p.m.).

Last year Gay was last in driving distance but needed only 100 puts on his way to a convincing victory, the third of his career. He enters this year's tournament having made 12 of 15 cuts with two top-10 finishes.

The par-70, 7,239-yard course will force players to work hard this week as 11 of the 17 holes played over par last year. The difficulty of the back nine reaches a crescendo with holes 17 and 18 and could provide an exciting finish. The 17th is a 490-yard par 4 that was the 99th toughest hole on the PGA Tour playing to a 4.228 average. The 18th, playing to a 4.254 average, was the 69th toughest hole on the PGA Tour in 2009. Plenty of recent rain has softened the fairways along with the Bermuda greens. Scattered thunderstorms could bring more rain today and Friday for the first two rounds.

This year's tournament has a presenting sponsor in health care company Smith & Nephew but needs the cash infusion a title sponsor brings. Memphis lost its title sponsor in February 2009 when Stanford Financial was accused of massive fraud by federal officials. Stanford was only in the third year of a 10-year deal. Without a replacement title sponsor, the tournament could become a tour casualty. Only one other tour stop this year -- the Bob Hope Classic in Palm Springs, Calif. -- is operating without a title sponsor.

It would be a shame to see a tournament in its 53rd year fall by the wayside. The tournament has benefited the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital since 1970 and has plenty of history with winners like Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Nick Price and Greg Norman. Al Geiberger shot his legendary 59 in the second round on his way to winning the event in 1977 at Colonial Country Club, an earlier site for the tournament.

Information from Golf.com, ESPN.com, GolfObserver.com and PGATOUR.com contributed to this post.