The FedExCup Playoffs will conclude this week with the TOUR Championship in Atlanta, Georgia. The Top 30 players in the FedExCup standings will have a chance to win the FedExCup title, but realistically only a handful of players are in the running. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will start the TOUR Championship at 10-under par, and he will have a two-stroke lead over Patrick Cantlay, who will start at 8-under par.
Cantlay is looking to become the first golfer to win consecutive FedExCup titles. Will Zalatoris was supposed to start at 7-under par, three shots behind, but he pulled out on Tuesday due to a bad back.
Xander Schauffele will be four shots back, Sam Burns five back, Cameron Smith, Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Sepp Straka and Sungjae Im six back, Jon Rahm, Scott Stallings, Justin Thomas, Cameron Young, and Matthew Fitzpatrick seven back, Max Homa, Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth, Joaquin Niemann and Viktor Hovland eight back, Collin Morikawa, Billy Horschel, Tom Hoge, Corey Conners and Brian Harman nine back and K.H. Lee, J.T. Poston, Sahith Theegala, Adam Scott and Aaron Wise ten back.
Venue: East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta is a par 70 that measures 7,345 yards. The course has hosted the Tour Championship every year since 2005. The course played to a score of 68.62 last year.
Key Fact: It is worth noting that in the current format, which has been in place since 2019, the leader starting the week has won twice, Dustin Johnson in 2020 and Patrick Cantlay last year. Rory McIlroy won in 2019 after starting five strokes behind.
Last Year: Patrick Cantlay started the TOUR Championship at 10-under par a year ago and ended up at 21-under par. He had a tough battle against Jon Rahm to win the title. Kevin Na finished third, Justin Thomas finished fourth, and Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele finished tied for fifth place.
TV Coverage: NBC & Golf Channel
TOUR Championship Odds
Scottie Scheffler +250
Patrick Cantlay +430
Xander Schauffele +800
Rory McIlroy +1000
Tony Finau +1600
Jon Rahm +1600
Sam Burns +2000
Cameron Smith +2200
Justin Thomas +2600
Sungjae Im +2600
Matt Fitzpatrick +3300
Cameron Young +3300
Collin Morikawa +5000
Viktor Hovland +5000
Joaquin Niemann +5000
Jordan Spieth +6500
Corey Conners +8000
Hideki Matsuyama +8000
Scott Stallings +8000
Sepp Straka +10000
Max Homa +10000
Adam Scott +12000
Billy Horschel +15000
Aaron Wise +16000
Brian Harman +21000
Sahith Theegala +21000
J.T. Poston +28000
Tom Hoge +28000
K.H. Lee +28000
Favorite
Scottie Scheffler +250
The golf betting favorite lost once again last week, but this week is a bit different since Scheffler does start the tournament with a two-shot lead. Scheffler played better last week at the BMW Championship, but he is still not in the top form he was earlier this season. I don’t think a two-shot lead is insurmountable at all, and I am definitely not taking Scheffler at odds this low.
Value Picks
Xander Schauffele +800
Schauffele has played well at East Lake in his career, as he won this event in 2017 and then tied for 7th in 2018. He would have won this event had it not had the staggered scores in 2020, and he played well again last year. I know he starts four shots behind, but I don’t think that is too many shots to make up.
Rory McIlroy +1000
Could McIlroy come from behind and win this event again? I know that six shots back is a lot, but Rory is capable of getting hot and shooting low scores. He loves playing at East Lake, and if he can just get his putter going, he could make up his deficit this week. He was the best player in the field last week tee-to-green but couldn’t make enough putts.
Sam Burns +2000
Burns starts five shots behind, so he has some work to do, but he is definitely capable of going low. He is seventh on the PGA Tour in birdie average, and we know that Burns can beat the best players, as he has a number of wins already this season.
Check out the latest TOUR Championship odds at BetRivers.
