We’ve reached the Tour Championship, the final tournament of the PGA Tour season. The top 30 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings descend on the renowned East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. This tournament features the largest purse in golf, $75M, with the winner cashing $18M.
The Tour Championship features a starting strokes format, meaning the leader of the season-long FedEx Cup standings, Scottie Scheffler, begins the tournament at 10 under par, with those behind him starting with scores on a staggered scale. (No. 2, Viktor Hovland, starts at 8 under, No. 3, Rory McIlroy, at 7 under, etc, all the way down to the final five in the standings, who begin at even par, 10 shots behind Scheffler).
The golfer who finishes the tournament with the lowest score, incorporating the starting strokes, will win both the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup.
For the betting market, sportsbooks are offering two options to bet; one is factoring in starting strokes and the other is betting on the winner without starting strokes. For this betting preview, the focus is on Winner Without Starting Strokes, and we’re targeting 3 players in Atlanta.
Sungjae Im (+3500)
The South Korean ace famously torched East Lake to end the 2022 season, nearly winning the tournament despite starting at 4 under, 6 shots back. The sun is starting to rise at the most critical point of the season (Finished 7th at BMW, 6th in Memphis). Im lives in Atlanta too, so he’ll be comfortable and has the ammo to track down the leaders.
Jordan Spieth (+3500)
When everyone jumps off the Jordan roller coaster, that’s when I like to ride it. Spieth will begin play at even par, so he’ll be playing loose and with house money, making him a danger man. Spieth excels at East Lake, he won here in 2015, T2 in 2013, T7 in 2017. Tons of Tour Championship experience, Spieth will climb up the board in Atlanta this weekend.
Tom Kim (+4000)
This will be Tom Kim’s maiden voyage to East Lake, so no course history to lean on, but that hasn’t stopped the young man in the past, recording wins at two properties he never played on before (Sedgefield and TPC Summerlin). Kim has been flashing lately, posting three top 10’s in his last 4 starts, and has the moxie to navigate East Lake and the big stage.
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