After a long and exciting PGA season, the final event of the year is upon us. The 2018 PGA Tour Championship will be held this weekend will decide who walks away with the massive $10,000,000 Fed Ex Cup Championship prize money.
After winning the first two Fed Ex Cup playoff events, Bryson DeChambeau lead’s the Fed Ex Cup race after the points were reset last weekend and along with Justin Rose, Tony Finau, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson, he can win the Fed Ex Cup by simply winning this weekend.
For everyone else in the field, they’ll need to win and hope other results go their way if they have any ambition of lifting the Fed Ex trophy on Sunday.
2018 PGA Tour Championship Betting Tips
The Course
East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia will play host to the 2018 PGA Tour Championship, the 15th consecutive year that it has held the event. The course will play as a longish, 7,385 yard par 70 this weekend and was designed back in 2908 by Tom Bendelow. Both the 18 and the 72 hole record came in the 2007 edition of the Tour Championship, when Zach Johnson shot a 60 in the third round before Tiger Woods took out the tournament with a -23 257 over the course of the weekend.
Only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have won the tournament twice, although neither have done so since 2009. The course main feature is narrow fairways. Players who aren’t accurate off the tee will be punished severely this weekend, so strong tee to green players is what we’ll be targeting at East Lake.
Fed Ex Cup
We mentioned above the five players that can walk away with the $10,000,000 prize for the Fed Ex Cup by simply winning this weekend’s tournament. Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose, Tony Finau, Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas will have nothing else on their mind this weekend. However, for everyone else, even a slight jump up the leaderboard with a strong performance at East Lake can mean a big difference on pay day.
Xander Schauffele was the winner of the Tour Championship last season, catapulting him from 26th to 3rd in the Fed Ex Cup final leaderboard. The difference in prize-money between the two positions was almost $2,000,000 plus Schauffele claimed over $1.5 million for the tournament win, so outside of the major championships, this tournament is one of golf’s richest. You can see a list of the current Fed Ex Cup standings here.
The Field
The 125 strong field that started the Fed Ex Cup playoffs almost a month ago has now been whittled down to just 30. The top 30 players on the points standings after last weekend’s BMW Championship earnt a ticket to the Tour Championship. Two players managed to play their way into the top 30 with strong perforamnces at the BMW Championship. Keegan Bradley, who won the event, jumped from 52nd on the leader board to 6th while Xander Schauffele came up clutch once again, finishing tied for third to move him from 41st to 18th.
A couple of glaring omissions are prominent when looking down the leader board at players who missed the top 30. Jordan Spieth is one star who missed out, falling out of contention with a 55th place finish at the BMW Championship. Ian Poulter, Brandt Snedeker, Alex Noren, Henrik Stenson, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen are some of the other notable names that will also be watching the tournament from home this weekend.
Tiger Woods will playoff in his first Tour Championship since 2013 and just the fifth time that he has made it to the final event of the Fed Ex Cup playoffs. However, he does have some decent pedigree at East Lake that dates back to before the Fed Ex Cup’s inception. It’s been a miraculous come back season for Woods, who could cause an absolute meltdown in the golfing world if he puts on a show in Atlanta.
Tips
Rory McIlroy
As we mentioned above, tee to green accuracy and shots gained in those areas are stats that I’m putting at the top of the list this weekend and when talking about pure talent off the tee, we cant look any further than Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman is in some of the best form of his career at the moment and has proven to be one of the longest as well as straightest of the tee all season. He is ranked ninth in shots gained off the tee this season and is the second ranked golfer in the world in driving accuracy over 320 yards.
A DNP in the first Fed Ex Cup playoffs event hindered his ability to finish higher in the standings before the reset, but a T12 finish at the Dell Technologies and a 5th finish at the BMW Championship were ominous for Rory. I trust Rory off the tee more than anyone in the world except maybe Dustin Johnson and trust him to put out a good performance this weekend.
Note: Only win markets available at the moment, check back later in the week for tips on placings.
Rory McIlroy to win
$9.00
Tiger Woods
Tiger might be a little shaky off the tee throughout the playoffs so far, but his iron play has been the best in the world, bar none. He ranks as the #1 golfer in the PGA in strokes gained on the approach throughout the 2018-19 season and is ranked 14th in proximity to the hole on approach. The week off should help him iron out some creases with his driver, and a win to finish the season after being so close all year would cement his comeback as one of the truly amazing stories in golf history.
Note: Only win markets available at the moment, check back later in the week for tips on placings.
Tiger Woods to win
$17.00
DraftKings Lineup
DraftKings have a bunch of quality tournaments on offer for the Tour Championship this weekend headlined by a massive $400,00 contest for just $6 entry fee! Check out our fantasy team of the tournament below..
