The PGA Tour reaches it's climax this week as we head to East Lake for the season ending Tour Championship. As always, we have you covered with a full preview and betting tips for the event below.
Tour Championship Betting Tips
East Lake Golf Course, Atlanta, Thursday 2nd August
The Fed Ex Cup champion will be crowned this weekend and the largest individual prize in sports will be awarded, with $20,000,000 on the line for the winner. 125 players started the Fed Ex Cup playoffs a few weeks ago, but that number has been culled to 30 heading into the Tour Championship.
The Field
The field has been set and after a thrilling end to the BMW Cahmpionship on the weekend, Patrick Cantlay jumped to the top of the FedEx Cup standings and will earn the all important starting handicap of 10 under par.
The rest of the 30 top ranked players will start with varying handicaps based off their rankings, giving meaning to the points they have accumulated throughout the year and in the playoffs so far.
The Course
East Lake Golf Course is a private golf course located approximately 5 miles east of doqntown Atlanta, Georgia. The course will play as a Par 70 at just over 7,340 yards and was originally designed by Tom Bendelow and Donald Ross made redevlopments more recently.
The course has been home to the Tour Championship since the 2004 season and in that time, it has been won by notable names such as Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Dustin Johnson, all of whom will be back to attempt to win again this season.
There's no real statistic that dominates at East Lake, and with the 30 best golfers in the world on deck, it's safe to say that if it was an even starting scores, any type of golfer could win here.
Betting Tips
It's hard to predict anyone other than the top few on the FedEx Cup standings for the outright win here. They start with such a big advantage over the rest of the field. This format has only been running for the last two seasons, and in that time, Rory McIlroy won from five strokes back in 2019 before Dustin Johnson held onto the 10 under par starting score last year.
I can't really see anyone coming from more than five strokes down to win this weekend, which leaves Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith with a viable chance of winning. There are certainly some big names further down the list, but the guys at the top are playing too well at the moment.
Jon Rahm
Arguably the most in form of all of them is Jon Rahm. The Spaniard has been brilliant through the first two weeks despite not winning one of the playoff events. Rahm finished 3rd at the Northern Trust before recording a T9 at the BMW Championship on the weekend. He is one of only three players to have finished in the top 10 of both tournaments. In fact, Rahm has finished in the top 10 of his last five straight tournaments, including three different majors, and would have won the Memorial back in June if not for being forced to withdraw due to contracting COVID-19.
Justin Thomas
Justin Thomas is starting at -4 for the Tour Championship, so while he isnt completely out of the running, it will be incredibly tough for him to win from six strokes down. He does, however, have a brilliant record at East Lake. He has attended the Tour Championship every year for the past five seasons, and finished in the top 10 every year, with results of 6th, 2nd, 7th, 3rd and 2nd. He has played 20 rounds there and shot in the 60's 14 times. plenty of bookmakers are offering markets for winners off the stick, we love Thomas here.
