There’s a 30-person field for this weekend’s PGA TOUR Championship at the East Lake Golf Club outside of Atlanta.
Will Zalatoris has already taken 30th as he was forced to withdraw due to two herniated discs, so technically 29 golfers will tee up for the last time this regular season.
Tour Championship Format
Not everybody is a fan of the format for the Tour Championship, which starts with top-ranked player Scottie Scheffler at -10 under as part of a staggered scoring system.
That early edge has Scheffler as the obvious +210 favorite for this weekend’s golf picks. Patrick Cantlay started with the -10 stroke advantage at the 2021 Tour Championship and ended up going wire-to-wire to take home the Cup.
Dustin Johnson also entered as the top seed in 2020 and won the Tour Championship, but those are the only two times that has happened since 2010.
Players Performance Recap
Cantlay was able to successfully defend his 2021 BMW Championship victory last weekend at the Wilmington Country Club in Delaware.
Cantlay won the final FedEx Cup playoffs events last year, giving home solid value to repeat that feat in TOUR Championship betting predictions.
Cantlay’s Quest
Something that helps Cantlay’s quest to repeat during this weekend’s golf schedule is the fact that Zalatoris has to withdraw.
Zalatoris won the FedEx St. Jude Championship to kick off these playoffs, and he would have also been within striking distance of Scheffler, starting off at -7.
Cantlay has risen to #2 in the FedEx Cup point standings, so he’ll start Thursday’s round -8, two strokes off the pace of Scheffler.
The top-ranked Scheffler is still going to be tough to catch, though, as he played well last week at the BMW Championship as well as finishing T3.
PGA Tournament Tour Championship Betting Analysis
Scheffler, as the +210 favorite, will be a popular wager in TOUR Championship betting predictions not just because he’s been great this year, but because he has the 10-stroke lead to start on Thursday.
With the Zalatoris withdrawal, the next closest competitor behind Cantlay is Xander Schauffele, who starts at -6, four strokes off the pace of -10.
The -10 starting score can be kind of misleading, as it’s really the fact that Scheffler has at least a four-stroke lead over every other player in the field besides Cantlay which is more important.
Make no mistake, Cantlay has a value at +400 as well. He won last weekend and really looks like he’s mirroring his path to his 2021 FedEx Cup win.
Back to Back
Not only is there an $18 million prize to the winner that Cantlay is chasing, he would also join the rare air of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only people to win multiple FedEx Cups – and he’d be the first to do it back to back.
Schauffele also looks like a steal with +650 golf odds because of his course history at East Lake. He finished fifth here in 2021, making it all five tournaments he’s played here coming in the top seven, including a win in 2017 and second place in 2019 and 2020.
The Schauffele and Cantlay Duo
Even though Scheffler is the odds on favorite in TOUR Championship betting predictions and starts the tournament at -10, it’s hard not to like one of the two out of the Cantlay and Schauffele duo.
Cantlay won at East Lake last season, and Schauffele hasn’t finished worse than seventh in any of his five tournaments here.
Schauffele is paired up with Sam Burns on Thursday and Cantlay with Scheffler, but if Schauffele/Cantlay do end up being paired over the weekend, it should ease some of their respective pressure.
Schauffele/Cantlay won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans as a team this season and are good friends off the course.
Can Anybody Else Make a Run?
McIlroy will need to do some work if he wants to win his record third FedEx Cup. He starts at -4 but has a long history at East Lake and has a solid return on investment at +900.
Cameron Smith has an even better value at +2200, and he’s the only golfer in the field not playing for a third straight weekend after sitting out the BMW Championship with hip discomfort.
Sam Burns (+2500) joins Cantlay and Justin Thomas as the only three players in the field to be in the top 10 in the standings both last year and this season.
Jon Rahm (+1200) nearly chased down Cantlay’s big lead at the Tour Championship last season and has finished in the top 10 in both tournaments of this year’s playoffs. Rahm starts seven strokes back from Scheffler.
Tournament Withdraws
The withdrawal of Zalatoris and the fact that Smith will play after sitting out the BMW Championship are the two biggest updates for the weekend.
PGA Tournament: Tour Championship Betting Preview
The last two winners of the Tour Championship have started out with the stroke lead prior to Thursday’s tee-off and Scheffler leads the PGA with four wins this season. He’s also only played twice at East Lake, finishing 22nd last season.
PGA Tournament: Tour Championship Betting Prediction
It wouldn’t be a shocker at all to see Cantlay get his second straight FedEx Cup, but this looks like a weekend that will belong to Schaffele with his excellent course history and the fact he has finished in the top three in three of his last five tournaments overall this season. Take Xander Schauffele +650
Golf Pick: Schauffele (+650)
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