The Tour Championship marks the end of the FedEx Cup series of events and the culmination of the PGA Tour campaign – next week’s Ryder Cup notwithstanding, so it is always worth taking a look at the runners and riders and trying to uncover some late season betting value.
Just 30 players have earned their place in this FedEx Cup Play Off decider, and while the prestige of being champion is one thing, the prize kitty of $10 million is something else altogether. Find us a man that isn’t motivated by money and we will show you a lair in return.
So who looks set for golfing glory (and a handsome pay day)? Here are our Tour Championship betting tips:
The Venue: East Lake GC
East Lake can be found in Atlanta, Georgia, and its Par 70 design measures a pretty hefty 7,307 yards. Drivers will be unsheathed with abandon this week, but accuracy is essential too with the rough said to be penal this time around.
Previous winners of this event at East Lake include Jordan Spieth, Brandt Snedeker and Jim Furyk, and they all have a similar profile as a player: long(ish) off the tee but with accuracy in mind, and that ingenious short game that presents plenty of birdie opportunities. There’s no reason to suggest that template needs to be overlooked this week.
Spieth’s victory in 2015 was a triumph of accuracy and straight hitting over brute force; he ranked outside the top ten for Driving Distance but seventh for Driving Accuracy, and also inside the top ten for Greens in Regulation. His putter is very rarely cold – well, it wasn’t last year anyway, so clearly the aim of the game here is to get on the green in a timely but considered fashion.
Our Picks
Jordan Spieth (9/1)
There is a perception that this has been a poor season by Spieth’s standards, and yet with two wins and eight top-10 finishes to his name he has delivered a campaign that most pros can only dream of.
But from a ‘major’ perspective it has perhaps been a little disappointing for the world number four, with that Masters meltdown casting a shadow over everything else that followed.
But a 13th at the PGA Championship has been backed by two top-10 finishes in three FedEx Cup events, and coming to a course he loves that is certainly eye-catching form. Spieth has gone 2-27-1 here at East Lake, and is on record is saying that it reminds him of Augusta, where has gone 1-2 in his last pair of starts. That bodes well.
He won here in spectacular fashion in 2015 to claim the FedEx loot, and you could see the confidence surging through him during three rounds in the 60s at the BMW Championship a fortnight ago. He could well be the man to beat this week.
Bubba Watson (35/1)
It would be typically Bubba to win the last tournament of the season prior to the Ryder Cup wildcards being announced, and with two top-5 returns at East Lake in his last three starts it is not beyond the pale for the former major winner to do just that.
It has been a less than impressive season for Watson – certainly since the spring anyway, but in the past few weeks there have been signs of redemption have been in place. A top-10 at the Olympic Games has been followed up by two top-20s at the Barclays and BMW Championships.
A mercurial talent, it is almost pointless analysing Bubba’s stats as he can do anything and nothing on any given day! But with a point to prove and a Ryder Cup place to earn, he is a dangerous animal at this price.