Finally, the finale.
The PGA Tour heads to East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga., this week for the winner-take-all TOUR Championship, the final event of the 2024 season.
The top 30 golfers in FedExCup points will tee it up at the newly renovated East Lake track for the $25 million prize and five-year PGA Tour exemption.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler enters as the No. 1 seed; and with that he starts the 72-hole, four-day, no-cut, stroke-play tournament at 10-under par, as the TOUR Championship event uses a staggered scoring system based on points.
Scheffler, obviously, is the favorite to win at all major sportsbooks, sitting at +110. Even without a head start in strokes, the two-time Masters winner would still be the frontrunner.
World No. 2 Xander Schauffele (+250) is right behind Scheffler in odds and on the leaderboard to start Round 1, as this year’s PGA Champion and British Open winner will begin at East Lake on Thursday at 8-under par.
But while it may seem like a two-man race for the FedExCup title, the rest of the world’s best golfers are still in the mix, including the next Ryder Cup captain.
Coming off the BMW Championship on Sunday, Keegan Bradley could be the hottest golfer on Tour as he went from the last man in the field of 50 for the BMW to winning it and rocketing himself up the points board to fourth, where he’ll start the TOUR Championship at 6-under par.
As we prepare for the final PGA event of the 2024 season knowing that it’ll most likely come down to Scheffler and Schauffele for the title, FrontPageBets takes a look a long-shot pick who could challenge and win the TOUR Championship, as well as the golfer who will shoot the lowest 72-hole score without the added strokes for points.
Going winless this season is no doubt a disappointment for Morikawa, who is seventh in both the Official World Golf Rankings and FedExCup points.
The two-time major winner does have seven top-10 finishes, including one runner-up, in 20 events this season but starts the TOUR Championship six shots off the lead to the best player in the world.
However, Morikawa has had success at East Lake, including a sixth-place finish last year, which started with an opening round of 61. If he can go off for another 9-under par round, Morikawa would put himself right in the mix, regardless of the staggered stroke system.
Simply put, Rory McIlroy has owned East Lake Golf Course.
Even though the course has been renovated since last year’s TOUR Championship to be more of a links-style setup, McIlroy’s success there cannot be denied.
In 10 TOUR Championships, McIlroy has three wins, one second place and four more top 10s. In fact, he’s only finished outside the top 10 twice in his career at East Lake, and those were a 14th place in 2021 and 16th in 2015.
His average score in those 10 career tournaments is -7.5, with his lowest 72-hole score coming in 2022, where he shot 17-under par, including a third-round 63, to win that year’s title.
Of course, McIlroy, who is sixth in FedExCup points and ranked third in the OWGR, is starting Thursday’s first round at 4-under par in the staggered stroke format, six back from Scheffler. So his chances of catching the top golfer in the world are slim (around +1800). However, McIlroy’s success on this course does matter when it comes to heads-up play.
And with only 30 golfers in the field, we like McIlroy’s chances to have the lowest non-bonus strokes score come Sunday evening.
TOUR Championship starting scores: Where each golfer will begin at East Lake
Below is the score that each golfer will start with, based on points in the staggered (bonus) scoring system. The lowest score at the end of 72 holes wins the FedExCup:
- No. 1: -10 (Scottie Scheffler)
- No. 2: -8 (Xander Schauffele)
- No. 3: -7 (Hideki Matsuyama)
- No. 4: -6 (Keegan Bradley)
- No. 5: -5 (Ludvig Aberg)
- Nos. 6-10: -4 (Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay)
- Nos. 11-15: -3 (Sungjae Im, Sahith Theegala, Shane Lowry, Adam Scott, Tony Finau)
- Nos. 16-20: -2 (Byeong Hun An, Viktor Hovland, Russell Henley, Akshay Bhatia, Robert MacIntyre)
- Nos. 21-25: -1 (Billy Horschel, Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Matthieu Pavon, Taylor Pendrith)
- Nos. 26-30: Even (Chirs Kirk, Tom Hoge, Aaron Rai, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Justin Thomas)
Tour Championship odds to win at East Lake
(*Bonus strokes applied)
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Mike Szvetitz is the General Manager and Content Director for FrontPageBets.com. Szvetitz is a 24-year veteran reporter and editor, including serving 17 years as a sports editor in Florida, Alabama and Virginia, covering everything from preps to pros. His "View From The Lazy Boy" column won multiple state and national awards. He can be reached at mszvetitz@timesdispatch.com.
