The 2021-22 PGA Tour season comes to a conclusion with the Tour Championship, which begins Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
The top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings qualified for the season-ending event. Field Level Media’s golf experts provide key tournament notes, odds and predictions.
TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
Location: Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 25-28
Course: East Lake Golf Club (Par 70, 7,346 yards)
FedEx Cup Bonus Pool: $75M (Champion: $18M)
Defending Champion: Patrick Cantlay
FedExCup Leader: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 1-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Friday, 1-2:30 p.m. (GC), 2:30-7 p.m. (NBC); Sunday, 12-1:30 p.m. (GC), 1:30-6 p.m. (NBC)
Streaming on ESPN+: Thursday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. ET; Saturday, 12:30-7 p.m.; Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
Twitter: @playofffinale
NOTES
–Scheffler will begin the event at 10-under par, two shots ahead of Cantlay, four ahead of Xander Schauffele and five ahead of Sam Burns. Seed Nos. 6-10 will start at 4 under; Nos. 11-15 at 3 under; Nos. 16-20 at 2 under; Nos. 21-25 at 1 under; and Nos. 26-30 at even par.
–The No. 1 seed entering the Tour Championship has gone on to win the playoffs each of the past two years (Cantlay; Dustin Johnson, 2020).
–Hideki Matsuyama holds the longest active streak in qualifying for the Tour Championship each of the past nine seasons.
–Ten players in the field qualified for the first time, including rookies Cameron Young and Sahith Theegala. Will Zalatoris qualified but was forced to withdraw due to two herniated discs in his back. He would have started at 7 under.
BEST BETS:
–Scheffler (+200 at BetMGM) has four victories this year and is seeking to become the second player to win the Masters and the FedEx Cup in the same season (Jordan Spieth, 2014-15). He has drawn the highest handle at 24.7 percent at BetMGM but is only fourth with 8.7 percent of the total bets. Scheffler is second at PointsBet with 17.6 percent of the handle backing him.
–Cantlay (+350) is trying to become the third repeat FedEx Cup champion and the first to accomplish the feat in consecutive years. He has been backed by 9.1 percent of the bets and 12.7 percent of the handle at BetMGM.
–Schauffele (+650) has qualified for East Lake all six seasons on tour. He leads BetMGM with 12.0 percent of the total tickets backing him, making Schauffele the sportsbook’s third-biggest liability this week. He is also +650 at PointsBet, where Schauffele leads the field in total bets (17.1 percent) and handle (18.9 percent).
–Rory McIlroy (+900) is seeking to become the first three-time FedEx Cup champion. He is BetMGM’s second biggest liability as the Northern Irishman is second in both total bets (11.3 percent) and handle (14.0 percent). McIlroy is also the betting favorite at +800 to have the lowest total score for the event without bonus strokes applied. For winning the Tour Championship, McIlroy is PointsBet’s biggest liability as he has been backed by 14.9 percent of the bets and 16.3 percent of the handle at +1000.
–Jon Rahm (+1200) will begin the tournament seven shots off the lead. He’s coming off a T5 and a T8 the past two weeks and finished second to Cantlay at the Tour Championship last year. Rahm is second to McIlroy at +800 at BetMGM to have the lowest total score this week.
–Burns (+2200) is one of four players with three or more victories this season.
–World No. 2 Cameron Smith (+2200) returns after withdrawing before the BMW Championship due to a hip injury. He is BetMGM’s biggest liability this week as Smith has been backed by 8.2 percent of the bets and 10.2 percent of the handle.
–Corey Conners has been backed by 19.8 percent of the handle at +3300 at PointsBets to have the lowest 72-hole score. He is followed by Tony Finau with 18.7 percent of the handle at +1600.
–Field Level Media
