Tour Championship to Start on Friday

The PGA Tour Championship will begin on Friday morning from East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. The top 30 players in the world will be competing in the tournament for their share of the $45 million purse. 

This tourney is the final leg of three in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and the field has been narrowed after each event. There will be no cut this weekend, and all 30 golfers will be playing 72 holes. 

The PGA Tour has adopted a new format and new rules for the Tour Championship as golfers begin the final event with different scores. Dustin Johnson, the top player in the field, begins the weekend with a score of 10-under par.

The final five golfers in the field, according to their playoff points, begin the weekend with a score of even-par, meaning they are already ten shots off of the lead. This format could take away some of the drama from the tournament, but it also gives the best golfers a significant edge to take home the title.

Finishing in the top-eight at the Tour Championship will result in a huge payday, as each of those spots pays out more than $1 million. The champion of this tournament will take home $15 million. 

The golfer that finishes in 30th place will still walk away from the tournament with $395,000, which isn’t a bad payday for four golf rounds. This event will end the 2019-20 FedEx Cup season, and there was just one major golf tournament that took place.

The United States Open will be held later in September, and The Masters Tournament will take place in November. Both of these tournaments were postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Johnson, Rahm Betting Favorites

Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm are the clear betting favorites to win the Tour Championship, and they will enter the weekend with a massive edge over the rest of the field. Rahm will start the weekend at -8, just two shots back from Johnson.

If these two men are paired together in the final grouping on Sunday, it could lead to another exciting finish similar to what took place last weekend. Rahm defeated Johnson with an improbable 66-foot putt to win the BMW Championship.

FanDuel Sportsbook has Dustin Johnson at +185 to win the Tour Championship, and Rahm checks in at +280. Justin Thomas is third on the list, but his odds are down there at +550.

Webb Simpson (+1000), Colin Morikawa (+1800), and Rory McIlroy (+2200) round out the top six, but all of these golfers will have to overcome some big odds to pull out the victory. Marc Leishman at +5000 has the worst odds of winning the Tour Championship, and he is one of the golfers starting at even par.

William Hill Sportsbook has been seeing more betting action on golfers outside of Thomas and Rahm. According to the sportsbook, more than 20 percent of all of their Tour Championship wagers have been placed on Justin Thomas.

Big money bets have focused on another set of golfers with Collin Morikawa wagers leading the way at 11 percent. According to William Hill, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas have brought in eight percent of all the big bets

There are several other ways to bet on the Tour Championship at FanDuel Sportsbook, including betting on the best 72-hole score. These odds look very different from the outright winner odds, but Rahm and Johnson are still the two favorites.

Tiger Woods is not a part of the Tour Championship field, and that takes away some of the excitement and intrigue from this event. 

Logan
Logan

Logan is based in Los Angeles and is an avid poker player having played in tournaments across the globe. He covers both poker & regulatory affairs.