Niall Lyons has two selections for this week's Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia.
Tour Championship
The Tour Championship will be held this week at East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia.
Halleluijah! The starting strokes have been eliminated and we have a golf tournament once again. The fairness is of course up for debate with the best performer across the year nowhere near guaranteed to lift the Fedex Cup, but jeopardy in sport is welcome these days and this format beats the previous by a country mile.
Since the start of that godforsaken format Rory McIlroy was the only golfer to win it outside of the top 2 on the starting leaderboard. In 2019 he started 5 shots behind, whilst in 2022 he started 6 shots behind.
McIlroy is somewhat of an expert in shooting low scores when the pressure is off so it's no wonder he spoke glowingly about the format.
Driving distance isn't much of an advantage around here and we've often seen some of the longest in the game having to club down to 3 woods off the tee. Accuracy is much preferred and a hot putter will be needed to compete.
In the statistics table below I have listed the top 5 and ties each year in the 72 holes as opposed to including the starting strokes.
Tour Championship Tips
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Tommy Fleetwood at 14/1 (Four Places)
Tommy Fleetwood continues to play some of the best golf of his career and it'd surprise me should he not get into the mix here over the weekend.
A couple of weeks ago there were zero excuses once again as he limped home in 3rd spot at Southwind having held a fairly decent lead on a few occasions. The missed putts under pressure were again a lowlight and it continues to be a painful watch.
However, I do buy into his comments during these last few events that he is putting himself in the mix so often that the door will eventually open and the fact that he hasn't got over the line yet masks the huge positives. 13th in approach play at Southwind then 5th last week with the irons means he's hitting as consistently as almost anyone else bar the world number one.
Scheffler turns up here a general 13/8 poke with the market beginning to catch on to his domination.
However it does seem a little tight this week and I'm surprised he has gone this short in a 30 man dash to the finishing line.
Scheffler has never won the lowest 72 hole score here and despite his level I can't help but feel that hasn't quite been taken into account here.
It renders a couple backable and although Rory is mildly tempting at the price also, I believe Fleetwood is playing better golf and could end up the main danger to the jolly.
Sam Burns at 25/1 (Four Places)
My second and final bet of the week at the Tour Championship will be Sam Burns. Scrambling often comes to the fore around East Lake and although Burns wouldn't be the best operator around the greens he can save plenty of strokes with the putter and that should be a big ally this week.
Since the US Open things haven't quite gone for him but I'm a big believe that he will eventually benefit from that week where he led deep into the tournament before rain caused a few issues and he got a terrible slick of poor fortune.
His attitude afterwards was tremendous and although Burns has tasted plenty of success in his career to date I believe bigger things are to come.
Horschel, Spieth and Cantlay are three winners of this who can really roll their rock and Burns should he go on to win would be in the same mould where the putter is his biggest weapon.
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2nd on the greens last week at Caves Valley was no surprise but ranking 8th off the tee bodes really well for a trip to East Lake where putting yourself in position is half the battle.
There are a handful around Burns in the market who would really surprise me if they won because they aren't playing anywhere near their best, but a good week with the irons for Burns could catapult him to the top here.
