Niall Lyons previews the Tour Championship and picks out his best bet.
Tour ChampionshipSee All Odds
Course - East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia. For the second year on the trot we have a golf tournament once again after the abomination of starting strokes was removed at long last. 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.
Hopefully in the years to come the fans get their way and this becomes a permanent match play event which would be a really good way to end the season and give the leaders in the Fedex standings that slight advantage they deserve. 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.
Previous Winners / Winning Score:
- 2025 - T.Fleetwood (-18)
- 2024 - S.Scheffler (-30)
- 2023 - V.Hovland (-27)
- 2022 - R.McIlroy (-21)
- 2021 - P.Cantlay (-21)
- 2020 - D.Johnson (-10)
- 2019 - R.McIlroy (-5)
Tour Championship Tips
Scottie Scheffler at 15/4 (WIN)
When throwing some winnings back on Scottie Scheffler last week I wasn't expecting to see him dead last in the field during day one. It was a horror opening day and was a strong fight back to eventually finish in a tie for 12th place. What we didn't know until Sunday evening was that he was battling hand, foot and mouth disease throughout the week. That was a blow but these things happen in betting and instead of an over the top reaction demanding that we are entitled to know the health of each and every player before we place a bet, you'd be better to take it on the chin and move on. The betting climate in the United States is different to that this side of the water and we've seen things like this happen in betting since pussy was a cat. Onwards we shall go.
It was a testament to the sheer will and determination of Scheffler to battle on through the pain last week and it's the type of illness he should comfortably recover from for Thursday. He said on Sunday evening it wasn't causing him many issues towards the end of the event. In terms of this event he certainly doesn't have a blemish free record. From 2021 through to 2023 he finished 21st, 13th and 24th which is far from eye catching in a 30 man field. However 2nd on debut in 2020, 3rd in 2024 (when winning) and 4th last year shows he definitely has what it takes to compete around this course. There are not many tracks left on which he doesn't have a 72 hole victory to his name, but this is one of them. So that will contribute to a slightly higher price than you'd expect. However, I feel it is still too big. Scheffler turned up here last year a 13/8 shot having won the BMW and for my money he isn't a million miles off that form. There are others in the field beginning to hit form who could pose the world number one plenty of problems. Cantlay looks ot have found his mojo once again whilst Morikawa looks a lively danger as well. McIlroy failed to convert a big chance last weekend but we know his form around here and he is capable of something special. My concentration lies with Scheffler again though and to go from 13/8 to close to 4/1 doesn't quite add up to me and I'll have to pounce and back him for the 3rd week on the trot.
