Expect a Hot Finish in Atlanta

The end of the 2022 PGA Season is near! The Tour Championship takes place at East Lake Golf Club this week. The top 30 golfers will square off at this beautiful course, which was established in 1904 and was the home course of the legendary golfer Bobby Jones. It’s been through a lot of ups, downs, and revitalizations, right along with the city of Atlanta, and has been the home of the Tour Championship since 2005.

Entering this last tournament, the top 15 in the FedEx Cup standings now look like this.

1. Scottie Scheffler
2. Patrick Cantlay
3. Will Zalatoris (WD – Back Injury)
4. Xander Schauffele
5. Sam Burns
6. Cameron Smith
7. Rory McIlroy
8. Tony Finau
9. Sepp Straka
10. Sungja Im
11. Jon Rahm
12. Scott Stallings
13. Justin Thomas
14. Cameron Young
15. Matt Fitzpatrick

Each player will start the tournament with a given score, based on where they finished in the standings. This is the fourth season that the Tour Championship has confused me and many others with this unique format. I’ll add that two of the three winners since this format was adopted, started in first place.

WynnBET Sportsbook offered their odds.

Odds to Win the Tour Championship

• Scottie Scheffler +225
• Patrick Cantlay +400
• Xander Schauffele +800
• Will Zalatoris +900 (WD – Back Injury)
• Rory McIlroy +1000
• Jon Rahm +1200
• Cameron Smith +1600
• Sam Burns +1800
• Tony Finau +1800
• Justin Thomas +2000

What should you watch for this week?

Golf Digest said it well. “To the surprise of no one, Scottie Scheffler is a heavy solo favorite to win this week’s Tour Championship at East Lake. Ranked No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings after the BMW Championship, Scheffler earned a two-stroke lead over Patrick Cantlay thanks to the season-ending event’s ‘starting strokes’ format.”

So, it doesn’t take a genius to list Scottie as one of the three to watch this week. Behind Scheffler, the experts are predicting last week’s BMW Championship winner Cantlay and Schauffele, followed by McIlroy and Zalatoris.

Here are the two (aside from Scheffler) we’re keeping an eye on.

Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele

Why rock the boat after last week’s predictions? Let’s recap last week’s prediction. I laid out three to watch for.

Scottie Scheffler finished tied for 3^rd. OK. Not bad there!

Cameron Young finished tied for 23^rd. Umm…

Viktor Hovland finished tied for 35^th.  Ouch.

Regardless, it’s been a fun season and promises to be an exciting photo finish. Roll Tide and break out the buffalo chicken dip.