2024 Tour Championship Betting Preview: Picks, Predictions and Odds for East Lake

The top 30 in the FedEx Cup battle in a unique format for a $100 million prize pool.

Viktor Hovland celebrates with the FedEx trophy after winning the 2023 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. / John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

The finale of the 2024 PGA Tour season will take place at this week's Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.

Under the new format, which began in 2019, each of the 30 golfers will begin their tournament with a certain score based on where they finished in the FedEx Cup standings. Scottie Scheffler, who finished first, will start at 10 under par while the golfers ranked No. 26 to No. 30 will start at even par.

This will be the third straight season that Scheffler enters the Tour Championship in first place in the standings. He failed to close out in each of the last two seasons. Rory McIlroy caught him in 2022 and Viktor Hovland caught him in 2023.

Let's dive into everything you need to know to bet on this year's edition of the event.

Tour Championship odds

The full list of odds to win the Tour Championship are via BetMGM Sportsbook. Next to their odds are what score they'll start the tournament with.

• Scottie Scheffler +110 (-10)
• Xander Schauffele +240 (-8)
• Hideki Matsuyama +1000 (-7)
• Ludvig Aberg +1800 (-5)
• Rory McIlroy +1800 (-4)
• Collin Morikawa +2500 (-4)
• Keegan Bradley +2800 (-6)
• Patrick Cantlay +3300 (-4)
• Sam Burns +3300 (-4)
• Wyndham Clark +4000 (-4)
• Adam Scott +6600 (-3)
• Sungjae Im +6600 (-3)
• Tony Finau +6600 (-3)
• Viktor Hovland +6600 (-3)
• Russell Henley +8000 (-2)
• Shane Lowry +10000 (-3)
• Sahith Theegala +12500 (-3)
• Tommy Fleetwood +12500 (-1)
• Akshay Bhatia +20000 (-2)
• Byeong Hun An +20000 (-2)
• Billy Horschel +25000 (-1)
• Justin Thomas +25000 (E)
• Robert MacIntyre +25000 (-2)
• Sepp Straka +30000 (-1)
• Aaron Rai +35000 (E)
• Taylor Pendrith +35000 (-1)
• Chris Kirk +50000 (E)
• Christiaan Bezuidenhout +50000 (E)
• Tom Hoge +50000 (E)
• Matthieu Pavon +75000 (-1)

Tour Championship how to watch

• Thursday: 1 p.m.–6 p.m. (Golf Channel)
• Friday: 1 p.m.–6 p.m. (Golf Channel)
• Saturday: 1 p.m.–2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2:30 p.m.–7 p.m. (NBC)
• Sunday: 12 p.m.–1:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 1:30 p.m.–6 p.m. (NBC)

Tour Championship purse

• Date: Thursday, Aug. 29-Sunday, Sept. 1
• Purse: $100 million ($25 million to winner)
• Defending champion: Viktor Hovland

Tour Championship notable golfers

Scottie Scheffler: The No. 1 golfer in the world finished with 6,615 FedEx Cup points, 1,193 more than the next closest, Xander Schauffele. He has six wins on the season, but he's coming off one of his worst starts of 2024, a T33 finish at the BMW Championship. He has also failed to convert first-place finishes to a Tour Championship in each of the last two years. A win this week would cap off a "golfer of the year" resume.

Rory McIlroy: Only one golfer in the 17-year history history of the FedEx Cup has won it three times: Rory McIlroy. He won it in 2016, 2019 and 2022. His win in 2022 came when he entered the Tour Championship in sixth place, with a starting score of -4. That's the same score he'll be starting with this week.

Tour Championship best bets

Xander Schauffele +240

Scheffler's biggest competition this week will be Xander Schauffele. He was the clear second best golfer on the PGA Tour this season, winning two majors and finishing No. 2 in the FedEx Cup standings.

It's not just his level of play this year that should make Scheffler nervous, it's Schauffele's history at East Lake. He has dominated this track for years. Dating to 2017, he has finished inside the top seven in gross score every single year. He has also finished with the best gross score three times, including 2017, 2020 and 2023.

Now that he's going to start just two shots back from Scheffler, if he records the top gross score once again, there's a great chance he's going to win this event.

Patrick Cantlay +3300

Patrick Cantlay is another golfer who has had a solid history at East Lake, finishing in the top seven in gross score in three straight years here. He's also coming into this event in solid form, finishing T12 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and T13 at the BMW Championship.

No golfer further back than a starting score of 4 under par has stormed back to win the Tour Championship, and Cantlay fits in right at that spot. He enters this week No. 10 in the standings, giving him a starting score of -4. If you're going to bet on a golfer to win this event, I'd recommend sticking to the top 10 golfers in the standings.

In my opinion, Cantlay presents the best betting value of the bunch at 33-1 odds.

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Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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You can check out all of Iain's bets here!