Aug 25, 2024; Castle Rock, Colorado, USA; Keegan Bradley celebrates with the championship trophy after winning the BMW Championship golf tournament at Castle Pines Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
- The 2024 PGA season concludes this weekend in Atlanta with the Tour Championship.
- The top 30 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings will battle it out at East Lake Golf Club for the first-place prize of $25,000,000.
- Read below to learn more about the Tour Championship and check out our favorite picks for the tournament.
The FedEx Cup will be awarded this weekend in Atlanta, as the top 30 PGA golfers from the 2024 season descend on East Lake Golf Club. Scottie Scheffler is, understandably, a big favorite to lift the Cup this year, but he struggled last week at the BMW Championship. Can he hold off Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama and others? Tune in to the Golf Channel, NBC and Peacock Thursday-Sunday to see who wins a cool $25 million.
Tour Championship and FedEx Cup: How It Works
This week’s tournament is unique in the way it is set up. First, only 30 golfers will compete. Only the 30 players with the highest FedEx Cup points totals will be in attendance.
Second, Scottie Scheffler will start at 10-under par. Yes, you read that right. Since Scheffler is the current points leader, he’ll parlay that into a -10 starting score this week.
The other top golfers will get a head start on this week’s scoring, too. Here’s a look at how the advantages play out:
- Scottie Scheffler: 10 under
- Xander Schauffele: 8 under
- Hideki Matsuyama: 7 under
- Keegan Bradley: 6 under
- Ludvig Åberg: 5 under
- Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay: 4 under
- Sungjae Im, Sahith Theegala, Shane Lowry, Adam Scott, Tony Finau: 3 under
- Byeong Hun An, Viktor Hovland, Russell Henley, Akshay Bhatia, Robert MacIntyre: 2 under
- Billy Horschel, Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Matthieu Pavon, Taylor Pendrith: 1 under
- Chris Kirk, Tom Hoge, Aaron Rai, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Justin Thomas: Even
Scheffler is hard enough to beat even when he starts with the same score as the other golfers. Give him a 2-stroke lead over Schauffele (and an even bigger lead over the rest of the field) and watch out!
With those stroke advantages built in, this weekend’s tournament simply becomes about winning. Lowest score takes home the $25 million first-place prize, but there are plenty of other big paydays coming to all the players who earned a spot in Atlanta.
Tour Championship Picks
- Scottie Scheffler to win (+115)
- Keegan Bradley top 5 (+200)
They’re not the best odds, but if we’re handing Scheffler a 2-stroke lead over Schauffele and an even bigger advantage over everyone else in the field, I like him to win. He rises to the occasion on the biggest stages with the most at stake — the Olympics, The Masters, the Players Championship, etc.
With $25 million on the line, the pressure might get to some of the other guys. But Scheffler keeps his cool even in the most stressful moments. I’ll snag the +115 odds on Scheffler to win over at bet365 with a smile on my face.
Meanwhile, Keegan Bradley sits at No. 4 on the leaderboard entering this week’s championship. He came into the BMW Championship having barely qualified, as he had the 50th-most points for the 50-player tournament. But then … he went out and won!
Now he’s all the way up to No. 4. I think he’ll be able to maintain a top-5 position this weekend. And at +200 odds to do so, he’s a good value.
Tour Championship Longshot Pick
- Ludvig Åberg to win (+1800)
If Scheffler doesn’t win (which is a big if), who is in the best position to steal the FedEx Cup crown? Look no further than Ludvig Åberg, who finished at -11 last week. That was only a shot off of Bradley’s winning score.
He’ll need to overcome a 5-stroke advantage from Scheffler, but hey, he was 12 strokes better than Scheffler at the BMW Championship last week. Xander Schauffele is another guy who you could put some money on to win, as he has less distance to cover in catching Scheffler, starting only 2 strokes back. But his odds are a meager +250 to win, meaning he’s not a great value.
I’ll be placing a small wager on Åberg to play at an elite level for a second week in a row. If Scheffler doesn’t win, I think the young golfer from Sweden is a solid pick to win his first-ever FedEx Cup. Tune in to NBC and Peacock this weekend for the final PGA action of the season!
Adam is an avid college sports fan, covering both football and basketball. During the summer months, he’s all-in on MLB action, favoring pitcher strikeout parlays.