It will be a unique week for the players at the Tour Championship, the final event of the season and FedEx Cup Playoffs, and also for bettors when it comes to golf betting.
The Tour Championship at East Lake will feature a staggered start for all 30 players when the first round begins on Friday.
Since Scottie Scheffler leads the FedEx Cup standings, he will start at 10-under. Viktor Hovland is No. 2, so he will start at 8-under. Lastly, players Nos. 25-30 in the standings will start at even-par.
At the BetMGM online sportsbook, bettors are favoring the players at the top of the staggered start.
As of Wednesday, Scheffler is pulling in the highest handle (24.4%) on the second-most tickets (9%). Hovland is right behind, drawing the second-highest handle (18.9%) on the most tickets (10.1%).
Starting with a two-shot lead, Scheffler is just +140 to win, while Hovland is +450.
Scheffler will be seeking revenge for last year at this event when he shot a 73 in the final round to finish runner-up to Rory McIlroy. He’s coming off a T-2 at the BMW Championship.
Hovland won the BMW Championship and finished T-15 at the Tour Championship a year ago, which included a final-round 65.
McIlroy, who will start at 7-under, is drawing the third-highest handle (11.4%) on the third-most tickets (8.9%).
He has the second-best odds behind Scheffler at +450.
Jordan Spieth at +25000 is BetMGM’s biggest liability, followed by Hovland.
Current Handle & Tickets
Handle
- Scottie Scheffler – 24.4%
- Viktor Hovland – 18.9%
- Rory McIlroy – 11.4%
- Jon Rahm – 9.2%
- Patrick Cantlay – 6.2%
Tickets
- Viktor Hovland – 10.1%
- Scottie Scheffler – 9%
- Rory McIlroy – 8.9%
- Max Homa – 7.1%
- Xander Schauffele – 6.7%
Bettors can also bet on which golfer will record the best score for the week without starting strokes.
Schauffele is drawing a massive 33.5% of the handle for this market on 15.9% of the tickets. Hovland is second, pulling in 9.8% of the handle on 8.8% of the tickets.
In six straight appearances at East Lake, Schauffele has five top-5’s and a T7 to go along with a scoring average of 67.25.
