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PGA Tour: The Tour Championship Preview

Golfer lines up iron shot

The history of the Tour Championship dates back to 1987 when legendary figure Tom Watson won the first edition of this event – then known as the Nabisco Championship.

The US PGA Tour 2019
FedEx Cup Playoffs | The Tour Championship

East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia
Thursday 22 August – Sunday 25 August 2019

The event inaugurated to celebrate the top 30 players on the money-list was a great success, until the turn of the century saw a decline in its popularity. After an exhausting season with all four slams completed, players such as Tiger Woods started to eschew an event largely seen as superfluous. That’s when the clever people at FedEx got involved. The FedEx Cup was introduced in 2007, with the top 125 players from the season competing in a four-event playoff series to determine the FedEx Cup Champion. The Dell Technologies event was scratched this year in a dramatic reshuffle of the PGA schedule, making it a more streamlined three-event sprint. 

But with Tiger and Vijay securing the 2007 and 2008 trophies prior to East Lake, something had to be done to rejig the system and make the final event consequential. A new system was introduced which to me really worked. Players inside the top five going into East Lake all stood a chance of winning the Cup should they win the Tour Championship. The remaining 25 players would not only have to win at East Lake, but they would need to do so with certain conditions – the likes of which became more elaborate the lower they are in the rankings. It ensured that the Tour Championship was still of crucial importance and it remained a PGA win in its own right. 

Now I’m just going to come out and say it: I’m not a fan of the FedEx Cup. It’s just a bunch of entitled, obscenely wealthy men competing for a chance to get wealthier. It almost epitomizes some of the worst aspects of American excess. Far too many points are attributed to the Playoff events, which doesn’t really reward season-long excellence. Justin Thomas was exceptional last week, but surely a man winning his first trophy in over a year shouldn’t be valued over Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy in a definitive end-of-season competition. But at least winning the Tour Championship still ensured silverware. Gosh, Tiger’s victory at East Lake last season ultimately dwarfed Justin Rose’s FedEx Cup success.

But the geniuses at the FedEx Cup have now devised a handicap system that will only allow one ultimate winner of the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup. So there’s a possibility – in fact, the likelihood – that the player who shoots the best score this week won’t win the trophy. Imagine if this happened last season. Tiger beat Justin Rose by five shots last year, but due to the handicap this season, Tiger would have lost to Rose by three shots had the event taken place this year. That could have turned out to be the difference between him breaking Sam Snead’s title record. Or imagine Tony Finau shoots 67 in every round this year but is denied his 2nd ever PGA Tour title by this ludicrous system!

Justin Thomas was miraculous at Medinah and enters this event at 10 under par. Cantlay will be on 8 under, Koepka on 7, Reed on 6 and McIlroy on 5. Then the scores are bracketed, with players from 6-10 at 4 under, 11-15 at 3 under, 16-20 at 2 under, 21-25 at 1 under and 25-30 at even. I suppose FedEx have the right to determine the parameters as they cough up the dough. But it just seems as if they have overthought this to Inception proportions. While I have some principal objections to this event, let’s move forward and see if there’s any value to be found in the field. 

Past FedEx Cup Champions
2018: Justin Rose
2017: Justin Thomas
2016: Rory McIlroy 
2015: Jordan Spieth 
2014: Billy Horschel 

Past Winners Tour Championship
2018: Tiger Woods (-11)
2017: Xander Schauffele (-12)
2016: Rory McIlroy (12)*playoff
2015: Jordan Spieth (-9)
2014: Billy Horschel (-11)

Outright Betting (To Win)
Justin Thomas (5/2)
Patrick Cantlay (9/2)
Brooks Koepka (11/2)
Rory McIlroy (8/1)
Patrick Reed (12/1)
Jon Rahm (14/1)

Value Bets


Rory McIlroy
To Win (8/1), To Place (7/4)

If there’s anyone who can do the unbelievable at East Lake, it has to be Rory McIlroy. Who could ever forget that eagle at the 16th in 2016? Rory is not only a past champion at East Lake, but he also finished runner-up in 2014. I was slightly disappointed that Rory wasn’t able to take advantage of the soft conditions that Medinah presented over the weekend. But Rory is one guy who could easily overturn a five-shot gap if his game just clicks together. He is a two-time winner this season, picking up a Canadian Open title and an illustrious Players Championship. He will be wanting to end the season in resounding fashion and push Brooks Koepka in the Player of the Year stakes.

Hideki Matsuyama
To Win (30/1), To Place (13/2)

The Japanese superstar seems to finally be finding some traction in his game, though perhaps slightly later in the season than he would have preferred. He will start the event at 3 under, a full seven shots behind Justin Thomas. So maybe it’s a stretch to think he will overtake the man from Kentucky. But he could represent great value in the place markets. He shot two rounds of 63 at Medinah. That 3rd round collapse came when he led proceedings. He tends to play his best golf when the pressure is off and he can just attack courses. Knowing that he sits seven shots adrift, we may just get that Matsuyama this week. He is a phenomenal iron player, which is always critical around East Lake. He has finished inside the top 5 here in two of the last three years, making him a strong dark horse this week. 


The Man to Beat

Justin Thomas
To Win (5/2), To Place (52/100)

All my negativity aside, Justin Thomas has to be worth a shot despite his favourite status. He record winning score last week included a remarkable 61 on Saturday. He starts with a two-shot edge over Patrick Cantlay. Looking at his competition: Cantlay doesn’t have a great record in his two appearances here; Koepka and McIlroy are in indifferent form over the playoffs; Jon Rahm has looked jittery in contention. So everything looks to be plain sailing for a man who finished runner-up here in 2017. Either side of that finish he produced results of 6th and 7th: he has never finished below 7th place in this event. 


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