Can anyone stop Scottie?
That’s the burning question this week at the East Lake Golf Club for the Tour Championship, where 29 PGA Tour players will try to derail world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. He won the BMW Championship last week and rolls into Atlanta without a missed cut and with five victories this season.
The tournament begins on Aug. 21, capping the 39-event FedEx Cup season. Although Scheffler leads the points list by almost 4,000 points over Rory McIlroy, all points are wiped out and the 30 players begin from scratch.
Scheffler is trying to become the third player to win multiple FedEx Cup titles, behind McIlroy (three) and Tiger Woods (two).
Tour Championship favorites, odds
The money line on Scottie Scheffler keeps getting lower and lower.
BetMGM has Scheffler as +165 to successfully defend his Tour Championship and FedEx Cup titles, which can come as no great shock after he’s won five of his last 10 starts. Three-time FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy is +800 and Tommy Fleetwood, who has three top-four finishes among his last five starts, is +1200.
Other BetMGM money lines:
Tour Championship picks
Scottie Scheffler: Are you kidding? Any other choice would be folly. He might not win, but there’s no compelling reason to go against him.
Rory McIlroy: The perception that McIlroy is in a slump is not supported by the facts. Since he missed his only cut of the season at the RBC Canadian Open, he’s finished among the top-20 in five consecutive starts, three of them among the top 10. He’s got three victories at East Lake that say he knows how to navigate the course.
Viktor Hovland: He won at East Lake in 2023 and tied for fifth in 2021. He’s tied for third in the U.S. Open, for 11th at the Scottish Open and for seventh at the BMW Championship and has seven consecutive rounds in the 60s in the playoffs.
Past Tour Championship winners
Tour Championship winner wins FedEx Cup, starting scores used, East Lake, Atlanta
Points leader wins FedEx Cup, regardless of Tour Championship winner, East Lake, Atlanta
Top 30 money leaders qualify, rotating sites
PGA Tour winners this season
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Tour Championship picks, predictions, odds: Can anyone other than Scottie Scheffler win?
Reporting by Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
