The PGA Tour travels Atlanta, Georgia this week for the Tour Championship. This will be the final tournament for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The top 30 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings will tee it up for a chance to take home the richest prize in sports, $25 Million!!! It should be exciting watching the golfers play for that much money.
Here is the recent form and course history for each golfer this week: History and Form
2024 – 2025 FANTASY GOLF SCHEDULE
Before I get into the picks for this week, I want to update you on what to expect for the next PGA Tour Season.
I will not be able to post picks for that President’s Cup since I will be traveling that week. The next tournament I will write a DFS Golf article for will be the Sanderson’s Farms Championship on October 3rd. I will continue to post articles for the Black Desert Championship (Oct 10th), Shriners Children’s Open (Oct 17th), the ZOZO Championship (Oct 24th), the World Wide Technologies Championship (Nov 7th), Bermuda Championship (Nov 14th) and the RSM Classic (Nov 21st). The picks will be back to normal in January for the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
I will also be hosting my Fantasy Golf League on pgatour.com. I will post a link to the league in the DFS Golf Forum and I will send a Tweet to join the league once the new season begins.
Thank you for following my picks this year and I cannot wait for the new season to begin, but we still have one more tournament left so let’s get to the Tour Championship…
COURSE BREAKDOWN
East Lake Golf Club upgraded since last year. The course played as 7,350-yard par 70 and now will play as a 7,490-yard par 71 this week. The course plays long. Seven of the par 4’s play 450 yards or more, so length off the tee is going to be important. The fairways are narrow. Last year on 50% of the golfers put their tee shots in the short grass. If any of the golfers can find a way to be long and accurate off the tee, they will have a huge advantage.
The greens are average size and have Bermuda grass. Over the last three seasons the greens have been pretty easy for the golfers to read. These greens ranked 3rd easiest on tour over the last three seasons and allowed fewer than 2-putts 50% of the time. So if golfers can hit Greens in Regulation, they should make a lot of birdies. If golfers miss the greens, the rough is so heavy; it will cause a lot of golfers to have a lot of bogies. I still expect many low scores like last week at the BMW Championship.
Click here to see the course: East Lake Golf Club
KEY STATS FOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
– Strokes Gained Off the Tee
– Shots Gained Approach
– Par 4 Scoring 450 – 500 Yards
– Strokes Gained Putting-Bermuda
– Birdie or Better %
TOP 20 GOLFERS
* The rankings this week do not incorporate the strokes the golfers will start the tournament with. They are simply the golfers I project will score the best this week.
TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP STRATEGY
DraftKings has a unique scoring system this week (FanDuel has the same scoring system) to match up with the FEDEX Cup scoring system for PGA Tour Championship playoffs. Golfers are ranked by the place in the FEDEX Cup standings and are award shots based on their ranking. This is huge this week and we must take it into consideration. Here are the rankings and the points each golfer will start the tournament with this week….
Fading some of the golfers high on the leaderboard could prove prudent when filling out rosters. The golfers will be starting with their “finishing” position points on DraftKings, but as we’ve seen in the previous three years, those points can go away fast if or when the leaders are no longer where they started.
DraftKings has had this format for five seasons now and every year the same strategy wins. You must select three golfers who are higher-priced (and have the winner in your lineup) and pair them with three of the cheap golfers. The winner scores 30 DK Points and second-place scores 20 DK Points. The points after second-place are only separated by a few points. You are going to need those extra 10 points for winning the tournament and a few golfers priced below $6K who can score well this week. You must use a “stars and scrubs” lineup or your chances of winning will be slim.
CORE GOLFERS FOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST
XANDER SCHAUFFELE ($11,000): Schauffele starts the tournament two-shots behind Scottie Scheffler. That should be no problem for him to make up. We have seen Scheffler start this tournament with the lead in the last two seasons and he gave it up to Patrick Cantlay in 2022 and Viktor Hovland last year. Schauffele has finished 2nd, 4th, 5th, 2nd, 2nd, 7th and 1st in his last sever trips to East Lake. He is the clear favorite to win Sunday.
RORY MCILROY ($9,600): If you want a horse for the course, McIlroy is your golfer. He won the Tour Championship in 2016, 2019 and 2022. Last year he finished 4th. McIlroy starts six-shots back. He should be able to make up some ground in a hurray with his leangth off of the tee. I know he has been a hard to trust this year, but he won at Quail Hallow this year and that course is similar to East Lake.
SAM BURNS ($8,500): Burns is one of my favorite picks this weekend. He starts the tournament in the same position as Rory McIlory. His red hot putter led Burns to a 5th place finish in the St. Jude and a 2nd place finish last week at the BMW. He is playing some of the best golf of anyone in the field right now. It is hard to pass up Bermuda Burns at $8,500.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD ($7,600): Fleetwood has some ground to make up this weekend. He starts at -1 par, so he is going to need to go low each day. That has not been a problem for Fleetwood recently. He won the Silver medal at the Olympics and Fleetwood finished 5th last week in the BMW. He also finished 6th in this tournament last year when he started from nearly the same position. Fleetwood should have a good chance to finish in the top-five Sunday.
BILLY HORSCHEL ($7,100): Horshel won the Tour Championship before, so he should feel right at home this weekend. He starts in the same position as Tommy Fleetwood (1 under par). Horschel has been playing some of his best golf lately. He finished 2nd in the Open Championship, 7th at the Wyndham, 10th and 10th at the St. Jude. I do not need Horschel to win to be a good pick for the Cash Contest lineup. I just need a top-1- finish from him.
CHRIS KIRK ($6,200): Kirk will be my punt play in my Cash Contest lineup. I think he is going to be one of the highest owned golfers from the $6K price range. We need a golfer who can go low when we dig this deep for our golfer and that is what Kirk is good at. He shot a 64 in the first round at the St. Jude to take the lead. I just need him to do that again this weekend and Kirk will be a great play.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
XANDER SCHAUFFELE ($11,000): I am all in with Schauffele this week. I am going to own him in 80% of my lineups and make everyone beat me with other golfers. He is the most consistent golfer in the field, with a great course history. I will be surprised if Schauffele doesn’t have a $25M check in his hands after his final round this week.
PATRICK CANTLAY ($9,400): I have many lineups where I play Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Cantlay together. I will build a more balanced lineup here and pair Schauffele with Cantlay. The two California golfers play good at East Lake. Cantlay finished 5th, 7th and 1st in his last three trips to Atlanta. He starts a 4 under par, so he has some work to do, but I trust Cantlay this weekend.
TONY FINAU ($7,700): Finau is not a sexy pick, but he is a realiable golfer to have in our lineups. I have the feeling he is going to get overlooked this week. Finau starts at 3 under par. He has a lot of experience in this tournament since it is his eighth time playing the Tour Championship. Finau can get hot on any course. I just hope it happens this weekend.
SUNGJAE IM ($7,500): Im starts in the same position as Tony Fianu (3 under par). This is his sixth trip to East Lake for the Tour Championship. He shot a 64 in 2022 and finished 2nd. He has averaged four birdies per round at this course. If he can avoid the boggies, he can get into contention for the win.
RUSSELL HENLEY ($7,400): Henley is another golfer who I think will get overlooked this weekend. He is one of the most accurate golfers off the tee, so he should not get into trouble much. Henley always has the ability to shoot a low score when his putter heats up. He putts better on Bermuda Greens then he does on any other type of grass. I will take a chance with Henley this weekend.
SEPP STRAKA ($6,700): Straka starts at 1 under par this week. That is a lot of ground to make up, but the big Austrian can shoot a low score and make up ground in a hurry. This is the third consecutive trip to East Lake for Straka. His scoring average at this course is 67.3. He will finish in the top-10 and maybe the top-five if he shoots 67 or better each round this week.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contest: (Multi Entry Lineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST LINEUP
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the final tournament of Segment 4. There is no need to save your allocations this week. There is no tomorrow. Play the best golfers possible and hopefully you can win your league.
FANTASY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ONE & DONE PICK: SEASON IS COMPLETE
Players in Fantasy Golf Championship One & Done so far: Billy Horschel (22ND), Tommy Fleetwood (22nd), Aaron Rai (Win), Cam Davis (19th), Ludvig Arberg (27th), Xander Schauffele (7th), Viktor Hovland (15th), Rory McIlroy (4th), Colin Morikawa (3rd), Books Koepka (26th), Wyndham Clark (47th), Tom Hoge (41st), Matthew Fitzpatrick (28th), Jon Rahm (45th), Hideki Matsuyama (7th), Will Zalatoris (74th), Maverick McNealy (45th), Justin Thomas (MC), Scottie Scheffler (Won), Russell Henley (41st), Tony Finau (13TH), Sahith Theegala (37th), Sam Burns (3rd), Max Homa (66th), Jason Day (MC), Taylor Montgomery (61st), Corey Conners (57th)
SEASON-LONG ONE & DONE PICK: SCOTTIE SCHEFFELER (TOUR CHAMP)
One & Done picks used so far this season: Xander Shcauffele (5TH), Billy Horschel (10th), Cameron Davis (MC), Jon Rahm (5TH), Taylor Pendrith (5th), Brian Harman (9TH), Hideki Matsuyama (6th), Byeong Hun An (22nd), Rory McIlroy (4th), Colin Morikawa (3rd), Bryson DeChambeau (2nd), Max Homa (8th), K.H. Lee (59th), Adam Hadwin (10TH), Patrick Cantlay (3rd), Jon Rahm (45th), Corey Conners (25th), Keith Mitchell (MC), Sam Burns (MC), Shane Lowry (19th), Matthew Fitzpatrick (MC), Eric Cole (MC), Nicolai Hojgaard (52nd), Adam Scott (19th), J.T. Poston (MC), Jordan Spieth (39th), Keegan Bradley (43rd), Andrew Putnam (47th), Russell Henley (4th), Sungae Im (5th), Alex Noran (Won), Beau Hossler (15TH), Min Woo Lee (6th), Adam Schenk (MC), Eric Cole (35TH), Sahith Theegala (Won)
TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP BEST BETS
XANDER SCHAUFFELE (+250)
RORY MCILROY (16-1)
PATRICK CANTLAY (30-1)
SAM BURNS (40-1)
* It is going to be tough to beat one of the favorites this week since they start the tournament with such a huge lead. This is not the best tournament to bet, so I will put my money behind a few favorites and hope to get a few dollars in return.
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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