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It is time for the PGA Tour Championship at Eastlake in Atlanta, Georgia. This is the course that famed golfer Bobby Jones put on the map. Now it is the home of the season-ending Tour Championship. The event comes after an exciting finish at the BMW Championship that saw a course change dramatically over four days and that reduced the field this week to the top 30 professional players.
It’s a great week for Patrick Cantlay as he became the first-ever PGA Tour player to defend a playoff win by winning the BMW Championship two years in a row. It’s the first time a playoff event winner has defended a win since the playoff system was formed.
Last year he schooled former PGA Tour member Bryson DeChambeau in a six-hole playoff for the Tour Championship victory. This season DeChambeau left the tour after battling injuries and falling in the rankings. He now plays on the no-cut LIV Golf exhibition tour.
This week Cantlay comes into the season-ending tournament as one of the favorites at +400. But, he’s still not the favorite heading into Thursday’s opening round! That honor goes to the lone favorite this week who is Scottie Scheffler coming in at +250.
Here are the favorites to win the 2022 PGA Tour Championship outright:
Scottie Scheffler +250
Patrick Cantlay +400
Xander Schauffele +750
Rory McIlroy +1100
Jon Rahm +1600
*Will Zalatoris has withdrawn from the PGA Tour Championship due to a back injury. He also withdrew early during the BMW Championship last week.
2022 Tour Championship Preview
Where: Atlanta, Georgia
Course: East Lake Golf Club
Format: Stroke Play
Par: 70
Length: 7,343
When: August, 25 – 28, 2022
TV Coverage: NBC/Peacock/PGA Live/Golf Channel
East Lake is a classically designed course in Atlanta, Georgia dating back to 1908 that was the home of legendary golfer Bobby Jones. The venue fell out of favor and somewhat degraded over the years before being completely overhauled during the 1990s and added to PGA schedules starting in 1998. It has been the home of the Tour Championship continually since 2004.
Greens are Bermuda with plenty of drops and dubious fronts. But, once on – players should be dropping some nice puts. The course takes full advantage of the rolling terrain with many holes having tight landing areas on the fairways which are dotted with bunkers.
There are also plenty of water features including the pond where Bill Haas famously played his half-submerged ball with a wedge shot catching grip only a few feet of the hole. He went on to win the 2011 Championship.
The wild card may be rain! The early forecast shows a chance for pop-up showers and thunderstorms starting on Thursday with the percentage dropping to 20% on the weekend. It will be interesting to see how the manicured grounds of East Lake change with the weather.
2022 Tour Championship Predictions
Patrick Cantlay +400
Patrick Cantlay comes in as the No. 2 player in FedEx points which gives him an 8-under start. Scottie Scheffler comes in with a 10-under advantage as he is No 1. Why is this important, Scheffler looked tight last week towards the end of the BMW Championship and gave up several strokes while fighting to save par during the final round. Cantlay is only two strokes back and is playing great golf. He’s the defending Tour Championship winner and won last week at the BMW.
Rory McIlroy +1100
Rory McIlroy has two Tour Championships under his belt on this course. He also has a T2 at six top-tens at East Lake. McIlroy has missed only one cut in his last ten outings. Over that same span, he won the Canadian Open, was 2nd at the Masters, finished T5 at the U.S. Open, was 3rd on the Old Course for the Open (British), and enters play at 4-under. McIlroy has the opportunity to become the first player to win the tour Championship three times.
Sam Burns +2000
Sam Burns comes into the Tour Championship with 5 strokes to the good. He’s been a bit rough over his last few outings but still finished T20 at the St Jude Championship and T19 last week at the BMW to open up the playoffs. Burns has 3 wins this season and has finished 20th or better fifteen times this season. He’s jumped to the No 7 spot for birdie average (4.36) on Tour.
Others: There are only the top-30 players this week minus Will Zalatoris, so the phrase that “anyone can win” is a true one. Scottie Scheffler (+250) enters as the No. 1 player with a massive 10-under starting advantage. But Scheffler has looked a bit rusty, or tired, lately. The BMW last week was tougher than many expected. Jon Rahm (+1600) is in the same category as Scheffler in my opinion. Both have seemed to struggle with snatching a birdie when they needed it then fighting to save par.
2022 PGA Tour Championship Betting Lines
Scottie Scheffler +250
Patrick Cantlay +400
Xander Schauffele +750
Rory McIlroy +1100
Jon Rahm +1600
Tony Finau +1800
Sam Burns +2000
Cameron Smith +2200
Justin Thomas +2500
Sungjae Im +2800
Matt Fitzpatrick +3300
Cameron Young +4500
Collin Morikawa +6000
Jordan Spieth +6600
Viktor Hovland +6600
Joaquin Niemann +6600
Corey Conners +8000
Hideki Matsuyama +8000
Scott Stallings +9000
Max Homa +10000
Sepp Straka +12500
Adam Scott +12500
Billy Horschel +15000
Brian Harman +20000
Aaron Wise +20000
Sahith Theegala +20000
Kyoung-Hoon Lee +30000
JT Poston +30000
Tom Hoge +35000
