The 2022-23 PGA Tour season will come to an end this weekend at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf in Atlanta, Ga.
The Tour Championship is a one-of-a-kind event that features a field of 30 players using a staggered start.
In other words, every player has been assigned a starting score based on where they are in the FedEx Cup Standings before Round 1 on Thursday.
Scottie Scheffler, the FedExCup points leader after the first two Playoffs events will begin the TOUR Championship at 10-under par. Viktor Hovland, the No. 2 player, will start at 8-under.
Rory McIlroy, currently in third-place, starts at 7-under and so on, and so forth until we get to players 26-30, who begin at even par.
Here’s a look at the full field with their starting score:
| 10 under | Scottie Scheffler |
| 8 under | Viktor Hovland |
| 7 under | Rory McIlroy |
| 6 under | Jon Rahm |
| 5 under | Lucas Glover |
| 4 under | Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay, Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick |
| 3 under | Tommy Fleetwood, Russell Henley, Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele |
| 2 under | Tom Kim, Sungjae Im, Tony Finau, Corey Conners, Si Woo Kim |
| 1 under | Taylor Moore, Nick Taylor, Adam Schenk, Collin Morikawa, Jason Day |
| Even par | Sam Burns, Emiliano Grillo, Tyrrell Hatton, Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka |
While the format has its detractors and doesn’t make for great betting, bookmakers do post markets for lowest total score without the FedEx Starting Strokes.
Simply put, which player shoots the best score across the four rounds this weekend.
| Tour Championship winner (without bonus strokes) |
|---|
| Rory Mcllroy +550 |
| Scottie Scheffler +550 |
| Viktor Hovland +1000 |
| Jon Rahm +1100 |
| Patrick Cantlay +1100 |
| Xander Schauffele +1100 |
| Max Homa +1400 |
| Collin Moriikawa +2200 |
| Russell Henley +2200 |
| Sungjae Im +2200 |
| Tommy Fleetwood +2200 |
| Matt Fitzpatrick +2800 |
| Rickie Fowler +2800 |
| Tom Kim +2800 |
| Brian HJarman +3300 |
| Jordan Spieth +3300 |
| Wyndham Clark +3300 |
| Corey Conners +4000 |
| Lucas Glover +4000 |
| Sam Burns +4000 |
| Tony Finau +4000 |
| Jason Day +5500 |
| Si Woo Kim +5500 |
| Keegan Bradley +6600 |
| Emiliano Grillo +8000 |
| Sepp Straka +8000 |
| Taylor Moore 125/1 |
| Adam Schenk 150/1 |
| Nick Taylor 200/1 |
Tour Championship picks (without Starting Strokes):
Sungjae Im (+2200, BetMGM)
It’s been a relatively quiet season for the omnipresent Sungjae Im, but the South Korean has seemingly picked up the pace lately.
Im finished seventh at the BMW Championship and was T6 at TPC Southwind the previous week, so he looks to be on song as we head into the season’s swan song.
Another thing Im has going for him is that this is the fifth time he’s played at East Lake and he wound up finishing runner-up to Rory McIlroy in 2022 (both with and without the bonus strokes).
Sepp Straka (+8000, BetMGM)
Starting at even par and 10 shots behind the leader means that Sepp Straka would need an outright miracle to win the Tour Championship, but if you wipe away the starting strokes there are reasons to believe that the 30-year-old can go low at East Lake.
Not only is Straka having a terrific summer — he won at the John Deere Classic and finished T2 at the Open Championship — but he played his college golf at Georgia and should be comfortable in these conditions.
That showed last year when the Austrian finished sixth and shot 12-under across four rounds.