TOUR Championship 2025 Betting Tips: Can anyone stop Scottie?

After Scottie Scheffler claimed his fifth title of a dominant campaign at Caves Valley in last week’s BMW Championship, the FedExCup Playoffs conclude with the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia.

Our resident golf tipster Jamie Worsley is back with two value each-way picks this week, so let's check out his Tour Championship 2025 Betting Tips here at Betfred Insights...

*You can bet on the tournament and check out the latest Tour Championship odds over on betfred.com

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

The Tour Championship debuted in 1987 and has served as the closing event of the FedExCup Playoffs since 2007. It has been staged exclusively at East Lake Golf Club since 2004.

The tournament has undergone another format change this year, removing the starting strokes introduced in 2019. It has reverted to a regular 72-hole stroke-play event, with all 30 players starting at level par. Whoever posts the lowest score this week will not only win the Tour Championship but also the FedExCup, along with the lucrative $10 million prize.

Last five winners:

• 2024

Winner: Scottie Scheffler

Runner-up: Collin Morikawa

• 2023

Winner: Viktor Hovland

Runner-up: Xander Schauffele

• 2022

Winner: Rory McIlroy

Runners-up: Sungjae Im, Scottie Scheffler

• 2021

Winner: Patrick Cantlay

Runner-up: Jon Rahm

• 2020

Winner: Dustin Johnson

Runners-up: Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas

Scottie Scheffler won the Tour Championship/FedExCup for the very first time last year, having entered the week at the top of the leaderboard. He of course returns to defend after a stellar season.

THE COURSE

East Lake Golf Club was originally created by Tom Bendelow in 1904. That said, after an extensive redesign in 1913, this is very much a Donald Ross course.

It has undergone numerous renovations since, including at the hands of Rees Jones in the 1990s/2000s. Most recently, Andrew Green performed a complete restoration in 2023/2024, with the aim of reinstating Ross’s design features that had been lost over the years.

The course was rebuilt and returfed; fairways were widened and recontoured; a tree-removal program took place to open up the playing corridors; the putting surfaces were expanded and lowered, with more short-grass chipping areas around them to test the players’ short games; bunkers were repositioned and made deeper, with steeper faces.

Furthermore, the layout was lengthened by over 100yds and converted to a par 71 instead of a par 70 – with the previous par-4 14^th becoming a par 5. However, they have reverted that hole back to a par 4 this year, resulting in the course playing as a 7440yd par 70, which possesses 4x par 3s (205-260yds), 12x par 4s (390-530yds) and 2x par 5s (525-585yds).

East Lake has traditionally been one of the toughest tests on the PGA Tour, averaging a winning/best score of -13.3 over the 10 renewals from 2014-2023. It played much easier last year, with Collin Morikawa recording the lowest 72-hole score of 22-under-par.

This classic, tree-lined course traverses through gently-rolling hills and features frequent elevation changes. It is strongly bunkered, and water is a common threat, coming into play on eight holes.

The sloping fairways were easier to find last year following the changes. Despite being protected by strategic bunkering and thick rough, this resulted in a less-penal driving test than in previous seasons.

Although zoysia grass covers the fairways, bermudagrass remains on the greens. These reshaped putting surfaces are large and fast, and it was tough to get it close last year, ranking 11^th in approach difficulty. Furthermore, the alterations in the green surrounds also significantly strengthened the challenge around the greens.

Having been returned to a par 70, the winning score at East Lake is sure to be higher this year. It is a bit of a beast of a layout on paper, possessing four par 3s above 200yds – including the monstrously long 260yd 9^th hole – and several lengthy par 4s, most daunting of which is the 530yd 14^th.

With those changes having another 12 months to bed in, it will be interesting to see if the course will play any different this time around.

THE WEATHER

It is forecast to be a humid week in Georgia, which looks likely to bring heavy rainfall throughout. Although there is a lack of wind and the course will be receptive, this already lengthy setup will play longer and the thick, wet rough will be extra punishing to play out of.

KEY STATS

• SG: Approach/Greens-in-Regulation
• SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Distance
• Par 4 Scoring

You’ve got to hit the ball very well to contend at East Lake, something that was well established pre-restoration and continued to be the case in 2024.

The top three on the “without starting strokes” leaderboard last year – Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala and Scottie Scheffler – ranked as the top three in ball-striking. Morikawa ranked 3^rd, Theegala ranked 2^nd and Scheffler ranked 1^st, whilst they also ranked 8^th, 3^rd and 1^st in greens-in-regulation (GIR), respectively.

Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele shot the joint-lowest 72-hole score in 2023, and both hit the ball well. Hovland ranked 1^st in ball-striking, 1^st in GIR and 1^st off-the-tee (OTT). Meanwhile, Schauffele ranked 1^st in approach, 3^rd in ball-striking and 4^th in GIR.

Rory McIlroy played better than anyone in 2022 and although he wasn’t quite at his best in approach, he still ranked 5^th OTT and in GIR. Sungjae Im finished 2^nd to him that year and ranked 1^st in ball-striking, 1^st in GIR and 3^rd in approach.

CORRELATING EVENTS

As an event that welcomes a limited and elite 30-man field, combined with the recent, all-encompassing renovation, we can’t put a great deal of stock in comp form. However, there are still several events that I believe can help us out this week.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and the Truist Championship (formerly the Wells Fargo Championship) at Quail Hollow are two that immediately jump off the page. Both are long layouts with bermudagrass greens, strong bunkering, and water provides a constant threat.

There’s also the Donald Ross angle to explore. The Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club and Rocket Classic at Detroit Golf Club are two Ross designs that are used on the PGA Tour. In addition, not only is 2023 PGA Championship host Oak Hill a Donald Ross layout, but like East Lake, it was recently restored by Andrew Green.

THE FIELD

The field for the final FedExCup Playoff event brings together nine of the world’s top 10 and 22 of the top 25. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler is the top-ranked player, whilst No. 3 Xander Schauffele is the most high-profile absentee.

We had just one change in the top 30 after last week, with England’s Harry Hall moving from 45^th to 26^th thanks to a 6^th-place finish in the BMW Championship, taking Lucas Glover’s place in the process. Akshay Bhatia was the lucky 30^th man into the field, finishing just nine points ahead of Michael Kim in the standings.

The aforementioned Hall is one of seven players making their Tour Championship debuts. He is joined by U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, the ever-impressive Ben Griffin and recent Scottish Open winner Chris Gotterup; Maverick McNealy, Andrew Novak and Jacob Bridgeman complete the septet.

Market leaders (1/5 5 places): Scottie Scheffler 13/8, Rory McIlroy 8/1, Tommy Fleetwood 14/1, Ludvig Aberg 16/1, Russell Henley 20/1, Sam Burns 20/1, Viktor Hovland 20/1

SELECTIONS

2.5 pts Viktor Hovland each-way (1/5 - 6 places) @ 22/1

Viktor Hovland hit the ball excellently at Caves Valley and has been striping his irons all season, ranking 2^nd to Scottie Scheffler on the PGA Tour. He’s experienced victory at East Lake both as an amateur and a pro, and I expect another bold showing in Georgia this week.

After enduring a troublesome start to the year, Hovland has been a different beast since winning the Valspar Championship in March. He hasn’t missed a cut following that victory and has recorded six further top-25s, including a 3^rd-place finish in the US Open and he was 7^th in the BMW Championship.

That result was the product of a high-class ball-striking performance, ranking 2^nd in approach, 2^nd in greens-in-regulation and 15^th off-the-tee. The display with his irons came as no surprise, but he’s not quite been at his best with the driver this year. This makes last week’s showing all the more encouraging.

Hovland debuted in the Tour Championship in 2020, finishing 20^th and hasn’t missed it since, winning the event and indeed the FedExCup in 2023, shooting a superb 19-under-par 72-hole total. He also topped the individual standings of the 2018 East Lake Cup here as an amateur.

With further promise from a runner-up finish in the 2023 PGA Championship at the restored Ross design Oak Hill, along with top-three finishes at Quail Hollow and Bay Hill, there are myriad reasons to side with the Norwegian.

2 pts Cameron Young each-way (1/5 - 5 places) @ 30/1

Cameron Young is enjoying a strong finish to the regular season. He won his first PGA Tour title at another Donald Ross-designed course (Sedgefield Country Club) in the Wyndham Championship just three starts ago, and as a superb driver of the ball who has recently found form in approach, he can double up at East Lake.

Young has been playing to a high level since the beginning of June, which started with back-to-back 4^th-place finishes in the Canadian Open and U.S. Open. Failing to build on that in the Travelers Championship, Rocket Classic and Open Championship on his following three starts, he then earned that breakthrough victory in the Wyndham Championship in dominant fashion, shooting 22-under-par to win by six strokes.

He's maintained an elevated standard in the first two events of the FedExCup Playoffs, first finishing 5^th in the St. Jude Championship due to a field-leading display with driver. He then recovered from a poor start at Caves Valley – where he opened with a four-over 74 to sit 40^th after round one – to eventually finish 11^th in last week’s BMW Championship.

His driving has been key over the last three months, ranking 4^th amongst the 30 players teeing it up this week. He’s hitting his irons much better than he was earlier in the season – with his approach display in the St. Jude rating as his best of the season – and the short game has also looked very sharp of late.

Young has only made it to the Tour Championship on one previous occasion in 2022, shooting the 19^th-lowest score in that 30-man field. However, he started promisingly with a couple of 67s before slowing down over the weekend. That win at Sedgefield CC should serve him well, whilst he’s also performed strongly at another Ross layout, Detroit Golf Club, finishing 2^nd in the 2022 Rocket Classic and 6^th in 2024.

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