World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the overwhelming favorite to win next week’s Tour Championship. His odds are the shortest we’ve seen since Tiger Woods in 2009. Scheffler will face off against the rest of the East Lake Golf Club field—for the fourth consecutive year, no less. Seeing those odds at +160 on ESPN BET makes him the clear favorite for the highly coveted title.
The Tour Championship teeing off next week without the starting strokes it has been using for all of the past five editions. The event is the grand finale of the FedEx Cup playoffs. The eventual winner will take home the championship trophy, along with the highly sought after billing as FedEx Cup champion. This year’s introduction of an additional format change is sure to increase the excitement and competitiveness of the tournament.
Rory McIlroy is right behind Scheffler with the second-shortest odds at +850. That makes McIlroy’s odds five times longer than Scheffler’s. This overwhelming gap underscores why Scheffler has been so dominant in the betting markets. Jeff Sherman, a veteran of the sports-betting industry, thinks Scheffler’s odds would be about +350 against that big a field. That means Scheffler will be a tough customer to deal with as he chases down the overall championship.
Though no other player has shorter than 12-1 odds at ESPN BET, McIlroy has drawn a ton of support from the betting public. According to some reports almost as much money has been placed on McIlroy. This sum is nearly double the combined money wagered overall on Tommy Fleetwood and Russell Henley. This peculiarity goes to show just how popular McIlroy still is with the betting public and golf fans.
With the tournament just weeks away, it’s hard to argue that Scheffler’s play all season long hasn’t made him the top dog. He has displayed both dazzling talent and reliable consistency, giving opponents an absolute nightmare of a player to focus on during the championship. The enthusiasm for this inaugural event is electric, and golf fans across the world can’t wait to see how this first winner-take-all battle plays out.
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