ANYONE'S CHANCE AT TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

Whilst Scottie Scheffler sits a whopping 3,769 points above Rory McIlroy on the FedEx Cup standings, it’s back to square one for the top 30 players. There is no longer an advantage for the points leaders with the starting strokes taken away. This means the Tour Championship is up for grabs from anyone between Scheffler at number 1 and Akshay Bhatia who just snuck in at number 30 last week. It should be one of the more interesting Tour Championship weeks this year, let’s discuss the teams picks.

Eds Picks

Harry Hall (Top 5, 8/1) - Harry Hall is the latest name that has been thrown around in conversations for the European Ryder Cup team. Earlier this week, Brad Faxon said in an Instagram post that Hall is “on paper and on the green, the best putter on Tour this year”, specifically pointing out the continuous motion of his stroke. That is a huge compliment from one of the best putters of all time. Hall has not dropped outside a top 30 finish on tour since the Byron Nelson back in May, but has yet to secure a top 5 finish this season. Hall is 100th in approach to greens but 6th in scrambling on Tour, which will come in handy when missing the tricky greens around East Lake. The potential for a Ryder Cup debut should fuel Harry Hall for a good week. 

Scottie Scheffler (Win 2/1) - It is obviously not the be all and end all for Scheffler this week. He already finished the year on top of the regular season list earning him $10 million USD and no one will argue there has been a better player on Tour this season than him. However, like many other sports, the best team over the regular season doesn’t always win. He still has to come out and perform, and I think he will. Accuracy is key and there is no one more robotic and consistently accurate than Scottie. First in total strokes gained, strokes gained approach and off the tee. Scheffler will take home back-to-back Tour Championships this week. If he doesn’t then whatever. Time to give the people a better playoff format to care about. 

Oli’s Picks

Maverick McNealy (Top 5, 6/1) - It will be Mav’s first appearance at East Lake making the top 30 for the first time in his career. He has found himself inside the 12 spots on the Ryder Cup points list sitting at number 10 with five top 5 finishes this season including a solo third last week at the BMW Championship. McNealy is coming in hot for a debut spot in the Ryder Cup team and for this week’s Tour Championship. 

Tommy Fleetwood (Win 15/1) - This is the week. After all the pain and suffering golf fans have endured watching Tommy Fleetwood, it all ends this week. T4 last week, T3 the week before, his form has been outstanding this season with 14 out of 18 events resulting in a top 25. His approach play has been elite, 7th in strokes gained approach, and has been accurate with his driver, ranked 26th, both important factors to scoring well around East Lake.