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2023 Tour Championship Odds & Picks: Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland, Brian Harman

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The 2022-2023 PGA Tour season will come to a dramatic conclusion this week with the Tour Championship at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

There’s a great deal at stake for the 30 players who qualified for this event by making it through the first three tournaments of the four-week FedEx Cup Playoffs. The winner of the Tour Championship will receive $18 million and a five-year PGA Tour exemption. Second place is worth $6.5 million. Every player in the field will earn at least $500,000 for making it this far, along with a two-year PGA Tour exemption and a 2024 Masters invitation.

The Tour Championship uses a unique “starting strokes” system that rewards players based on the number of FedEx Cup points they’ve accumulated throughout the season. The FedEx Cup points leader starts at -10. The No. 2 player starts at -8, the No. 3 player starts at -7, the No. 4 player starts at -6, and the No. 5 player starts at -5. The rest of the field is sorted into groups of five, with groups starting at -4, -3, -2, -1 and even par. Bear in mind that betting odds for the Tour Championship take the starting strokes system into account.

The field features betting favorite Scottie Scheffler, reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm and defending FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy. Will one of the big names claim the title, or will we see a less heralded but red-hot player such as Lucas Glover or Brian Harman win at East Lake?

Let’s look at the betting outlook for a few of the players who’ll be competing in this week’s Tour Championship.

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2023 Tour Championship Odds & Picks

Viktor Hovland 2023 Tour Championship Betting Outlook

Viktor Hovland has secured two outright wins this season for the first time in his PGA Tour career. We just witnessed a record-setting final round of -9-under-par at the BMW Championship, where the Norwegian relied on his ballstriking and improved putter to bury seven birdies on the back nine. He recorded a T5 finish at East Lake in 2021, then finished T15 in 2022, so there’s a lot to like about Hovland’s outright odds at 10-1, especially since he’s No. 2 in the FedEx Cup standings and will start at -8.

2023 Tour Championship Betting Advice

Due to his staggered starting position at -8-under-par, behind only Scottie Scheffler, betting on Hovland’s 10/1 outright odds is a strong wager to place. Let’s confidently bet on Hovland to win his first FedExCup at the 2023 Tour Championship.

Brian Harman 2023 Tour Championship Betting Outlook

Brian Harman is looking for a strong finish to the best season of his career. Not only did he secure a major championship with his win at The Open, but Harman has now finished inside the top 12 in five of his past six tournaments. It will be a tall task to make up a six-stroke differential with Scottie Scheffler, but Harman has four days to do it, and it is certainly not impossible.

2023 Tour Championship Betting Advice

I will be making a small play on Harman outright this week at 60-1 via FanDuel. In my opinion, he has the highest floor out of anyone in the 4-under group. The bigger concern will be making enough birdies to close the gap between him and Scheffler. But, at 60-1, it is worth a shot considering his recent form.

Patrick Cantlay 2023 Tour Championship Betting Outlook

The 2021 FedEx Cup champion finished T7 at East Lake last year after starting just two shots back, but has a steeper hill to climb in 2023. Cantlay will start six shots back of Scottie Scheffler, among a group of five players who will start at -4, in the unique Tour Championship scoring system. The 31-year-old is first on tour in Total Driving and third in SG: Total but that has yet to translate into a win this season. With a small field, Cantlay should be considered, but he shouldn’t be a core play.

2023 Tour Championship Betting Advice

There are better spots to back Cantlay, but if you’re a fan of the UCLA grad, he’s worth a flyer and a small wager.

More 2023 Tour Championship Picks & Predictions

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