The FedEx Cup championship is on the line this weekend at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, but it’s admittedly not a great weekend for underdogs to pull through. First of all, scoring starts off staggered, with #1 ranked Scottie Scheffler kicking off the weekend at -10, meaning somebody like J.T. Poston (+25000) not only has to beat one of the best golfers in the world, but they have to do it while starting ten strokes down.
There are also just 30 golfers left in the FedEx Cup playoffs, though, so it is rare to get a player like Billy Horschel (+15000) with the seventh highest odds in a tournament. In all likelihood, this one is going to go to a Scheffler (+250), Patrick Cantlay (+400), or Xander Schauffele (+700) just because of the advantage they have to start the weekend, but let’s take a look at some underdogs that have the potential to contend:
Cameron Young +4000
We were expecting a bit more from Young in his first FedEx Cup playoffs, but a 31st at the FedEx St Jude Championship and 23rd at the BMW Championship are disappointing. Even so, this is a guy who has seven finishes in the top three this season, and it would be a perfect time for his first Tour victory and an $18 million pot.
Jordan Spieth +6600
Spieth starts eight strokes back from Scheffler this weekend and has had a rough FedEx Cup playoffs after missing the cut at FedEx St Jude and then coming in 19th last week at the BMW Championship. He still has a win at East Lake in 2015 and a runner-up in 2013 and is the type of player that starting so far back to begin the weekend could take some of the pressure off and help him relax.
Scott Stallings +10000
Stallings is hot at the right time finishing in the top 10 in four of his last six tournaments, including a runner-up at the BMW Championship last weekend. He starts off a manageable seven strokes back from Scheffler, but his is also Stallings’ first ever appearance at East Lake.
Sepp Straka +12500
Straka has a few things going for him this week, one of which is being a University of Georgia graduate coming back to Atlanta to play at East Lake. This is the first time he’s played in a Tour event at the course, but he won the Honda Classic in Florida, finished second at the FedEx St Jude Championship in Tennessee, and got third at the RBC Heritage in Tennessee, so he likes the South.
Billy Horschel +15000
That’s good odds on Horschel, who is 15th in the OWGR. He hasn’t really contended since his win at the Memorial in early June, but won at East Lake in 2014, was the runner-up in 2018, and had a top 10 finish in 2021. Horschel is also from the South as a Florida graduate and has a bit of an advantage playing in Atlanta.
