Steve Palmer's Tour Championship final-round golf betting tips and predictions
Where to watch the Tour Championship
Best bets
Xander Schauffele top American
3pts 5-4 bet365
Tommy Fleetwood top Englishman
2pts 21-10 Coral, Ladbrokes
Keegan Bradley to win 6.29pm twoball
1pt 6-4 general
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Story so far
The Viktor Hovland machine has clicked into overdrive again and left an elite field in its wake. The rampant Norwegian fired weekend rounds of 65 and 61 to win the BMW Championship last week, following up with rounds of 68, 64 and 66 to take full control of the Tour Championship.
Finding top form for the FedEx Cup playoffs is the perfect way to secure enormous sums of money for the modern golfer and Hovland will be thrilled with the way he has taken a stranglehold over the FedEx booty. He leads the Tour Championship by six shots and looks set to bank the $18m cheque which awaits the winner.
Hovland was a pre-tournament 5-1 for the Tour Championship and is no bigger than 1-8 having kicked clear. Ante-post 6-4 favourite, Scottie Scheffler, started the event with a two-shot handicap lead, but has fallen nine shots behind.
Rory McIlroy, labouring with back problems throughout the tournament, is tied for eighth place, 11 shots off the pace. The final twoball of Hovland and Xander Schauffele is scheduled to tee off at 6.40pm UK and Ireland time. Another sunny, sweltering, calm day is forecast, with temperatures reaching 35C.
Tour Championship leaderboard
-20 Viktor Hovland
-14 Xander Schauffele
-13 Keegan Bradley, Collin Morikawa
-11 Wyndham Clark, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler
-9 Patrick Cantlay, Adam Schenk, Rory McIlroy
Best odds for the Tour Championship
1-8 V Hovland, 12 X Schauffele, 33 C Morikawa, 66 K Bradley, 100 S Scheffler, 125 J Rahm, 200 bar
Tour Championship final-round predictions
Viktor Hovland is a ludicrously measured character for a 25-year-old and there is no reason to believe the phlegmatic Oslo man will be unsettled by his huge Tour Championship advantage.
Reporters were keen to sow that seed in post-round interviews on Saturday – the idea that being so far ahead is somehow so unfamiliar that is becomes uncomfortable – but Hovland replied in typically courteous and unruffled fashion.
Hovland is in possession of his A-game, he is bursting with positive energy, and he is charging along a well-trodden path of players winning multiple times in the FedEx Cup playoffs. Seven players before him have won back-to-back in the playoffs.Hovland seems more than relaxed enough to defend his six-shot advantage and make it another European success in the FedEx Cup. Rory McIlroy won the Tour Championship last year and looks set to hand the title to his friend.
Xander Schauffele has a fantastic East Lake record and seems the only player left in the field who could get close enough to Hovland to add pressure, but Hovland is playing so well that he would probably react positively to any challenge thrown his way. This is a top-class youngster who has always seemed good enough to threaten world-number-one status – and Tour Championship glory will get him closer to the top of the rankings tree.
Hovland first, Schauffele second seems a likely scenario, and the 11-8 about Schauffele in the new 'without Hovland' market is tempting. Slight preference, though, is for the 5-4 which is still available about Schauffele in the top American betting.
Taking 5-4 instead of 11-8 and getting to eliminate Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy from the equation seems the smarter move. Rahm is arguably the biggest danger to Schauffele in the 'without Hovland' market, while McIlroy has been getting fitter every day, having started the event essentially lame.
Schauffele was recommended by Racing Post Sport at 14-1 for top American on Tuesday, but a press-up at 5-4 is advised with 18 holes to play. Collin Morikawa has got progressively worse as this event has continued – rounds of 61, 64, 73 – and will have been dejected by how meekly he folded from contention on Saturday. Morikawa's win drought looks almost certain to continue and he may struggle to get his head right for the East Lake deneouement after Saturday.
Opposing Morikawa in the penultimate twoball also appeals. Keegan Bradley is in high spirits this week and enjoying the grind. The 6-4 Bradley beating Morikawa in the 6.29pm group looks healthy, while Tommy Fleetwood can be backed at a juicy 21-10 in the top Englishman market.
Matt Fitzpatrick is being shown great respect in this market, but he has been wild with his iron-play lately and has been spraying approaches at East Lake. Rounds of 67, 68, 71 have seen Fitzpatrick stall, while Fleetwood has improved as the week has worn on, firing a sizzling Saturday 65.
Tyrrell Hatton, grumpy even after a first-round 64, has at least had plenty to moan about since, carding a Saturday 72 which ended his title hopes. From level with Hatton and one behind Fitzpatrick, Fleetwood can charge to the line and end up top Englishman.
