The 2022-23 PGA Tour season concludes this week when the top 30 players compete in the 2023 Tour Championship beginning Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. For the fifth straight year, players will be sent off in a staggered start based on their rankings in the FedEx Cup standings. Scottie Scheffler, who finished last week’s BMW Championship atop the standings, enters the Tour Championship at 10-under par and holding a two-shot lead over Viktor Hovland. The winner of the Tour Championship will earn the FedEx Cup title and an $18 million paycheck.
Scheffler is the favorite in the latest Tour Championship odds, at +130. Rory McIlroy (+330), Hovland (+450), Jon Rahm (+850) and Patrick Cantlay (+1800) round out the top five on the PGA odds board. Before locking in any Tour Championship picks, make sure you see the PGA Tour predictions and best bets from golf betting and fantasy expert Sia Nejad.
Nejad specializes in betting and DFS in golf, among other sports. He’s had incredible success in the outright and first-round leader markets and in betting head-to-head matchups. He also has been on fire on head-to-head matchups since the Charles Schwab Challenge, going 24-15-1 and returning 6.59 units over that span. That’s a $659 profit for $100 bettors in the past 13 weeks.
Nejad also nailed 75-1 longshot Wyndham Clark as the outright winner at the Wells Fargo Championship. In 2023, SportsLine debuted “The Early Wedge,” and in the first three months of the show, he hit two first-round leaders and three outright winners. Nejad also had a winning head-to-head record in seven of nine weeks. He was up more than 70 units over that three-month span.
Now, Nejad has focused his attention on the 2023 Tour Championship field and has locked in his best bets, top sleepers and favorites to avoid. See who they are at SportsLine.
Top 2023 Tour Championship expert picks
One surprise: Nejad is completely fading Scottie Scheffler, even though he is the +130 favorite to win with starting strokes and starts with a two-shot lead. Ranked No. 1 both in the world and in the FedEx Cup rankings, Scheffler has had a remarkable season, with two wins and 16 top 10s in 22 events. He’s had one of the best Strokes Gained: Total seasons ever, averaging 2.502 strokes gained per round.
But Scheffler has struggled with the putter all year; he ranks 145th on Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting (-0.239). “The putter has been his Kryptonite all season, and this week the chase pack will have a full four rounds to expose Scheffler’s putting woes,” Nejad told SportsLine. Nejad is not using Scheffler in any of his wagers. See all his picks at SportsLine.
However, Nejad is high on the chances of Sam Burns, who is +4500 to win without starting strokes. Ranked No. 22 in the world, Burns has one win and five top 10s in 25 starts this season. He is coming off a 15th at the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields.
Burns will start the Tour Championship 10 strokes behind the leader, Scheffler, and Nejad believes that will force Burns to be aggressive and fire at pins with nothing to lose. “His game is trending in the right direction across a myriad of metrics, including greens in regulation and approach play, and we know he’s the type of player who can get hot at any given moment,” Nejad told SportsLine. See whom else to back at SportsLine.
How to make 2023 Tour Championship picks
Nejad has locked in his best bets for the 2023 Tour Championship and is backing several longshots, including one who is priced higher than 50-1. This player “continues to play well” and is a longshot who could surprise. You can see Nejad’s PGA Tour picks only at SportsLine.
So which players should you target or avoid for the 2023 Tour Championship, and which player in the Tour Championship 2023 field could bring a huge payday at more than 50-1? Check out the odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Sia Nejad’s top picks for Tour Championship 2023, all from the expert who was up more than 70 units on his recent golf picks.
2023 Tour Championship starting score odds, field
See Nejad’s picks, best bets and predictions here.
Scottie Scheffler (-10) +140
Rory McIlroy (-7) +330
Viktor Hovland (-8) +500
Jon Rahm (-6) +800
Patrick Cantlay (-4) +1600
Max Homa (-4) +2800
Xander Schauffele (-3) +3000
Matt Fitzpatrick (-4) +4000
Lucas Glover (-5) +4000
Wyndham Clark (-4) +4500
Tommy Fleetwood (-3) +4500
Brian Harman (-4) +4500
Rickie Fowler (-3) +7000
Russell Henley (-3) +7500
Tom Kim (-2) +11000
Sungjae Im (-2) +11000
Tony Finau (-2) +13000
Keegan Bradley (-3) +13000
Corey Conners (-2) +13000
Colin Morikawa (-1) +13000
Tyrrell Hatton (E) +15000
Si Woo Kim (-2) +18000
Jordan Spieth (E) +18000
Jason Day (-1) +25000
Sam Burns (E) +30000
Taylor Moore (-1) +40000
Sepp Straka (E) +50000
Emiliano Grillo (E) +50000
Adam Schenk (-1) +50000
Nick Taylor (-1) +80000