Justin Thomas, the FedEx Cup winner in his breakout year in 2017, is the favorite to win it again this week.
That’s because he’s the current leader of the FedEx Cup race and is also the favorite to win the Tour Championship. As always it is being played at venerable East Lake, home of the late, great Bobby Jones in Atlanta.
The FedEx Cup race is a season-long contest in which points are at stake in every event on the US PGA Tour. The Tour Championship climaxes the PGA Tour.
If then, the 26-year old American wins the Tour Championship he can’t fail to carry off the FedEx Cup and its $15m dollar prize. Not winning, but finishing high up could also do it for him. It did in 2017 when he finished second in the Tour Championship.
On Tuesday, two days before the Tour Championship tees off, the odds on him winning it were +225 (9/4) or thereabouts.
This was the case with most New Jersey sportsbooks, including Resorts Casino online and 888sport, but some differed slightly. FanDuel had him at +250.
Patrick Cantlay’s a surprise choice as second favorite
Next best bookie favorite of the elite 30 players who qualified for the Tour Championship was somewhat surprisingly Patrick Cantlay.
He’s Thomas’ closest pursuers in the FedEx standings, yes, but hasn’t got the history of some of the much bigger guns behind him
His odds were around +425 (17/4) which put him ahead of World No 1 Brooks Koepka, who has won four majors in three years. Koepke’s odds’ were around +500 (5/1).
Five-time major winner Rory McIlroy followed in 4th place at +900 (9/1). Then come Spain’s big Basque, John Rahm and cocky American 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed. Both are at +1600 (16/1).
Tiger Woods, the reigning Masters champion, was hoping to play catch-up at last week’s BMW Championship. He didn’t do enough, however, and is not in this week’s field.
Thomas’ breakout season in 2016-17 was an eye-opener
Thomas had an incredible year in 2016-17. Apart from winning the FedEx Cup, he also:
- Won five tournaments, including his first major, the PGA Championship.
- Shot a rare 59 on his way to winning the Sony Open by seven shots.
- Equaled the US Open single-round record of 63. He eagled the last hole by hitting his 3-wood to 8 feet on this par-5 hole to finish at 9-under-par, also a US Open record previously held by Johnny Miller.
He won three more tournaments in 2017-18 and briefly elevated himself to World No 1. However, he cooled down in 2019.
He had some good finishes that earned him valuable FedEx Cup points, but he didn’t win again until last week.
Thomas hit back with a vengeance at the BMW Championship.
That was in the BMW Championship at the Medinah Country Club outside Chicago. It was the third of the four FedEx Cup playoffs and he did it in style. He finished at 25-under and went to the top of the FedEx Standings.
That signaled that his temporary lull was behind him and he was back with a vengeance. And this at a time when Koepke seems to be cooling down a little.
It has certainly given the New Jersey sportsbooks a good reason to make him their Tour Championship and FedEx Cup favorite.
I’ll go along with him being the most likely winner of the FedEx Cup. I’m not so sure about the Tour Championship, though. Winning tournaments of this caliber twice in a row is a very rare occurrence.
Following are the general New Jersey odds for all 30 players contesting the Tour Championship.
The Odds (Tuesday, Aug 20)
(For all the 30n players in the Tour Championship)
Justin Thomas +225
Patrick Cantlay +425
Brooks Koepka +500
Rory McIlroy +900
Jon Rahm +1600
Patrick Reed +1600
Webb Simpson +2000
Dustin Johnson +2500
Xander Schauffele +2800
Hideki Matsuyama +3300
Justin Rose +4000
Adam Scott +4000
Tony Finau +4500
Matt Kuchar +4500
Rickie Fowler +5000
Pau Casey +6600
Abraham Ancer +8000
Tommy Fleetwood +8000
Gary Woodland +8000
Kevin Kisner +12500
Brandt Snedeker +12500
Marc Leishman +20000
Brandt Oosthuizen +20000
Sungjae Im +20000
Corey Conners +250000
Bryson DeChambeau +250000
Charles Howell III +250000
Jason Kokrak +250000
Chez Reavie +250000
Lucas Glover +350000.
