Dustin Johnson FedEx Cup Playoffs Favorite, 30 Players Arrive at TOUR Championship

Posted on: September 2, 2020, 03:14h. 

Last updated on: September 3, 2020, 12:21h.

Dustin Johnson enters the TOUR Championship with a two-shot lead, and oddsmakers don’t expect the world’s best player to lose his position come Sunday evening in Atlanta.

Dustin Johnson golf odds FedEx Cup
The FedEx Cup concludes this week with the TOUR Championship. Jon Rahm, seen here, enters trailing leader Dustin Johnson by two strokes. (Image: Curtis Compton/AP)

The final leg of the three-part FedEx Cup Playoffs tees off tomorrow. Players begin the TOUR Championship with a handicap where they’re afforded strokes based on their point standings positioning entering the week. With Johnson arriving at East Lake Golf Club No. 1 in points, he begins the tournament at -10, two shots clear of No. 2 John Rahm at -8.

FanDuel has Johnson at +185 to win the TOUR Championship and FedEx Cup. That implies odds of 35 percent, a $100 bet netting $185.

If golf’s hottest player follows through, he’ll win much, much more.  The winner of the FedEx Cup takes home a staggering $15 million (pre-taxes and caddy fees, of course).

Rahm, who rattled in a 66-footer at last week’s BMW Championship to win in a playoff over DJ, is next at +280.

Starting Leaderboard

After Johnson at -10 and Rahm at -8, it’s 2017 FedEx Cup winner Justin Thomas at -7, Webb Simpson at -6, and PGA Championship victor Collin Morikawa at -5.

Thomas is at +550, Simpson +1000, and Morikawa at +1800. The top five in the FedEx Cup points enter the TOUR Championship with different starting handicaps.

The next batch — all beginning at -4 — includes Bryson DeChambeau (+2200), Hideki Matsuyama and Daniel Berger (+2700), Harris English (+5000), and Sungjae Im (+6500).

Despite entering at -3, Rory McIlroy, the 2016 and 2019 FedEx Cup champion is shorter than those at -4. The Northern Irishman is at +2000 to win the grand loot.

On the other side of the spectrum, the players who managed to just sneak into the Top 30 to play in the TOUR Championship enter the week as much as 10 shots off the lead. Naturally, they have very long FedEx Cup title odds.

Starting at even par, MacKenzie Hughes and Cameron Smith are both at +60000 at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook. A $5 winning bet on those odds would net $3,000.

Betting Trends on $45M Purse

Golf’s best players are competing this week for the largest payout of the year. The 30 players will split a prize pool of $45 million.

Even the player who comes in dead last in the no-cut event will take home $395,000. The top eight players will each take home at least $1 million.

According to sportsbook William Hill, Thomas leads in terms of money wagered (21 percent). Simpson is next at 17 percent, Rahm third at 14 percent, Tony Finau (+4200) at 12 percent, and Morikawa rounding out the top five at nine percent.

In terms of the number of tickets, Morikawa leads at 11 percent. McIlroy and Thomas are at eight percent, and Simpson and Berger at seven percent.