The 2022-23 PGA Tour schedule comes to a conclusion when the 2023 Tour Championship gets underway Thursday from East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. 

By virtue of being atop the FedExCup Standings leaderboard, Scottie Scheffler will start the tournament with a weighted score of -10, followed by last week's winner Viktor Hovland (-8), Rory McIlroy (-7), Jon Rahm (-6), and Lucas Glover (-5). The five players with the most ground to make up at the outset, currently Nos. 26-30 in the FedExCup, will start with a score of Even par. On Sunday, the winner of the event will receive $18 million, with second place taking home $6.5 million and $5 million for third place.

Scheffler is the +140 favorite (risk $100 to win $140) in the latest 2023 Tour Championship odds. McIlroy (+330), Hovland (+500) and Rahm (+800) are among the other 2023 Tour Championship contenders atop the PGA odds board, while most of the players starting the tournament close to even are huge longshots in this format. 

Scottie Scheffler's Recent Form

Scheffler looked to be in control of the BMW Championship heading into the back nine and looking for his third victory in 2023. But with Viktor Hovland firing a 28 on the back 9 and Scheffler stuck seemingly in neutral, it wasn't meant to be on Sunday. Regardless, he starts the tournament at East Lake with the lowest score, giving him a significant advantage heading into this week's action.

The Texan was by far the best player last week in Shots Gained: Tee to Green, gaining 14.35 compared to the field average. Rory McIlroy was in second, nearly six shots back. Unfortunately yet again, Scheffler's putter held him back, as he lost 1.89 strokes to the field on the greens. It was the fourth straight tournament of negative strokes gained putting for Scheffler, who has now gone backwards in six of his last eight tournaments.

Last year, he looked to be in prime position to capture his first FedExCup title before Rory McIlroy ran him down with a scintillating back nine. Most concerning for Scheffler backers is that he lost more than three strokes putting last year at this event and in three previous Tour Championship appearances, he's down nearly 12 shots against the field on the greens.

In the 19 events Scheffler has played in this season, his lowest finish was a T31 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship two weeks ago. He has two victories, 11 top-5 finishes, and 17 finishes inside the top-12. If he captures the title this week, it is most deserved based on his body of work this season.

About East Lake Golf Club

East Lake Goif Club is the oldest golf course in the city of Atlanta and it has hosted every Tour Championship since 2005. The par-70 layout will play at approximately 7,346 yards this week. 

Tiger Woods (257) holds the 72-hole record at East Lake, while Zach Johnson holds the 18-hole record (60). The original architect was Tom Bendelow, then both Donald Ross and Rees Jones put their stamp on the historic Atlanta layout.

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