THE FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLAR GOLF TOURNEY
It’s all come down to one more 72 hole PGA golf tournament known as the TOUR Championship to determine who will walk away with a cool $15,000,000 for winning the FedEx Cup Championship for 2019.
The East Lake Golf Club located just outside of Atlanta was established way back in 1904 and was the home course to famous hall of fame golfer Bobby Jones, whose memorabilia is much in evidence around the club house. The Tour Championship has been played at East Lake since 2004.
Only 30 of the world’s top professional golfers have qualified for the final big event. Notable names such as last year’s TOUR Championship winner Tiger Woods as well as Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Phil Michelson did not make the cut after participating in the BMW Championship last week at Medinah, Illinois. They all had a chance to make it to the top 30, but it just was not to be for these past and future champions.
Currently the odds on favorite to win the FedEx Cup Championship and that big pot of money is young Justin Thomas who bulled and finessed his way to an impressive victory at the BMW Championship winning by three strokes over the rest of the field and taking home a nice fat check for $1,665,000!
On top of that, Justin Thomas, as the leader in FedEx Cup points going into the final round of play, will start off at ten strokes under par at East Lake, such a deal. No wonder he is the favorite. Thomas is at +200 to win it all.
After a brilliant showing at the BMW, Patrick Cantlay +450 is the number two golfer in the FedEx standings and will begin at -8 strokes. Brooks Koepka, who was in the lead before the BMW, will still start at -7 and be listed at +600 for wagering.
Patrick Reed +1100 and Rory McIlroy +1200 both played some splendid golf at the BMW but just could not keep up with Justin Thomas. Reed will begin at East Lake at -6 and McIlroy at -5.
The unexpected name appearing for the first time in a FedEx Cup top ten ranking is young Abraham Ancer +4000 representing Mexico at East Lake. He and Spaniard Jon Rahm +1500, Matt Kuchar +4000, Xander Schauffele +2200 and Webb Simpson +2500 will all be starting the final rounds of the FedEx Cup competition for 2019 at four under par.
Possible long shots with a legitimate chance to win the FedEx Cup are Rickie Fowler +6000 and Dustin Johnson at +3000. Both have shown themselves more than capable of making an unstoppable run to leave the field behind for the win at a big tourney.
This is stacking up to be a great golf tournament. Starting with a 10 stroke lead may seem insurmountable, but, remember, last year Bryson DeChambeau was in the same spot as Justin Thomas is this year starting at -10. He only managed to end up T19, so, you just never know.