The PGA TOUR season comes to an end when the TOUR Championship tees off this week at East Lake Golf Club.
This is a look at the best first-round leader bets to make for the event on DraftKings Sportsbook.
The TOUR Championship: First Round Leader Picks
The TOUR Championship is being played at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. East Lake Golf Club is a par 70 golf course and ranges 7,490 yards. The TOUR Championship has been hosted at East Lake every year since 2004, with many renovations done to the course over the years. The defending champion is Scottie Scheffler, but Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy are all former winners here, under the old format. Scheffler also won last week’s BMW Championship, while Justin Rose won the first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs in Memphis.
This event is the conclusion of the FedEx Cup playoffs, but it will look different than in years past. The top players in the points list used to start with an advantage, but now the top 30 will start the event at even par. All 30 players, from Scottie Scheffler to Akshay Bhatia, will start at even par and have an equal chance to be crowned the TOUR champion. The winner of this event will get $10 million, making it by far the biggest winning prize on the PGA TOUR.
Viktor Hovland FRL (+2000)
Viktor Hovland is one of the most talented players on the PGA TOUR and is finally finding his form heading into this event. Hovland finished third at the U.S. Open, T-11 at the Scottish Open and just finished T-7 at the BMW Championship last week. Hovland has always performed well in the FedEx Cup playoffs, but particularly at East Lake. Hovland had the lowest gross score at the 2023 TOUR Championship en route to winning the FedEx Cup playoffs. Last season, Hovland finished ninth in gross scoring and he finished T-4 in gross scoring in 2021. Hovland ranks second on the PGA TOUR in strokes gained: approach to green. His iron play is phenomenal, but he has been held back by his putter this season. However, that putter has improved over the past few weeks. If he can get putts to drop, he has a great chance of leading after the first round.
Harry Hall FRL (+2500)
Harry Hall has been one of the breakout stars on the PGA TOUR this season. A lot of players in the TOUR Championship field have made it here because of their appearances in signature events that were earned through past performances. However, of all the players in the field, Hall has grinded the hardest to get here. Hall finally broke through on the PGA TOUR last season, getting his first win to get him into some big events this season. He took massive advantage of that opportunity. In 24 starts this season, he made 21 cuts, had 14 top-25 finishes and five top-10 finishes. He has made 16 straight cuts to end the season and finished in the top 25 in 10 of his past 11 events. His sixth-place finish at last week’s BMW Championship saw him be the only player to jump inside the top 30 and steal a place in the TOUR Championship.
Hall has arguably been the best putter on the PGA TOUR this season. He ranks second in strokes gained: putting, first in putting average and first in putts per round. As such an incredible putter, Hall is capable of leading any tournament after the first round. His driver can get him into trouble and lead to holes where he puts up big numbers, but he also ranks second on the PGA TOUR in birdie or better percentage because of that great putter. He has also excelled in opening rounds this year, ranking third in Round 1 scoring average. As long as he can avoid mistakes off the tee, Hall has a real chance to lead after the first round of his first-ever TOUR Championship.
