Welcome back golf fans. After another long season, the Top 30 players in the standings head to East Lake Golf Club, the annual stop for the Tour Championship this week. That is until 2027, when huge changes are coming to not only the Tour Championship but the PGA Tour as a whole! First of all, this will be the final year that East Lake will host the Tour Championship, with it becoming a rotating-course event like the BMW Championship. The final will also be played in Match Play format, which should definitely add intrigue and a new kind of pressure. We will discuss the future changes in a future 2027 season preview article.
One big change has come into effect this year, and that is the removal of the starting score from top to bottom. This puts all 30 players on the same level at the start of the event.
In this article, we will preview East Lake Golf Club, look at the stats that matter here, and identify some of our top targets for the betcard. Let’s get started.
Create a fantasy golf commissioner league, invite your friends and “master” your draft this season (no green jacket required). Our FREE PGA fantasy golf league manager is the most customizable, easy-to-use, and feature-rich platform in the industry.
The Course: East Lake Golf Club
East Lake is one of three Donald Ross designs in the regular rotation. It is a Par 70 setup that stretches out to 7,440 yards, which makes it the second-longest Par 70 on tour behind Memorial Park Golf Course. Looking at the scorecard, it is one of only a few courses on tour where all four par 3’s are over 200 yards. Add in seven par 4s that are 450 yards or longer, two of which are over 500 yards, and long irons are once again going to be key this week. The par 5s are both scoreable and listed a 525 and 585 yards.
The fairways are some of the narrowest on tour, which produces a very low mid-50 % driving accuracy average, and remember this is the best of the best each season playing here. Adding to the difficulty is the penalty for missing fairways with some tricky Bermuda rough, and that puts emphasis on driving accuracy over distance. That brings us to Strokes Gained: Approach, which is my top stat in the model this week. This is where players can separate themselves from the pack, and as I mentioned above, long iron proximity will be very important with long par 3’s and several long par 4s on the card.
Stats & Trends That Matter: Finding the 2026 Tour Championship Best Bets
Scottie Scheffler (+335 Outright)
In a short, 30-man field, the low number on the World #1 doesn’t seem so bad. He won the opening playoff event at TPC Southwind, and while the T12 last week wasn’t his best, he was dealing with hand, foot, and mouth disease. Assuming he is back to or close to 100% this week, everything sets up nicely for a second Tour Championship win after taking it down in 2024. In all, he has placed 6th or better in five of six trips to East Lake and comes in ranked 2nd in SG: Tee to Green, 4th in SG: Approach, 1st in Proximity from 150-200, and 9th in Proximity from 200+ yards. I love the outright pre-tourney but could also see betting him live after round one should he sit two to three strokes back.
Xander Schauffele (+1250 Outright / +188 Top 5)
The form has been all over the place with Xander in 2026 but has been solid down the stretch, gaining strokes on approach in four straight events, tallying two top-10s during that time. The short game let him down big time last week at the BMW Championship, but the good news is that he is now returning to a course he has pretty much dominated. He won the Tour Championship here in 2017 and has never finished worse than 7th in eight trips to East Lake. Over the last five years, he also leads this field in SG: Tee to Green, is 2nd in SG: Approach, and 8th in SG: Putting here. I will have some money on the outright, but my favorite bet is the top 5 finish at +188 on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Tommy Fleetwood (+1800 Outright / +245 Top 5 / -110 Top 10)
Even after a disappointing finish last week, I did not expect the defending Tour Championship winner to be so far down the odds board (9th in outright odds). A year ago, he was one of just five players to hit more than 70% of fairways and greens and, combined with a red-hot putter, led the field with a whopping 27 birdies en route to the win. He also had a strong showing in 2024 with a 6th-place finish and ranks 10th in SG: Tee to Green, 11th in SG: Approach, and 1st in SG: Putting over the last five years at East Lake. His game sets up well for these courses, and I will go right back to the well this week in the outright and secondary markets.
Fantrax is one of the fastest-growing fantasy sites in the fantasy sports industry, and we’re not stopping anytime soon. We are the most customizable, easy-to-use, and feature-rich platform in the industry, offering the greatest fantasy experience for your dynasty, keeper, redraft, and best ball leagues. Fantasy sports doesn’t sleep, and neither does Fantrax, with seasons running 365 days a year. Take your fantasy leagues to the next level now at Fantrax.com!
