This article is part of our Yahoo PGA DFS Picks series.
TOUR Championship
Atlanta, Georgia
East Lake Golf Club - Par 71 - 7,490 yards
Field - 30 entrants
Purse - $100M
The Preview
A newly-renovated East Lake Golf Club plays host to the TOUR Championship this week, inviting those still remaining among the top 30 in the FedExCup standings after advancing through the first two legs of the playoffs to continue their 2024 campaigns at this grand finale in Atlanta for their share of a $100M purse. East Lake's relatively narrow fairways for its great length, along with penalizing bermuda rough survived the revamp, but players have indicated the course feels completely different, and larger green complexes should encourage creative pin locations.
As for the event's unique staggered start, Yahoo indicates that scoring for final placement for the TOUR Championship will include the weighted scoring when the tournament begins, but the DFS penalty for a starting stroke disparity is less severe the further down the leaderboard you travel. The gap in fantasy points received near the bottom is minuscule, especially with four guaranteed rounds of actual scoring still to be played. The difference between the bonus for a player finishing 11th vs. finishing 30th is worth only three fantasy points, which is less than a single birdie over the course of 72 holes. The difference between finishing second and 10th is worth only four fantasy points. Whereas the difference between a golfer finishing in first place vs. fourth place is 17 fantasy points. So, it's as important as ever to roster the eventual champion, but grinding the starting-strokes conundrum near the bottom of the leaderboard doesn't have to be as trivial as it might be on other sites with different scoring systems.
Recent Champions
2023 - Viktor Hovland
2022 - Rory McIlroy
2021 - Patrick Cantlay
2020 - Dustin Johnson
2019 - Rory McIlroy
2018 - Tiger Woods
2017 - Xander Schauffele
2016 - Rory McIlroy
2015 - Jordan Spieth
2014 - Billy Horschel
Key Stats to Victory
SG: Approach
Driving accuracy
Birdie or Better percentage
SG: Putting
Yahoo Value Picks
Based on $200 salary cap
Cream of the Crop
Scottie Scheffler - $45 (10-under)
Scheffler struggled adjusting to the altitude on his approach shots last week in Colorado where he lost strokes with his irons for just the second time all season, but he remains an easy click at this price, especially with the 10-under advantage. He's always putted terribly at East Lake, but the change from Mini-Verde to TifEagle bermuda greens could make him more comfortable.
Xander Schauffele - $44 (8-under)
Landing two shots below Scheffler on the opening leaderboard, Schauffele continues to ride a hot flat stick as he ranks No. 1 in SG: Putting over his last 24 measured rounds, though he also just ranked fifth among the field at the BMW Championship in SG: Off-the-Tee on the way to a T5 result. His track record at East Lake is stellar with a debut victory back in 2017 preceding six straight finishes of T7 or better, including a solo-second here last year when he led the tournament in putting average, par-4 scoring and total birdies. Given Yahoo's soft pricing structure, the Scheffler-Schauffele stack is going to be incredibly popular.
Glue Guys
Hideki Matsuyama - $36 (7-under)
Although he might not be at full strength due to lingering effects from the lower back issue that forced him to withdraw after a five-under 67 in Round 1 at last week's BMW Championship, the injury concern should help limit Matsuyama's ownership despite being underpriced at just $36 while starting the event in third place. This type of volatility should be targeted in low-stake, large-field GPPs where it's okay to be more risk tolerant with your lineup building.
Patrick Cantlay - $32 (4-under)
Cantlay placed 5-T7-Win in his last three trips to East Lake despite losing strokes with the putter during each of these appearances, more notably gaining a collective 18.8 strokes from tee to green across his past 12 rounds here. He's gained an average of three strokes putting per measured event throughout his last four starts dating back to the U.S. Open, and Cantlay is top-10 in both SG: OTT and SG: APP over his last 12 rounds.
Bargain Bin
Sungjae Im - $26 (3-under)
The Atlanta-area resident heads back to his U.S. home base for a sixth consecutive TOUR Championship appearance, but this time around, he's No. 1 in Birdies or Better Gained and fourth in Par-4 Efficiency over his last 24 rounds. Im tied for second here at East Lake two years ago when he gained 6.9 strokes with his ball striking, while pacing the field in total GIR with 58 of 72 greens hit in regulation en route to 19 birdies and two eagles.
Sam Burns - $20 (4-under)
Not only is Burns a bit mispriced because of his four-under start, but he's also coming off a T12-T5-T2 stretch from the 3M Open through the BMW Championship where he racked up 23 total par-breakers and fired a seven-under 67 on Sunday. He's absolutely feeling it with the flat stick right now, and bermuda is his best putting surface. Burns is second to none in Birdies or Better Gained over his past 12 rounds.
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