The 2026 FedEx Cup Playoffs conclude Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta when the Tour Championship begins at 11 a.m. ET. Thirty players will compete for a $10 million first-place prize as part of a $40 million total purse, with no staggered scoring start this year. Every player enters the week on equal footing.
Scottie Scheffler enters as the clear favorite. According to CBS Sports, FanDuel Sportsbook has him listed at +310. Rory McIlroy is next at +950, followed by Xander Schauffele at +1200. Wyndham Clark, who won the BMW Championship last week, is listed at +1800. Defending Tour Championship winner Tommy Fleetwood sits at +2000.
Scheffler also won the FedEx St. Jude Championship in the first leg of the playoffs, giving him back-to-back playoff event victories heading into this week. Clark carries momentum from his BMW win but opens at longer odds than both Scheffler and McIlroy.
The SportsLine computer model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, simulated the tournament 10,000 times and projects a leaderboard that differs from the betting market in a few notable ways. The model has nailed 17 majors heading into the weekend, including the 2026 Masters, its fifth Masters prediction in a row, along with last year's PGA Championship and Open Championship.
One of the model's bigger calls is fading Schauffele despite his relatively short odds at +1200. Schauffele has no wins in 2026 and just three top-5 finishes on the season. He finished tied for 26th at the BMW Championship in a 50-player field. While he has a history of performing well at East Lake, he has not won the event since 2017. The model does not view his current odds as strong value.
On the other side, the model points to Sam Burns at +1800 as a strong win contender and a value top-5 bet. Burns also struggled at the BMW, finishing tied for 28th. But his broader body of work late in the season is more encouraging. He has top-5 finishes at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the Open Championship and the U.S. Open. He also has a pair of top-10 finishes at East Lake over the past three years. Burns and Clark share the same odds heading into the week, but the model separates them in terms of projected performance.
East Lake has historically rewarded consistent ball-strikers who can navigate a demanding layout under playoff pressure. The format change this year, removing the staggered start that had previously given higher seeds a scoring advantage before the opening round, levels the competition in a way that could benefit players outside the top few seeds.
The first round begins Thursday morning with the full field of 30 in action.
