As part of the PGA Tour, the Tour Championship returns this week on August 25th with the top 30 golfers going head to head in the attempt to claim the title and prove their worth in the ultimate golf championship.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 23rd, 05:00 A.M. (EST)
This year’s favourites for the championship include none other than Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele amongst others. The odds on them being priced at 3.40, 5.00 and 8.50 respectively to be victorious come Sunday at bookmaker William Hill.
What is interesting to see however is that Rory McIlroy is outside of the top three finishers with the oddsmakers. This could be because of his poor performance at the BMW Championship last week when he finished 11th in the overall standings even after he was considered as one of the favourites.
The Tour Championship will be held at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia like it is every year. The club itself has a rich and diverse history being the home to legendary golfer Bobby Jones and being the oldest golf course in the city of Atlanta.
As previously mentioned, this year’s favourite for the Tour Championship is Scottie Scheffler, an elite golfer with an amazing record to his name. As of August 2022, he is ranked No. 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Being one of the most versatile players out there has definitely helped Scheffler reach the No. 1 spot in the world rankings. How did he do it? In the next section we get a glimpse into Scheffler’s putting technique and how an analytical approach helped him achieve great success on the PGA Tour.
In his own words:
“I break a putt into thirds and read each segment separately, paying most attention to the segment closest to the hole. Why the last third? When the ball slows down, it reacts the most to slope. Also, by reading a green this way, I can see the full picture of the route the ball will take to the hole. I find it’s much more reliable than just picking out a spot on the green where the putt will break. When you do that, you often unconsciously cheat your body toward the hole and then your alignment won’t match your read. I want to make sure my arms and feet are parallel to the putt’s start line, and my knees have some flex to take tension off my upper body.”.
Scheffler’s main rival this year, Xander Schauffele, will definitely look to challenge for the title himself given his spell of great results as of late. Recognized as one of the best swingers in the business at the moment, Schauffele may indeed have an edge over his rivals. Being a relatively small guy, Schauffele has one of the longest swings in golf at the moment. How does he do it? Here’s a breakdown of Schauffele’s swinging technique as analyzed by WindTree Golf.
- He generates his power through the width of his swing arc. Because of this width, he allows more time for the club-head to gather speed before connecting with the ball.
- He compares the point of impact to ‘hammering a nail’ as opposed to swinging through the ball. He saves his power for the point of impact.
- He sets up to hit a high-to-mid trajectory shot with a slight draw and keeps things tight to minimize the number of moving parts in his back-swing.
- At ¾ of the way back, Xander shifts his weight to his right side without drifting away from the target.
- Coming down, he turns his shaft parallel to the ground and powers through as he approaches impact.
- He finishes high, resembling a ‘pointer dog after spotting its prey.’
With the 1st place finisher being awarded a mind blowing $18 million, we are sure to witness a heated and exciting competition from the very start of the championship.
