2024 TOUR Championship Odds & Picks: First-Round Leader

As the final 30 golfers prepare to tee off at the 2024 TOUR Championship at a restored East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday, we’re aiming to hit a First Round Leader bet to get the week started with profit.

Keep in mind, the starting strokes format is factored into the First Round Leader betting market at FanDuel, which means Scottie Scheffler, who starts atop the leaderboard at 10-under-par, followed by Xander Schauffele at 8-under-par, enjoys anywhere from two to ten strokes against the other 29 golfers at the TOUR Championship in Round 1. This explains why Scheffler is -190 in the First Round Leader betting market, while every other golfer is available to wager at plus odds.

I’ve got three golfers to bet in the First Round Leader betting market ahead of Thursday’s opening round from the newly restored East Lake Golf Club. Follow me on X at Matt_MacKay_ for more free bets and PGA Tour analysis.

2024 TOUR Championship Best First-Round Leader Bets

Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.

Xander Schauffele (+260)

2024 has been the year Xander Schauffele’s elevated his golf game. Schauffele won two of the four majors this season and he’s been in contention at several more events, relying on an excellent putter and irons to gain strokes. We’ve seen Schauffele start with a low scorecard and he’ll definitely be dialed in for the $25 million payout and his first FedExCup title on Thursday. Schauffele has played phenomenal golf historically at East Lake, so at +260 odds, we’re backing him to wind up with a lower score than Scheffler at the end of Round 1 in possession of the outright lead.

Keegan Bradley (+2800)

We’re getting much longer odds once we moved past Scheffler and Schauffele for this First Round Leader market. However, Keegan Bradley is a realistic wager to place, considering he was T1 on the leaderboard after going 7-under-par at this event in 2023. Now, he’s 6-under-par in starting strokes thanks to his win at Castle Pines at the BMW Championship on Sunday. Relying on his driver accuracy and greens in regulation prowess. 28-1 is too good to pass up at this price, so let’s stake a quarter unit on Bradley to stay hot tee-to-green at East Lake in Round 1.

Ludvig Åberg (+3500)

Ludvig Åberg is making his debut at East Lake and should be ready to roll right off the first tee. There’s a lot of volatility in the young Swede’s game, but when he’s in a rhythm, birdies will abound. Åberg ranks fourth total strokes gained in this field, including fifth tee-to-green, and he nearly completed a late comeback to force a playoff at the BMW Championship on Sunday. Starting off at 5-under-par means if Åberg gets hot early, he could climb into contention and cash us out for a First Round Leader ticket at 35-1. This warrants a 0.10 unit wager to grab 3.5 units of profit.

Matthew MacKay is a featured writer for BettingPros and FantasyPros. For more from Matthew, check out his archive and follow him @Matt_MacKay_.