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Dark Horse Candidates to win FedEx Cup and Tour Championship

By Christopher O'Day

HONOLULU, HI - JANUARY 12: Abraham Ancer of Mexico looks on during the third round of the Sony Open In Hawaii at Waialae Country Club on January 12, 2019 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
HONOLULU, HI - JANUARY 12: Abraham Ancer of Mexico looks on during the third round of the Sony Open In Hawaii at Waialae Country Club on January 12, 2019 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Time to take a look at the dark horse candidates to win the FedEx Cup and final event of the year, the Tour Championship.

I am so excited. It’s the final event of the PGA season, and it all comes down to this. 30 golfers, the FedEx Cup on the line, and a brand new starting format. Originally, I was worried that it was going to be difficult to pick a group of dark horse golfers for the Tour Championship.

There are only 30 players, could any of them be a dark horse?

Yes, yes they can be.

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Just like any other week, the folks over at oddsshark, and in turn, Bovada, have their odds for those most likely to win the tournament. I needn’t worry, as there are still long odds on plenty of great golfers.

Yes, they are only 30 of them. Thanks to the new format though, some of them will be starting at quite the disadvantage. None of the confusion of last year trying to figure out where Justin Rose needed to finish to guarantee a win. If you finish the week with the best score next to your name, The FedEx Cup and the Tour Championship are yours. Along with a nice fat check as well.

The cutoff, like usual, is going to be 45-1. This effectively cuts the field in half, as 14 golfers have odds of 40-1 or better, with the rest of them being 66/1 or worse. All of these golfers have at least a five-shot deficit on Justin Thomas, so they are going to have their work cut out for them.

There is an important factor to take into account this week before you make any decisions. The course difficulty. Unlike a lot of the courses that the PGA has been on lately, we aren’t likely to see a -20 winner here.

The last 11 tournaments have a range of -7 to -13 as a winning score, with five of those being in the single digits.

Before we get to this week’s picks, let’s check in on the dark horse selections from last week.

  • Jason Day – 50/1 – Started 50th, Finished 54th – T-52nd (-4)
  • Francesco Molinari – 66/1 – Started 34th, Finished 40th – T-61st (-2)
  • Ian Poulter – 66/1 – Started 43rd, Finished 41st – T-31st (-8)
  • Byeong Hun An – 80/1 – Started 61st, Finished 53rd- T-28th (-9)
  • Jim Furyk – 150/1 – Started 48th, Finished 51st – T-57th (-3)

Ough. That was rough. I was trying to pick people who were both over the 45/1 line, and outside the top 30. Still, I should’ve done better. I’ll do better this week, I promise. I guarantee I’ll have someone at least make the top 25…

Yes, I know only 30 people are playing, and that my picks would have to finish 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 for that to happen. That couldn’t happen, right?

Sorry for the poor attempt at humor. Let’s get down to it. Here are my dark horse picks to win the Tour Championship, and in turn, the FedEx Cup.

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