Hound Dog Harrison's Tour Championship Picks

The final leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs will see the top 29 players battling for the 2022 Tour Championship title and the $18 million grand prize that goes along with it starting Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

There would have been 30 players competing at the season-ending championship, but Will Zalatoris, who won the first FedEx Cup playoff event and was ranked sixth on the list for the postseason finale, withdrew on Tuesday with a back injury.

Players will start at staggered scores based on which position they came into the Tour Championship on the FedEx Cup points list.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is on top to begin the week, with BMW Champion Patrick Cantlay in second place.

The starting scores for the field are as follows:

S. Scheffler -10

P. Cantlay -8

X. Schauffele -6

S. Burns -5

C. Smith/R. McIlroy/T. Finau/S. Straka/S. Im -4

J. Rahm/S. Stallings/J. Thomas/C. Young/M. Fitzpatrick -3

M. Homa/H. Matsuyama/J. Spieth/J. Niemann/V. Hovland -2

C. Morikawa/B. Horschel/T. Hoge/C. Conners/B. Harman -1

K.H. Lee/J.T. Poston/S. Theegala/A. Scott/A. Wise EVEN

Corey Conners is the lone Canadian to advance to the tournament, and he’s a whopping nine strokes off the pace.

With that being the case, the 30-year-old from Listowel, Ont., sports incredibly long +9500 odds to win the FedEx Cup.

Let’s start with some outright winners likely to snag the trophy, then follow that with first-round leaders and sleepers.

OUTRIGHT WINNERS

Xander Schauffele +650

Starting in third position is Xander Schauffele, who begins the tournament four adrift of top spot.

He’s treated East Lake as his personal playground in the five consecutive years he’s made it to the playoff finale.

He won it in his debut performance in 2017, then