World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler’s opening 5-under 65 at the TOUR Championship has catapulted him to short-priced favoritism to win the FedExCup with three rounds to play at East Lake Golf Club.

Scheffler, who started at 10-under by virtue of his top-seeding in the Playoffs, increased his two-shot advantage over Patrick Cantlay to a five-shot lead over Xander Schauffele. Only six other players are within eight shots of Scheffler’s 15-under total.

The fast start sees Scheffler at -135 with BetMGM Sportsbook to win the FedExCup despite having 54 holes still to navigate. He had started the week at +200 to win it all and tightened in as far as -155 during a round that boasted four birdies, an eagle and just one bogey.

“When I'm on the golf course I'm just trying to go out there and do my best. I'm not looking at leaderboards, I'm not looking at any of that other stuff. I am treating it like a four-day event, and just like any other one I'm going to go out there and try and put myself in position to win the tournament,” Scheffler said.

But while the odds, and data crunching, has Scheffler a 57% chance to win at this point, the nearest challenger is perhaps the scariest prospect the Texan could face over the next three days.

Schauffele, who opened +650 prior to his first round, lost a shot to Scheffler after a 4-under 66, but still shortened to +550 to win the FedExCup.

Schauffele is a seven-time TOUR winner who came back from four or more in five of those wins and he’s an East Lake specialist. He now boasts an incredible 67.24 scoring average at the golf course from his 21 rounds. Every single round he’s played has been under par.

Schauffele won the TOUR Championship in 2017, but under the previous points format before FedExCup Starting Strokes were introduced did not win the FedExCup. He was also the low 72-hole total at East Lake last season but was unable to reel in the Starting Strokes advantage of winner Patrick Cantlay. He was also runner up at East Lake in 2019 and 2020 and is a cumulative 58-under par over his career. If anyone can catch Scheffler, it might be this man.

U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick sits third at nine under after a 64 on Thursday. The Englishman is now +1400 to win after getting out to +5000 early in his round.

Tied in fourth place at eight under sits defending FedExCup champion and last start winner Patrick Cantlay (70) and Chile’s young gun Joaquin Niemann (64). Cantlay’s odds now sit at +1600 to become the first repeat FedExCup champion. Prior to a final hole eagle he sat +2500.

Niemann is +3000 to be on top Sunday having jumped out to +10000 after an early bogey on Thursday.

The remaining players within eight shots of the lead all shot 67 to move to seven under. PLAYERS and Open Champion Cameron Smith, South Korean Sungjae Im and two-time FedExCup winner Rory McIlroy cannot afford to give up any more ground in the coming days.

Im and Smith are +3300 and +2800 respectively to reel the lead in but McIlroy is seen as a bigger threat at +1200. McIlroy started at +900 but sent his opening tee shot out of bounds before carding a triple bogey. After another dropped shot, he sat +3300 before his rollercoaster round went to new levels. Despite one triple and four bogeys McIlroy also added an eagle and eight birdies to remain an outside chance.

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