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The curtain will come down on the PGA Tour’s lucrative FedEx Cup race in Atlanta on Sunday night, when the winner will make off with a quarter of the $40 million prize-fund. That sum is mind-boggling for most of us, but pales in comparison to the riches that have been on offer on LIV Golf since its inception in 2022. However, with Saudi Arabia no longer bank-rolling that circuit, the curtain may well have fallen for the last time in underwhelming circumstances in Indianapolis last weekend, when young American Michael La Sasso took the individual title. Jon Rahm’s Legion VIII squad claimed the team title but could barely have looked less interested, with thoughts turning to future plans. Read More: Tyrrell Hatton cut an interview short to make sure he caught a plane to England for this week’s British Masters at The Belfry, while Rahm said he was heading home for family time and a haircut before coming out to play again at next month’s Amgen Irish Open in Doonbeg. The plans of those big-name stars gave a hint of what the immediate future may hold for anyone not wishing to hang around to see what LIV might look like in 2027 – if it exists at all – and the DP World Tour in particular could become a fair deal stronger in the coming weeks and months. Patrick Reed has already set a precedent for the others to follow by playing well enough on the European circuit this term to ensure he picks up a PGA Tour card for next season, and there is no doubt Rahm and Hatton would follow suit should they take that route for 2027. By the time they do make it back to the PGA Tour, the Tour Championship will no longer be resident at East Lake in Atlanta, with the FedEx finale going on tour after next season’s renewal. That will be bad news for some, who have become specialists at the venue over the years, while others will be glad to see the back of it. Scottie Scheffler is probably in the latter camp as, despite winning the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup here in 2024, it hasn’t really been a happy hunting ground for him. This week will see the Texan head into the finale atop the standings for the fifth successive time, and yet he has only won the FedEx once, even though the old starting shots format gave him a healthy lead before a ball was struck in both 2022 and 2023. Indeed, when he did the get the job done in 2024, he was still only the third-best scorer over 72 holes, behind Collin Morikawa and Akshay Bhatia. The starting shots were scrapped last term as Tommy Fleetwood emerged triumphant, winning his first American event on a very big stage, and all 30 players in the field this week start on a level playing field. Scheffler may wonder what the point was in putting in the hard yards to go off as number one, with Ryan Fox in 30th having theoretically the same chance of being crowned FedEx champion come Sunday night. The bookies wouldn’t agree, however, and the world number one is a 7/2 favourite, with Rory McIlroy next best at 17/2. Scheffler battled with hand, foot and mouth disease on his way to 12th in the BMW Championship at Bellerive in St Louis on Sunday, while McIlroy shook off a horror show the week before in Memphis to finish third despite not having his best stuff. Indeed, the Holywood man was joint-leader with three holes to play before a trio of closing birdies from Wyndham Clark saw the US Open champion home. McIlroy should be confident of building on that performance at East Lake, where he has hoisted the FedEx Cup three times since 2016, although he still wasn’t firing on all cylinders at Bellerive and needs to drive the ball a lot better. With thick rough and rain in the forecast, East Lake will punish anything sprayed off the beaten track, and it might just pay to look beyond the top two in the betting. Clark should justifiably be confident of going back-to-back after a sizzling season, but my preference is for Collin Morikawa at 18/1 generally. The Californian is a tee-to-green machine who leads the tour for approach play this term, and he found real form when fourth in St Louis at the weekend. It has been a quiet enough season for Morikawa since winning at Pebble Beach in February, but he was third at the Travelers Championship last month and also posted a top-20 in The Open at Royal Birkdale. The double Major champion has East Lake pedigree as well, posting the best 72-hole score in 2024 and being fourth-best in 2023, so at 18s he looks a fair bet in a 30-man field. Nobody has a better record at East Lake than Xander Schauffele but he has been off the boil a bit of late and is a touch on the short side at no bigger than 11/1, so instead I’ll put up his close friend Patrick Cantlay at 16s with Ladbrokes. It is now four years since the American Ryder Cup stalwart tasted victory anywhere, which is frankly ridiculous given his ability, but the signs are clear that the wait will end soon. Cantlay has been improving all summer with a 12th in the St Jude Championship and eighth at the Rocket Classic followed by second in St Louis on Sunday night, when he finished with three birdies to seal his place in the Tour Championship field. He led the field from tee-to-green and for approach play at Bellerive, but was only 43rd of the 50 players on the greens, and if his putting improves only slightly he has to be a big runner at a venue where he was second last term and was crowned FedEx winner in 2021 after posting the fourth-best 72-hole score. Finally, I’ll also put up Georgia native Russell Henley, who was third when last playing in his home state at The Masters. The steady world number six rarely has a bad week, and was 12th in St Louis on Sunday to add to a quietly effective summer, which just about sums him up as a player. Henley shared second alongside Cantlay in this event last year and was fourth over 72 holes the previous season, as well as third back in 2017. At 28/1 he represents decent value to come out on top on home soil and make off with the FedEx riches for 2026. TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP Collin Morikawa, e/w, 18/1 (General); Patrick Cantlay, e/w, 16/1 (Ladbrokes); Russell Henley, e/w, 28/1 (Betfred)