Golf Tips: Best bets for this week's Tour Championship and British Masters

• Steve Rawlings has everything you need to know for both events

• Dave Tindall provides the best each-way bets for Tour Championship

• Course info, first-round leader, outsiders to back at over 100/1101.00

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Tour Championship tips and predictions

The Punter's Preview: Scheffler set to sign off in style

Steve Rawlings: "Accuracy off the tee is usually slightly more important than power here, although Scheffler ranked first for Driving Distance and second for Driving Accuracy last year, but neither stat is of vital importance. The first two home two years ago, Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele, ranked third and first for Putting Average, Scheffler ranked third last year and Rory McIlroy ranked first for PA when he won three years ago...

"Nobody has ever won back-to-back Tour Championships but that's not a stat to put off Scottie Scheffler backers and he's still fairly priced at around 15/8 to sign the 2025 season off in style. The world number one has won five of the 10 events he's played in since May and he's traded at odds-on on several occasions when he hasn't won.

"Since cruising to victory in the Open Championship he traded at as short as 1.6 at the FedEx St Jude two weeks ago before edging out Robert MacIntyre at the BMW Championship last week and it's very hard to envisage him not contending again here."

Dave Tindall's Each-Way Tips: From 20/1 to 33/1

Dave Tindall: "Twelve months ago, Russell Henley shot the fourth lowest gross score, his 17-under tally including a closing 62. Henley was also third on the second of his four starts at East Lake so it's a course he gets on well with.

"A winner at Bay Hill in March, he's added five top 10s since and is on a run of six straight top 20s, including second place at the Travelers. Ranked 1st for Driving Accuracy (the rough is up a little this year) when 15th at last week's BMW Championship, he's close to another big performance and just needs the putter to heat up a little.

"There are a couple of other pluses though. The American won the Arnold Palmer on TifEagle Bermuda which bodes well. And, as a Georgia native, he'll have plenty of support this week. The 20/1 (1/5, 5 Places) is worth a punt."

Tour Championship 2025: Course and form stats

Andy Swales: "Ahead of last year's tournament, East Lake underwent some significant restoration work, under the guidance of Andrew Green. Fairways were converted from Meyer Zoysia to Zorro Zoysia. This firmed up the ground and ultimately increased the amount of roll on the ball, allowing the venue's topography to possess a greater influence on the outcome of each stroke.

"And the reshaping of fairways and greens, with the purpose of also speeding up the roll, reduced the margin for error on approach shots, while focusing the attention on even greater accuracy. This, in turn, promoted more 'risk-reward' opportunities on an ever-more contoured layout...

"Of those teeing-up this week, no one has been more successful at East Lake than Rory McIlroy 8/1. The world No 2 has posted the lowest 72-hole total at this course on three occasions, and has also finished runner-up once. The 36-year-old, however, has been a little off-colour since claiming his first Green Jacket in April."

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British Masters tips and predictions

The Punter's Preview: Reitan ready to double up at 25/1

Steve Rawlings: "The first four home last year ranked fourth, second, 10^th and fifth for Greens In Regulation and Matteo Manassero, who topped the GIR stats for the week finished tied for sixth. The 2023 winner, Daniel Hillier, only ranked 20^th for GIR, but Oliver Wilson, who finished tied second topped the rankings.

"The 2022 winner, Thorbjorn Olesen, won courtesy of a red-hot putter and he only ranked 60^th for GIR but four of the placed players ranked inside the top-six for GIR and Richard Bland ranked number one for Driving Accuracy and second for GIR when he won here four years ago...

"Up until last week, all 26 regular events (not including majors) had been won by someone different and had Rasmus Hojgaard kicked on in round four on Sunday in Denmark that would still be the case but after Marco Penge has doubled up, winning the Hainan Classic in April and the Danish Golf Championship last week, I fancy this year's Soudal Open winner, Kristoffer Reitan, can emulate him.

"As highlighted above, the Soudal Open venue appears to correlate brilliantly with the Belfry and with form figures since April reading 1-2-13-46-4-13-30-3-6, the in-form Norwegian looks worth chancing. He's a tasty 25/1 with the Sportsbook and he's fractionally bigger on the Exchange."

First-Round Leader Tips: Trio to back from 40/1 to 50/1

Dave Tindall: "Niklas Norgaard is certainly a huge fan of The Belfry after following up seventh place here in 2023 with victory last year. And maybe that extends to England as a whole given that he was also seventh in last year's BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth where he was second after 18 holes.

"The Dane has had a bit of an odd year but threw in a fifth at the Myrtle Beach Classic on the PGA Tour and, after another drought, returned home to take 16th in his home Danish Golf Championship. That threatened to be much better after he started the final day in fourth.

"Danes have won three of the last five editions of this event so hopefully Norgaard can make it another memorable day for both him and his countrymen at The Belfry.  Back the 1.10pm starter (1st) at 40/1 (1/4, 5 Places)."

Find Me a 100 Winner: Long shots chanced between 99/1 and 249/1

Steve Rawlings: "Scotland's Ewen Ferguson can't be described as in form given he's missed his last four cuts but that's the reason we're able to back him at a triple-figure price.

"The three-time DP World Tour winner has lost his way a bit since finishing fourth at the KLM Open in June, two weeks after he was beaten in a playoff at the Soudal Open, but he's played nicely on numerous occasions when seemingly not at his best.

"He finished third at the Cape Town Open back in 2021 after a run of five missed cuts, he won the Qatar Masters in 2022 having finished 61^st and 40^th in South Africa in his two previous starts and he finished fourth in this event two years ago on the back of two missed cuts.

"As highlighted in the preview, there's a strong correlation between this event and the Soudal Open, and Ferguson's third DP World Tour title came at another tree-lined track, at the BMW International Open last year, so it's not surprising that he's shown an aptitude for the Belfry previously."  

British Masters: Course and current form stats

Andy Swales: "The popular Brabazon layout is flat, well-bunkered, has narrow fairways, with water coming into play on 10 holes. It is a traditional British parkland venue which demands good course management skills, along with an ability to read its many undulating putting surfaces.

"Solid, accurate, ball-strikers, with a strong tee-to-green pedigree, are more likely to prosper this week than those who rely on hot putting streaks. Co-designed by two Ryder Cup stalwarts from the 1950s and 1960s (Dave Thomas and Peter Alliss), the venue returned to the DP World Tour schedule in August 2020 following an absence of 12 years....

"Although Alex Noren, now 43, failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup Play-Offs, he ended the regular PGA Tour season with a brace of top-10s. This includes a podium at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina and he will tee-up at The Belfry on Thursday as one of the five highest-ranked players in the field."

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Read The Punter's golf betting round 3 and 4 live blog this weekend

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