Golf betting: Rory McIlroy is the favorite ahead of the first FedEx Cup playoff event

The first week of the FedEx Cup playoffs is upon us.

The PGA Tour’s postseason begins Thursday with the FedEx St. Jude Championship. The tournament is the first of three that make up the postseason. The BMW Championship follows the FedEd St. Jude and the Tour Championship caps off the season over the final full weekend of August.

The top 125 players in the FedEx Cup points standings are in the field this weekend and the field will be cut to 65 players ahead of Saturday and Sunday like a normal PGA Tour event. The top 70 in the points standings move on to the BMW Championship where there is no cut. And then the top 30 in the standings will start the Tour Championship with the top players in the standings getting a stroke advantage.

Since this weekend’s event features the top 125 players on the PGA Tour, the field is exceptionally strong. Rory McIlroy enters as the favorite at +1000 ahead of Scottie Scheffler (+1400), defending FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay (+1600) and new potential LIV golfer Cam Smith (+1800).

Smith’s odds were +1600 on Tuesday ahead of a report from the Telegraph that he was heading to LIV Golf before its next event in September. The British Open champion is getting a reported $100 million to head to the rival tour and he declined to comment on the report and any LIV Golf rumors during his pre-tournament media session on Tuesday. The reports of Smith's potential arrival came on the same day a judge denied an attempt by three LIV golfers to play in the FedEx Cup playoffs.

The FedEx St. Jude field also features stars like Xander Schauffele (+1800), Justin Thomas (+2000) and Jon Rahm (+2200). Rahm enters the weekend as the No. 7 favorite, a stark departure from his status atop the board earlier this season.

But Rahm isn’t the favorite this weekend because of a dip in recent form. He has just one top-10 finish in five PGA Tour starts since winning the Mexico Open on May 1. Rahm finished outside of the top 25 in three of the season’s four majors and is making his first competitive start since the British Open where he was 34th.

Here are the favorites for this weekend’s tournament. A full list of odds and props can be found at BetMGM.

FedEx St. Jude Championship favorites

• Rory McIlroy (+1000)

• Scottie Scheffler (+1400)

• Patrick Cantlay (+1600)

• Cam Smith (+1800)

• Xander Schauffele (+1800)

• Justin Thomas (+2000)

• Jon Rahm (+2200)

• Matt Fitzpatrick (+2200)

• Tony Finau (+2200)

• Will Zalatoris (+2500)

• Sam Burns (+2800)

• Cam Young (+3000)

• Collin Morikawa (+3300)

• Jordan Spieth (+3300)

• Shane Lowry (+3300)

• Sungjae Im (+3300)

• Viktor Hovland (+3300)