🏆 Virtues Awaits: The 2025 DGA Tour Championship Preview

Presented by Haywood Golf

The season began in the chill of early spring at The View Open, where newcomers and veterans alike jostled for footing on a still-unsettled leaderboard. Since then, the DGA Tour has wound its way through familiar fairways and legendary venues, delivering majors at Eaglesticks, Westchester, and Turnberry, along with chaotic regular-season stops that tested every corner of a golfer’s game — and patience. Now, six months and ten events later, all roads lead here: the DGA Tour Championship at Virtues Golf Club.

At 6,532 yards, Virtues is the crown jewel of the circuit — wide fairways that dare players to swing freely, greens that demand precision, and a reputation as the finest course the Tour has ever played. It is here, amid the rolling Ohio countryside, that ten players will tee off with staggered starting scores, chasing the most important prize of all: the title of DGA Tour Champion.

The Format: A Weighted Test of Greatness

For the first time, the DGA Tour Championship embraces the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup model, where starting strokes reflect season-long dominance. Jack Spence, the runaway No. 1, begins at -12, forcing the rest of the field to play him nearly straight up. Alongside him at -12 stand Trevor Monk, Shea McGuire, Will Eyman, Mike McGuire, and Dylan Sharp, while Kyler Messner and Auston Sorg open at -10, Gianni Young at -9, and Harry Gilmore at -8.

It’s a system designed to reward consistency while still allowing for fireworks — a system that dares the challengers to rise, but refuses to erase the season Spence has authored.

The Favorite: Jack Spence

If the DGA Tour built a player in a lab, he’d look suspiciously like Jack Spence. Ten events. Three wins. Eight top fives. A league-best 16 birdies paired with a staggering 80 pars. And not a single triple bogey all season. Spence has been more than steady; he has been untouchable.

The numbers don’t just paint a picture of dominance — they underscore a terrifying truth for the field: Spence doesn’t beat himself. At Virtues, the player who avoids disaster often wins, and Spence has spent all year making the extraordinary look routine. For anyone else to hoist the trophy, they’ll need to play the round of their lives and hope Spence stumbles.

The Challenger: Trevor Monk

But if there’s one man who can stare down Spence, it’s the reigning champion. Trevor Monk thrives when the lights are brightest. His season was streaky — 9 birdies balanced against 22 doubles and 7 triples — but Monk has never been about volume. He’s a closer, a big-moment assassin who seems to find another gear when history calls.

If Spence represents inevitability, Monk represents defiance. He beat the odds last year, and he’s one of the few in the field who knows he can do it again.

The Rival: Kyler Messner

All season long, Messner has been the shadow that refuses to fade. Eleven birdies prove his firepower, and when the stakes rise, so does his game. At Westchester and Turnberry, it was often Messner trading blows with Spence, pushing him deeper into the kind of focus no one else has managed to summon.

But cracks remain: 10 doubles and 5 triples mar an otherwise strong résumé. Still, if Virtues rewards bold play, Messner has the game to break through — and perhaps deliver the upset the field desperately needs.

The Grinder: Shea McGuire

Some players win with fireworks. Shea McGuire survives with smoke. Ten events, 89 bogeys, and just 3 birdies all season. On paper, it makes no sense that Shea is here. But golf is not played on spreadsheets, and Shea has mastered the art of hanging around.

His style is maddeningly unspectacular — a drip-drip-drip of bogeys, doubles, and the occasional par that somehow lands him in contention. At Virtues, if carnage strikes, don’t be shocked to see Shea’s name near the top while others self-destruct.

The Chaos Factor: Will Eyman

Few players embody contradiction like Will Eyman. With 83 bogeys and 15 triples, the stat sheet suggests a player living on the edge of disaster. And yet, time and again, Eyman surfaces in the biggest moments. He’s fearless, unbothered by the weight of the stage, and somehow converts chaos into opportunity.

Virtues may prove the perfect canvas for his brand of madness. If he’s in rhythm, Eyman could make this a two-horse race late.

The Heartbreaker: Auston Sorg

If the DGA Tour has a Tommy Fleetwood, it’s Sorg — consistently great, never victorious. Ten birdies place him among the Tour’s best scorers, but 37 doubles stand as cruel reminders of the thin margins that have kept him from his breakthrough.

Sorg has the tools. He has the consistency. He has the game. What he doesn’t have, yet, is a win. The Tour Championship would be the most dramatic stage imaginable for the monkey to finally come off his back.

The Wildcards

• Mike McGuire brings volatility, with 33 doubles and 11 triples across nine events. He’s capable of brilliance, but his scorecards are a rollercoaster.

• Harry Gilmore mixes 7 birdies with 31 doubles and 10 triples. He’s the high-ceiling, low-floor candidate: capable of a stunning 75 or an imploding 105, maybe both in the same round.

• Gianni Young has just 1 birdie but 44 doubles, a stat line that looks more like a war crime than a golf season. Yet, somehow, he keeps clawing his way into the conversation. If Virtues turns nasty, his scrappiness could prove an unexpected advantage.

And then, of course, there’s Dylan Sharp.

Two birdies. Twenty-seven triples. The Bogey Cycle incarnate. Dylan begins at -12, a gift from the standings, but odds are he’ll donate those strokes back to the course by the seventh hole. His role here isn’t contender — it’s comic relief, proof that even the worst golfers can stumble their way into a finale.

Vegas Odds (DGA Edition)

• Jack Spence (+150) — The machine.

• Trevor Monk (+300) — The closer.

• Kyler Messner (+350) — The rival.

• Will Eyman (+600) — Chaos weaponized.

• Shea McGuire (+700) — The bogey grinder.

• Auston Sorg (+800) — Tommy Fleetwood vibes.

• Mike McGuire (+1200) — Wild card, literally.

• Harry Gilmore (+1500) — Boom-or-bust.

• Gianni Young (+3000) — The scrappy spoiler.

• Dylan Sharp (+10000) — Only if you hate money.

The Stage Is Set

The DGA Tour has traveled from The View to Eaglesticks, from Westchester to Turnberry, delivering majors, heartbreaks, and drama in spades. Now, all of it funnels into one final round at Virtues Golf Club.

The leaderboard favors Spence, but golf is not math. Monk knows how to win when it matters most. Messner refuses to go quietly. Sorg is chasing his first victory. And somewhere in this mix of chaos, comedy, and courage, the 2025 DGA Tour Champion will be crowned.

By Saturday evening, one name will rise above the rest. History will be written. And the DGA Tour, presented by Haywood Golf, will close its greatest season yet with a champion worthy of Virtues’ stage.