Written by Rob Bolton @RobBoltonGolf
All roads lead to this – the TOUR Championship.
At the conclusion of this edition in Atlanta, the 18th FedExCup champion will be determined. Drawing a parallel in golf parlance, the era will have completed a full round, so it’s as appropriate to appreciate that the host, East Lake Golf Club, has come full circle as its revival is making its debut.
Beneath this traditional full-field Power Rankings for the finale of the FedExCup Playoffs are details of the tournament format, what’s at stake, how East Lake will present and much more.
NOTE: FedExCup Starting Strokes for every golfer are cited in the comments.
Last week’s notion of the neutral field at Castle Pines Golf Club rewarded as it projected – a proven ball-striker in Keegan Bradley. He prevailed at the BMW Championship by one stroke despite giving back 1.69 of them to the field with his putter. He covered (obviously) with his tee-to-green game, but that’s the kind of possibility that plays up when greens are unfamiliar.
Although East Lake is not a stranger, the greens are brand new. In fact, the whole course is mint. It’s fresh off a full restoration guided by architect Andrew Green. Among the litany of his acclaimed recent works is Oak Hill Country Club, which hosted the 2023 PGA Championship. Green leaned on a photo of East Lake from 1949 to bring back to life what Donald Ross had created prior to that. In addition to a transformation to TifEagle Bermuda putting surfaces, Green built new bunkers, moved others and removed trees. So, despite the fact that nine golfers in the field are first-timers, all 30 begin as relative first-timers in the opening round.
Save an unprecedented aerial assault on flag sticks, Bradley’s formula for success won’t carry over as well if for no other reason than it opens with a staggered leaderboard for the sixth consecutive edition. The FedExCup champion will be the golfer who records the lowest score in relation to par with the combination of his FedExCup Starting Strokes and 72-hole score at East Lake.
Since FedExCup Starting Strokes debuted in 2019, two winners held serve as the top seed – Dustin Johnson in 2020 and Patrick Cantlay in 2021. Of the other three, Rory McIlroy started furthest back as the 7-seed at 4-under. With a runner-up in the TOUR Championship, Xander Schauffele owns the distinction of the best finish from a starting position outside the top 10, and he’s done it twice – first as the 14-seed for a T2 in 2020, and then again last year as the 15-seed for a solo second.
Viktor Hovland opened as the 2-seed last year and piggybacked his win at the BMW Championship with another at the TOUR Championship. He became the 12th golfer in Playoffs history to win multiple times in the same Playoffs and the eighth to win consecutive tournaments in the series.
East Lake yielded a scoring average of 68.758 a year ago, but that went into the books as the last time it tested as a stock par 70. It’s now a par 71 because the 14th hole has been stretched 60 yards to play as a 580-yard par 5. Scoring in the aggregate will rise, but a third par 5 could generate more churn on the leaderboard. The other two par 5s tied for the easiest sets among 58 courses played throughout the 2022-23 season. Nos. 6 and 18 averaged just 4.36.
Today, East Lake tips at 7,490 yards. That’s 144 yards longer than before Green and his team went to work, but the targets that average more than 6,200 square feet are about 11 percent greater in area with noticeable variances from hole to hole. Until now, perhaps the most striking change in recent years was when the nines were reversed in 2016. Also included in the new array of visuals is a lowered green at the par-3 ninth hole and a restored linear bunker that bisects the fairway on the par-4 17th. Drives that find it may evoke the thought of a gutter ball in bowling.
A perfect game isn’t required to prevail, however. Whoever manages his the best in conjunction with his opening position will be rewarded with $25 million, an official PGA TOUR victory and a five-year PGA TOUR membership extension. For merely qualifying for the TOUR Championship, all others are granted exemptions into the 2025 editions of the Masters, the U.S. Open and The Open Championship. And if a golfer isn’t yet exempt through 2026, his membership exemption will be extended through that season.
It’s still summer in the South, so afternoon storms cannot be ruled out once players are deep into their second rounds. If a delay (or plural) is needed, the small field caters to staying on schedule much better than usual. Otherwise classically warm and humid conditions will blanket the property. Wind will not be a factor.
ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE
MONDAY: Power Rankings
WEDNESDAY: Golfbet Insider
SUNDAY: Points and Payouts; Qualifiers; Reshuffle
NOTE: Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which publishes on Tuesday.
