Tag: 2022 Tour Championship

Winner’s Bag: Rory McIlroy, 2022 Tour Championship

Check out the clubs that got the job done at East Lake.

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A complete list of the golf equipment Rory McIlroy used to win the PGA Tour’s 2022 Tour Championship:

DRIVER: TaylorMade Stealth Plus+ (9 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black 6X shaft

Rory McIlroy’s driver – $599.99

FAIRWAY WOODS: TaylorMade SIM2 (15 degrees), with Mitsubishi Kai’ Li White 80 TX shaft. Stealth Plus+ (19 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black 9X shaft

Rory McIlroy’s fairway wood – $429.99

IRONS: TaylorMade P730 RORS proto (3-PW), with Project X 7.0 shafts 

WEDGES: TaylorMade MG3 (54, 58 degrees), with Project X 6.5 shafts 

Rory McIlroy’s wedges – $179.99 each

PUTTER: TaylorMade Spider X Hydro Blast

Rory McIlroy’s putter – $279.99

BALL: TaylorMade TP5x

Rory McIlroy’s golf ball – 49.99 per dozen

GRIPS: Golf Pride New Decade Multicompound (full swing) / SuperStroke Traxion PistolGT Tour (putter)

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Report: Cameron Young won’t join LIV Golf, has ‘decided to stay’ with the PGA Tour

It seems as if the PGA Tour’s recently announced changes are already having an impact.

It seems as if the PGA Tour’s recently announced changes are already having an impact.

After Sunday’s final round of the PGA Tour’s 2022 Tour Championship, the final event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, rising star Cameron Young was asked by The Athletic’s Brendan Quinn about the difficulty of his decision to join LIV Golf or stick with the PGA Tour.

“I mean, frankly, I have decided to stay,” Young said.  “So, I don’t know, it’s a really difficult situation, because it’s not really anything anyone wanted to happen. I think it wasn’t meant to be this hostile between the two.”

The Times UK reported Young was bound for LIV Golf three weeks ago, but a source close to the former star at Wake Forest said the 25-year-old wasn’t likely to join the Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-backed series.

“Obviously it’s the elephant in the room for everyone. Frankly, throughout the whole process with (LIV Golf), I was very interested. I think they have a bunch of good ideas and are doing some cool stuff,” explained Young. With some of the changes coming (to the PGA Tour), that’s kind of what really helped me decide to kind of stay and pursue those goals that I have for myself like making a Presidents Cup team and a Ryder Cup team and winning a major, when all of that is just uncertain if you go. That’s a tough place for me because, you know, I’m very young and there are a lot of factors.”

In his first full season on Tour, Young had five runner-up finishes at the Sanderson Farms Championship, Genesis Invitational, Wells Fargo Championship, British Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic, as well as five more top-10 finishes.

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TMI: Scottie Scheffler dishes on his ‘weird injury’ and it’s worse than you can possibly imagine

We wish we were making this up but the world’s golfer discussed an injury near his butt.

ATLANTA — During his post-round interview after shooting 65 Thursday at the Tour Championship, Scottie Scheffler casually dropped a bit of news that the World No. 1 player suffered “a weird injury” during the British Open last month.

It begged the question: what exactly was the weird injury?

“Probably TMI, but I had what’s called a pilonidal infection,” he said.

It sounded innocent enough and surely no one had a clue what that was until he added, “It’s an infection at the top of your butt crack. You can look it up.”

OK, then. Well, we didn’t see that coming.

Scheffler continued and feel free to click out of this story any time you want – especially if you’re eating.

“It was really hard for me to bend down. It was really hard for me to make a swing on Sunday. Walking was actually extremely difficult,” explained Scheffler, who shot 2-over 74 in the final round and finished T-21 at St. Andrews. “I don’t know if any of you have ever had something like that”—can’t say that we have—“but if you talk to someone that does it is excruciatingly painful. It was brutal. It’s one of those things that just happens.”

Tour Championship: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ | Friday tee times

Next Scheffler was asked if he knew how it happened.

“Yeah, I’m not going to say it here. I’ll tell you after because that would really be TMI,” he said.

Laughter ensued.

“Yeah, I didn’t ever really plan on telling anybody,” he continued. “It’s kind of one of those things you put on the back burner, and it’s stuff that happens. Guys deal with injuries over the course of the season, and that one popped up at a wrong time for me when I was playing really well.”

The questions kept coming—what’s the saying, curiosity killed the cat?—how long did it take to get over it?

“About a week,” Scheffler said. “They did a procedure on me Sunday after we got done that the European Tour doctors did a really good job kind of flushing everything out.”

And then finally, at last, it was over as the next question delved back into his golf game rather than his back side. Was there any value in the way you played last week coming into here?

Expect Scheffler to be the butt of several jokes for his unfortunate over-sharing – perhaps until the next millennium.

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Getting strokes? Scottie Scheffler is used to the opposite, but he’ll take it to start the Tour Championship

So when was the last time Scheffler got strokes in a match?

There’s a sizable chunk of Scottie Scheffler’s DNA that longs for nasty weather, difficult conditions, and the grind of grueling competition.

So having a 10-stroke lead on the field — a major handicap — heading into the first round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta is almost off-putting. It goes against his very nature.

But the No. 1 player in the world is learning to live with it.

“It’s going to be a little weird, the only tournament of the year where you actually start with strokes ahead of the field,” he said on Wednesday morning, sneaking out quickly before Jay Monahan and Rory McIlroy took to the podium. “I think what’s going to probably work best for me is to look at it like a four-day event and really ignore the starting strokes deal and kind of go out there and do my thing and see where it puts me at the end of four days.

“There might be a tiny bit of added pressure but I get two extra strokes, which is definitely nice. It’s definitely a position that I want to be in for sure.”

Tour Championship: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ | Thursday tee times

After a meteoric rise in which he won four times in six starts, culminating with his first Green Jacket at the Masters last April, the University of Texas product hasn’t found the winner’s circle in his last 11 tournaments but he’s hardly fallen way off. Although he has missed three cuts since Augusta — most notably at the PGA Championship — he’s also racked up a pair of second-place finishes and placed T-3 at last week’s BMW Championship.

And the money has followed. Scheffler claimed the season-long Aon Risk Reward challenge and the corresponding $1 million prize, it was announced earlier this month. That’s on top of the $4 million he earned for finishing first in The Comcast Business Tour Top 10, both of which are bonus money on top of the record money he has already earned.

So, when was the last time Scheffler, a former University of Texas star who helped the Longhorns win three Big 12 championships, got strokes in a match?

“It’s been a while, yeah. It’s nice being on this end of the strokes versus having to give them up to everybody, which is nice, like I have to do at home,” he said. “I’d have to really think. I can’t remember anything off the top of my head if I was ever the one getting strokes. I’m not going to give you a hard ‘no,’ but I can’t think of any off the top of my head.”

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Jordan Spieth says LIV Golf has been a ‘catalyst’ for recent PGA Tour changes

On Wednesday, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan revealed several changes coming next season.

LIV Golf doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. The Saudi-backed, Greg Norman-led breakaway circuit has forced the PGA Tour to make changes to its schedule and payment structure to entice players to stay put.

But is the start-up league entirely responsible for the slew of upgrades the Tour revealed Wednesday? Jordan Spieth isn’t sure.

“Well, I think certainly it’s impossible to not think that that was a catalyst for continuing to want to make sure that our, the players that we have on the PGA Tour now stay on the PGA Tour,” Spieth said ahead of this week’s Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. “Would this have gone that direction this soon? Maybe not, but to say that it wouldn’t have happened in general, I’m not sure.

“But I think that that certainly has been a catalyst for looking at the product as a whole and figuring out how to make it the best it can possibly be and maximize the strength of fields at the biggest events.”

Tour Championship: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ | Thursday tee times

Bringing together the best players in the world on a more consistent basis has been a heavily discussed topic in recent months. During a players-only meeting at the BMW Championship last week, that very topic seemed to be where the conversation began and ended.

When he addressed the media Wednesday, Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, among other things, announced that top players will commit to at least a 20-event schedule that includes 12 elevated events. The Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Genesis Invitational and the Memorial Tournament are just a few of these high-status tournaments.

“Personally, competition, I guess, is always good to help push each other, but I’d rather have the competition just be us against what could possibly be better and better on the PGA Tour,” Spieth said. “Your competition is the best version of yourself kind of thing within the organization.

“I think that that would be the best-case scenario.”

In Wilmington, Delaware, last week, Spieth held a share of the lead early in the third round. But thanks to a double bogey on the par-4 fifth, his stay atop the board was short-lived.

An eventual T-19 finish wasn’t enough for a big jump up the FedEx Cup standings and Spieth will tee off Thursday eight shots behind world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

“It seems to be set up to where you believe no matter where you sit when you start this event that you can win the FedEx Cup, and I think that sitting in, I don’t know what I’m at, the 17th or 18th position, that’s obviously great,” Spieth said. “If I was at No. 1, I’d be like, well, I think it’s easier from the old way.

“Given my situation this week where I stand currently, I’m excited to go out there on one of my favorite tracks that we play all year and get started.”

2022 Tour Championship
Jordan Spieth of the United States chips on the driving range during a practice round prior to the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club on August 24, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

The 2021 Tour Championship was Spieth’s first appearance at the event since it changed to the staggered start (he tied for 20th).

In 23 starts this season, the Texan collected six top 10s, two runner ups and a win at the RBC Heritage a week after missing the cut at the Masters.

“I would have liked a little bit more consistency, but that just came down to making putts this year,” the 2015 FedEx Cup champion said. “I’ve put in a lot of work now over the last couple months on it and starting to see a lot of results on the practice green and quite a bit on the course, and hopefully it can make it rain this week.”

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2022 Tour Championship at East Lake odds, starting positions, best bets and picks to win the FedEx Cup

Can Xander Schauffele bounce back and take home the FedEx Cup?

It’s time.

It’s time to crown the winner of the 2021-22 FedEx Cup. After his victory at the BMW Championship last week, Patrick Cantlay has vaulted from No. 7 in the FedEx Cup standings to No. 2, only behind Scottie Scheffler.

At this week’s Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, the leaderboard will be staggered. Players will start a certain amount of shots behind the world No. 1 depending on where they rank in the standings (the full leaderboard is detailed below).

The last three FedEx Cup champions: Patrick Cantlay (2021), Dustin Johnson (2020) and Rory McIlroy (2019).

Let’s jump into our final preview of the 2021-22 campaign.

Tour Championship: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ | What’s at stake?

Golf course

East Lake Golf Club | Par 70 | 7,346 yards

A general view as Justin Thomas of the United States putts on the 18th green during the final round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on September 05, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Key stats

  • Strokes Gained: Approach
  • Fairways in regulation
  • Strokes Gained: Putting: Bermuda

Data Golf Information

Course Fit (compares golf courses based on the degree to which different golfer attributes — such as driving distance — to predict who performs well at each course – DataGolf): 1. TPC River Highlands, 2. TPC Twin Cities, 3. TPC Deere Run

Trending: 1. Rory McIlroy (last three starts: 3, MC, T-8), 2. Tony Finau (1, T-5, T-28), 3. Xander Schauffele (T-15, T-57, T-3)

Percent chance to win (based on course history, fit, trending, etc.): 1. Scottie Scheffler (34.8 percent), 2. Patrick Cantlay (14.6 percent), 3. Xander Schauffele (9.3 percent)

Betting preview