Tag: 2023 FedEx Cup Playoffs

Thursday tee times, streaming info for the 2023 Tour Championship

Everything you need to know for the first round at East Lake.

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After a long, adventurous season, the final event of the PGA Tour schedule is here as the top-30 players in the standings have descended upon East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta for the 2023 Tour Championship.

After his runner-up finish to Viktor Hovland at the BMW Championship, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will tee off Thursday with a two-shot lead (10 under) over the Norwegian (8 under). Three-time FedEx Cup winner Rory McIlroy will begin at 7 under, while world No. 3 Jon Rahm will start at 6 under.

You can find the full staggered-start leaderboard here (with a few picks to win).

From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the first round of the 2023 Tour Championship. All times Eastern.

Thursday tee times

Tee time Players
11:26 a.m.
Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka
11:37 a.m.
Emiliano Grillo, Tyrrell Hatton
11:48 a.m.
Jason Day, Sam Burns
11:59 a.m.
Adam Schenk, Collin Morikawa
12:10 p.m.
Taylor Moore, Nick Taylor
12:21 p.m.
Corey Conners, Si Woo Kim
12:32 p.m.
Sungjae Im, Tony Finau
12:43 p.m.
Xander Schauffele, Tom Kim
12:54 p.m.
Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler
1:05 p.m.
Tommy Fleetwood, Russell Henley
1:16 p.m.
Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick
1:27 p.m.
Patrick Cantlay, Brian Harman
1:38 p.m.
Lucas Glover, Max Homa
1:49 p.m.
Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm
2 p.m.
Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland

How to watch

You can watch Golf Channel for free on fuboTV. ESPN+ is the exclusive home for PGA Tour Live streaming. All times Eastern.

Thursday, August 24

TV

Golf Channel: 1-6 p.m.

Radio

SiriusXM: 12-6 p.m.

STREAM

ESPN+: 11:15 a.m.-6 p.m.
Peacock: 1-6 p.m.

Friday, August 25

TV

Golf Channel: 1-6 p.m.

Radio

SiriusXM: 12-6 p.m.

STREAM

ESPN+: 11:15 a.m.-6 p.m.
Peacock: 1-6 p.m.

Saturday, August 26

TV

Golf Channel: 1-3 p.m.
CBS: 3-7 p.m.

Radio

SiriusXM: 2-7 p.m.

STREAM

ESPN+: 12-7 p.m.
Peacock: 1-3 p.m.

Sunday, August 27

TV

Golf Channel: 12-1:30 p.m.
CBS: 1:30-6 p.m.

Radio

SiriusXM: 1-6 p.m.

STREAM

ESPN+: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Peacock: 12-1:30 p.m.

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2023 Tour Championship odds, course history and picks to win

Let’s finish the season with another outright winner.

We’ve arrived at the final event of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season, the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta. The top 30 in the point standings have made their way to the ATL ready to battle for the $18 million FedEx Cup bonus awarded to the winner.

After his co-runner-up finish at the BMW Championship, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will begin the tournament at 10 under, two shots clear of the man in the No. 2 spot, Viktor Hovland. Rory McIlroy, who has now finished T-9 or better in nine straight starts after a solo fourth at Olympia Fields, will begin three back at 7 under, while Jon Rahm starts at 6 under.

McIlroy chased down Scheffler last year to claim his third FedEx Cup, the only player who has achieved that feat (Tiger Woods and McIlroy are the only two players to win it more than once).

Golf course

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

2022 Tour Championship
Xander Schauffele on the 18th hole during the first round of the 2022 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. (Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Course history

Betting preview

Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka, Sahith Theegala ride FedEx Cup Playoffs rollercoaster

For some golfers, each birdie putt was a jolt of adrenaline while every bogey was a kick to the gut.

The season-ending Tour Championship features an exclusive field of the top-30 players on the FedEx Cup points list.

For those PGA Tour golfers hugging that top-30 cutline this week at the BMW Championship, getting to the season-finale at East Lake was stressful, with each birdie putt providing a jolt of adrenaline and every bogey feeling like a kick to the gut.

Sunday was once again a rollercoaster of emotions for those players angling for one of those coveted tee times at the 2023 Tour Championship, where the winning prize is $18 million in bonus money.

It made for a fascinating few hours of television on CBS.

Fans enjoyed watching Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick and Max Homa battle for the win while also keeping tabs on the likes of Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Sahith Theegala and Sepp Straka, who were all battling to extend their seasons.

Here’s a closer look at the race to East Lake, where ultimately just one golfer played his way into the top 30 but several others walked a tightrope over the final 18 holes at Olympia Fields outside Chicago.

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Viktor Hovland has eight 3s on back nine, posts career low to win BMW Championship

The win is the fifth of Hovland’s PGA Tour career and his second of the season.

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OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – As Rory McIlroy counted up Viktor Hovland’s scorecard after the final round of the BMW Championship, he realized that Hovland’s back nine included eight threes and a single four.

“It adds up to a nice little 28 for him,” McIlroy said marveling at Hovland’s brilliant performance. “He just keeps his foot on the pedal. Just isn’t scared. Just keeps going forward, keeps going at it.”

The 25-year-old Norwegian kept his foot on the pedal and rode his way to a course-record 9-under 61 at Olympia Fields on Sunday and a two-stroke victory over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick. Hovland’s sizzling 61 to clinch his fifth PGA Tour title was the low round by a winner this season on the Tour and also the lowest final round in the history of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

When told that the CBS golf team declared it the best round of the year, Hovland exclaimed, “Wow!” and added, “It definitely has to be the best round I’ve ever played given the circumstances, a playoff event and this golf course.”

Hovland erased a three-stroke deficit on Sunday, making three birdies in his first five holes, but he didn’t let his lone bogey of the day, at No. 7, derail him.

“It felt like it was just going to be one of those days like the other days where I’ve gotten off to a nice start and kind of just played OK and shot 68 or 67 or 66, which is a nice score, but after making that turn, stuffed it on 10, hit it close on 11, stuffed it on 12, and that’s when I kind of felt like I hit the groove a little bit.”

Did he ever. Hovland reeled off seven birdies in his final nine holes to vault past Scheffler and Fitzpatrick, who shared second despite both shooting 66.

“Yeah, played great. Can’t do anything about 61,” said Fitzpatrick, who was the only player to move into the top 30 in the FedEx Cup and qualify for the Tour Championship, bumping out Chris Kirk. “I did just see Viktor, I called him a little (jerk).”

Hovland’s caddie Shay Knight said his player was in the zone and for him to do it on this big of a stage – though Olympia Fields was softened by rain earlier in the week and there was hardly a breath of wind on a humid day, it still is arguably one of the 50-100 toughest courses in the country – shows how much of “a bulldog he is.”

To hear Hovland tell it, he just kept hitting fairways – he led the field in fairways hit for the week – and kept giving himself chances at birdie. “We’re one shot closer, we’re one shot closer, and then suddenly we were tied. It just happened so quickly,” he said. “When I made the putt on 15 for birdie, I felt like, OK, we’ve got a chance now if I can finish pretty well, then you never know what’s going to happen behind you.

“Then when I made a birdie on 17, I was feeling really good, and then the birdie on 18, as well, I felt like I could win it outright. But it wasn’t until then, I had no idea what was going on. I was just going to try to play well and keep making birdies.”

Hovland’s record day lifted him to a 72-hole total of 17-under 263. Scheffler had made birdies on six of the first 13 holes but his putter, which has plagued him for much of the season, let him down again and he made a critical bogey at 17 to take some of the drama out of the finish. Scheffler, however, claimed the top spot in the FedEx Cup heading to Atlanta, knocking Jon Rahm back to fourth, and will hold a two-stroke lead over Hovland, who jumped to second in the point standings, in the staggered start at the FedEx Cup finale.

After munching on a piece of pizza that he snagged on his way to his winner’s press conference, Hovland conceded he was running on fumes but would be ready for the challenge of trying to win back-to-back weeks and the season-long championship.

“Well, I’m about to pass out right now, but no, just a good night’s sleep, and we’re right back at it next week at East Lake,” he said. “I’m sure it’ll be hot and we’ll be sweating a lot, so I’m definitely feeling that it’s been a lot of golf, but it seems like the more I’ve played recently, I seem to play better. Just need to lean into that and hopefully we have another good week next week.”

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FedEx Cup bubble watch, Americans vying for Ryder Cup spot and more from BMW Championship

Catch up on Saturday’s action here.

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Matt Fitzpatrick was so frustrated with his game a week ago that he didn’t even want to play this week. Scottie Scheffler is right where he’s been almost all season – right in the thick of another high-stakes PGA Tour event.

Fitzpatrick and Scheffler are tied for the 54-hole lead at the BMW Championship at 11-under 199 with one round remaining. Fitzpatrick was bogey-free until the final hole but posted 4-under 66 at Olympia Fields, while Scheffler scrambled well and got help from his putter to shoot 64, the second-best score of the day in the 50-man field.

Ever since Fitzpatrick won the RBC Heritage in April, his game has fallen off sharply. Most notably, he has struggled off the tee, so much so that his caddie Billy Foster asked him in June, “How the hell have you finished top 20 in the U.S. Open driving the ball like me?”

“That’s what it feels like,” Fitzpatrick said this week. “Feels like I’ve been hitting driver like Billy.”

But last Saturday, he and swing coach Mike Walker found something simple on the range – he was overswinging so Fitzpatrick shortened his swing and it has been more in sync ever since. Problem solved.

“Why didn’t you tell me this three months ago?” Fitzpatrick cracked to Walker.

The Englishman was desperate for a strong week. Fitzpatrick is projected to improve all the way to fifth should he go on to win the BMW on Sunday.

“I like it when it’s windy and tough and it’s obviously getting firmer out there, as well,” Fitzpatrick said. “I just think tomorrow is supposed to be really, really hot. Obviously sort of playing very late, as well, again. So yeah, it’ll be very firm.”

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Gambling spectators yell at Max Homa, Chris Kirk during play at BMW Championship

“I got to the back of my back stroke, and he yelled, ‘pull it’ pretty loud,” Homa said.

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OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Max Homa can do without fans shouting while he’s trying to make a critical birdie putt.

But on the 17th hole during the third round of the BMW Championship on Saturday, he heard a spectator who had a $3 bet with his buddy deliberately yell, “Pull it,” and it set Homa off.

Homa holed the short birdie putt nonetheless and posted a 1-over-par 71 at Olympia Fields, nine strokes more than his course-record 62 a day earlier. Homa chalked it up to a fan who overindulged in drinking during the day.

“Or else he’s just the biggest loser there is, but he was cheering and yelling at Chris (Kirk) for missing his putt short, and he kept yelling that he had – one of them had $3 for me to make mine, and I got to the back of my back stroke, and he yelled, ‘pull it’ pretty loud[ly], and I made it right in the middle, and then I just started yelling at him, and then (caddie) Joe (Greiner) yelled at him.”

Asked to recall what he yelled back at the fan, he said, “That he’s a clown, with maybe another word. I don’t know what Joe yelled. He was a lot meaner, I think. It just was — I don’t know. Long day, I guess. Hope he has a nice night, but it just sucks when that happens, but I was happy I made it. It was rude what he did to Chris. Whatever.”

Homa said he has no problem with fans gambling on golf but he is concerned that fans could attempt to impact the result in a negative fashion.

“That is the one thing I’m worried about,” Homa said. “I don’t know what he had to lose. He got kicked out probably, and we were the last group.”

Homa noted that his heckler at 17 was the exception and not the rule.

“It’s just always something that’s on your mind. It’s on us to stay focused or whatever, but it’s just annoying when it happens,” Homa said. “It’s like the one thing we have in this game, fans are so great about being quiet when we play. I think they are awesome. When anybody ever talks, it’s so unintentional. They don’t know we’re hitting. It just sucks when it’s incredibly intentional, and his friend specifically said it was for $3, so that was — not that the money matters, but that’s a frustrating number.”

Homa, who was the 36-hole leader, will enter the final round in fourth place. He’s battling for a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup and positioning in next week’s Tour Championship, the one event that has a staggered start. In short, every shot matters in crunch time, not to mention that the purse at the BMW is a whopping $20 million.

“It doesn’t matter what we’re playing for,” Homa said. “We’re working so hard, and I grinded my tail off to get that thing back to near even par, and had I missed that I would have just been a pain, but it was nice to make it right in the middle and hopefully he had to pay his buddy that $3 immediately on the way out of the property.”

Sam Burns lights up BMW Championship with course record-tying 62

“I didn’t want to tie him, I wanted to beat him,” Burns said. “But I’ll take it.”

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OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Max Homa has company as the course record holder at Olympia Fields Country Club.

Sam Burns matched Homa’s 62 of a day earlier, making four birdies on each side en route to a bogey-free round.

“I didn’t want to tie him, I wanted to beat him,” Burns said. “But I’ll take it.”

Burns had only made six birdies through his first 36 holes of the BMW Championship and shot 71-70 to trail by 11 and teed off early on Moving Day. At the midway point, he was projected to be one of two players to be bounced out of the top 30 and go from Atlanta bound to booking a one-way ticket home on Sunday. Before the round, he told caddie Travis Perkins and his team, “I just want to come out here and play a confident round of golf, whether that’s 72 or whatever it was today. I just want to go out there and play with confidence, play free, and see what happens.”

That strategy worked like a charm on Saturday as Burns made birdie on the first hole, went back-to-back at Nos. 4 and 5 and peeled off four more in a five-hole stretch starting at the ninth. His favorite of the bunch? Holing a sand shot at the par-3 13th from the front-right greenside bunker.

“It was pretty easy,” he said. “It was on the up slope. Had enough green, a little back into the wind. Just had to clip it, and I did.”

Burns’s rise up the leaderboard has him projected to be No. 18 in the FedEx Cup and on his way to the Tour Championship next week in Atlanta. But Burns said he isn’t too concerned about that.

“If I make it, great. If I don’t, I get to go home and be home an extra week,” he said. “Whatever happens, I know the Lord has already planned it out, and I can be good with whatever happens.”

But making the U.S. Ryder Cup team is another story.

“I want nothing more,” he said.

Chicago dog, skyline and Olympia Fields clock give local feel in BMW Championship merchandise shop

Check out some of the best BWM Championship merchandise here.

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – The BMW Championship merchandise shop is just steps away from the media center this week, so, I can report with full confidence that it is a popular spot this week and I’m told they’re expecting the shelves to be empty by the time a champion is crowned on Sunday.

It’s easily one of the best mixes of gear – with big-name brands such as Peter Millar, Foot Joy, Adidas and Under Armour represented as well as some smaller labels and specialty favorites such as Ahead and Imperial Sportswear (hats), Nexbelt (belts), Goodr (sunglasses), Stance (socks) and Foray (women’s apparel).

There are some fun alternative logos such as the Chicago Dog with a golf ball and Olympia Fields Country Club’s iconic clock. There is a good mix of local Chicago flare and BMW tournament staples. The FedEx Cup Playoffs deserve to be treated like a big deal and the BMW merchandise delivers.

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Check out the photo gallery of gear here.

Max Homa’s course record, FitzMagic needed for Atlanta and more from BMW Championship

Catch up on Friday’s action here.

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – At the 2020 BMW Championship, Max Homa failed to make 10 birdies at Olympia Fields for the week and said of the course, “it kicked my butt.”

On Friday, Homa kicked butt. In the second round alone, he carded 10 birdies, a career high on Tour, en route to a course-record 8-under 62.

“I knew I was making a lot,” Homa said. “I heard the standard bearer say something about how he’s getting tired because he had to change the numbers on our (scoreboard) so much because Pat (Cantlay) was making a lot, too. It was just a crazy day.”

Crazy good. His 36-hole total of 10-under 130 was good enough for a two-stroke lead over Chris Kirk. His sizzling 62 on a sunny day when the temperature barely reached 80 degrees, was two strokes better than Jon Rahm’s 64 at the 2020 BMW and one better than Vijay Singh (2003 U.S. Open), Rickie Fowler (2007 Fighting Illini Invitational) and Thomas Detry at the same event eight years later. Homa said he was aware of the course record because he noticed an electronic scoreboard that noted that Kirk was challenging the mark. He settled for 66, but the messaging put the seed in Homa’s head.

“Then I had to think about it,” he said.

Homa hit 16 of 18 greens and made 135 feet of putts – his 4.32 Strokes Gained: Putting led the field and was a season best. But it was actually his driving that he singled out as the secret for his successful day.

“I felt like I was able to attack kind of all day. Obviously the greens are still really soft, so being in the fairway as often as I was, it felt like I was able to be aggressive when I wanted to, and if I didn’t, I could just play to the middle of the green,” he said. “I think that out here when you’re in the fairway, it becomes significantly easier, more so than other golf courses.”

Homa’s also thinking about securing a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team as well as making a good impression on U.S. captain Zach Johnson in case he needs a pick – the top six in the standings automatically qualify and Homa enters the week ranked sixth.

“I told Zach last year I was kissing up to him, but then he also said, ‘Well, I’d like to not have to pick you,’ and I said. ‘All right, there’s my promise, I’ll try to get an automatic.’ That would be really cool. That’s been kind of my goal since these Playoffs started, to get into that top six.”

Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose move up in 2023 FedEx Cup projected standings

Here’s a closer look at those golfers moving up, and those moving down, in the projected standings.

After 36 holes at Olympia Fields’ North Course near Chicago, time is running out for those angling to make the Tour Championship.

The BMW Championship is the second of three FedEx Cup Playoffs events but only the top 30 golfers will move on to East Lake Golf Club for the season finale. There are bragging rights when you make it to Atlanta but there’s also a whopping $18 million first-place prize at stake.

For each golfer who moves into the top 30, there has to be one falling out. Looking at the PGA Tour’s projected FedEx Cup standings after two rounds at the BMW, there are two of each.