2023 Tour Championship Saturday third-round tee times, TV/streaming info

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

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It’s Viktor Hovland’s world, we’re just living in it.

The 25-year-old from Norway has been playing out of his mind the past three rounds of golf. He shot a 61 in the final round to win the BMW Championship last week. Then on Friday, he shot a 6-under 64, including a 30 on the back nine, to stay in the lead heading to the weekend at the 2023 Tour Championship in Atlanta at East Lake Golf Club.

Hovland sits at 16 under after two rounds, tied with Collin Morikawa for the 36-hole lead in the final Tour event of the 2022-23 season. Morikawa started the week at 1 under and has carded rounds of 61-64 to vault up the leaderboard.

Scottie Scheffler, who entered the week No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings, is solo third at 14 under.

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

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Saturday tee times

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

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.

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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Collin Morikawa’s career-low round, Scottie Scheffler’s putting woes among Tour Championship’s first-round takeaways

Here’s everything you need to know from the first round at East Lake.

ATLANTA — On a sweltering hot day, Adam Schenk torched East Lake Golf Club in his Tour Championship debut to the tune of 7-under 63. Yet he still got beat by two strokes in his pairing with fellow competitor Collin Morikawa.

“It sounds bad to say, but I’ve never won out here, so I guess I get kind of used to losing a little bit,” Schenk said. “But I played great, he just played a little better.”

If it makes Schenk feel any better, the 26-year old Morikawa posted his career-low on the PGA Tour, a sizzling 9-under 61 that was as hot as the temperature. Morikawa, who entered the week at No. 24 in the FedEx Cup, began the tournament at 1 under and 9 strokes behind FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler in the staggered start. By the time the day was over he was in the thick of the trophy hunt, tied with Keegan Bradley, who shot 63, and Viktor Hovland (68) for the lead at 10 under.

Scheffler (71) led by as many as five strokes on the front nine but hit it in the water and made a triple bogey at 15 to squander his lead. At the conclusion of the Tour Championship, the player with the lowest stroke total over 72 holes when combined with FedEx Cup Starting Strokes, will be crowned the FedEx Cup champion.

“Shoot, no better time, I guess, in our Tour Championship to show up and start playing some golf,” Morikawa said.

The two-time major champion said he made some subtle changes to his setup on Tuesday, and his iron play shined Thursday. He hit 16 greens in regulation and gained nearly four strokes on the field with his approach shots and ranked first in proximity too. Walking up the 15th hole with caddie JJ Jakovac, Morikawa joked he had already hit more shots pin high than he had in four rounds at most tournaments of late. At the water-guarded 224-yard par-3 15th, Morikawa oozed with such confidence that he didn’t even bother to watch the ball flight.

“Because I knew where it was going to go, and that’s the kind of control you want,” he said.

On one of the rare occasions when Morikawa misfired, he got a lucky break when he tugged his tee shot at the fifth hole and it ricocheted off a tree, back to the fairway and he made birdie.

“That’s kind of the momentum stuff that I just haven’t seen all year,” he said.

One hole later, he drilled his second shot from 224 yards to inside 4 feet and made eagle. Morikawa and Schenk combined to make 15 birdies and that eagle and nary a bogey between them for what would’ve been a best-ball 13-under 57, and both agreed they fed off each other as the round built.

“There’s a rhythm to it,” Morikawa said. “It was just really, really easy I think for both of us.”

Schenk, 31, also started the tournament trailing by nine strokes but closed the gap with four birdies in his final five holes and improved to T-5.

“I just fed off more of Collin than anything probably, and then I made some, and then he made some maybe off of me, but it’s definitely an enjoyable day when you are playing with someone that does play really well,” said Schenk, who is searching for his first career Tour title and summed up the round “as one of those days where nothing could go wrong.”

Here are four more things to know from the first round of the Tour Championship.

Rory McIlroy explains back injury, what he’s doing to play through pain

“The muscle spasm is what’s giving me the discomfort.”

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ATLANTA — Less than 24 hours before his Thursday tee time at the Tour Championship, Rory McIlroy couldn’t address a golf ball. That’s how much his lower-right back hurt.

“I was at the bottom of a squat, a body-weight squat, and my whole lower back spasmed, seized up. I couldn’t move,” McIlroy said. “So to get to where I am today is good.”

The 34-year-old McIlroy grimaced frequently and set a personal record for one-armed finishes but posted a gritty round of even-par 70 at East Lake in the first round of the Tour Championship, the final playoff event that will determine the FedEx Cup champion.

McIlroy, who is the defending champ, started the day three strokes behind in the staggered-start tournament and claimed to be “over the moon” to not lose any ground. He said he’s suffering from a muscle spasm that began bothering him earlier in the week.

“The muscle spasm is what’s giving me the discomfort,” he said. “I think when I play a lot of golf, especially the end of the season, I always have to manage my right side. My right side always gets pretty tight, my rib cage, intercostals, lats, like, all the way down, right hip.”

On Tuesday morning, McIlroy said he felt a little tight, and he stretched and used a foam roller at his home gym.

“I went to grab something and my whole right side just completely seized up, spasm. So I spent two hours with the physio at home, flew up here, felt a little better, some treatment, then Wednesday morning still my right side was feeling better, and then went into the gym just to do some movements and stuff,” he said.

McIlroy said he arrived at the golf course Thursday six hours before his 1:49 p.m. ET tee time, hopped in the cold plunge and worked with a team of trainers on his ailing back. He hit 20 wedges around 10 a.m., the first balls he has hit since competing Sunday at the BMW Championship.

2023 Tour Championship
Rory McIlroy plays a shot on the fifth hole during the first round of the 2023 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. (Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

“I felt OK, so then just thought I would give it a go,” he said. “I was always going to tee off. It was just a matter of how I felt on the course. And it got progressively a little tighter as I went, but it will hopefully get loosened up here and just another 18 hours of recovery and go again tomorrow.”

McIlroy didn’t seem to be swinging full tilt, but he still was able to outdrive Jon Rahm at the first hole. He made two bogeys on the front nine and didn’t make a birdie until his 10th hole. In all, McIlroy made four birdies and four bogeys for the day.

“I hung in there and I just felt like if I could get through today, it’s better than it was yesterday, hopefully tomorrow’s better than it was today, and just sort of try to keep progressing,” he said.

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2023 Tour Championship Friday second-round tee times, TV/streaming info

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

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The first round of the 2023 Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta is in the books, and there are plenty of changes at the top of the leaderboard.

Scottie Scheffler started the day with a two-shot lead, but he’s ending it one shot back at 9 under after a 1-over 71. For the first time since 2019 when the Tour went to Starting Strokes format, the No. 1 seed is not holding at least a share of the first-round lead.

Meanwhile, there’s a three-way tied at the top. Collin Morikawa shot 9-under 61, the lowest score of his Tour career, to move to 10 under. Also at that number is Keegan Bradley, who shot 7-under 63 and Viktor Hovland, who won last week’s BMW Championship. He shot 2-under 68 in the first round and rounds out the group tied for the lead.

Rory McIlroy, dealing with a back injury, carded an even-par 70 and is three shots behind.

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

Friday tee times

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

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.

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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Defending champion Rory McIlroy playing Tour Championship despite back injury

As first reported by Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, McIlroy is nursing an injury to his lower back.

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ATLANTA – Rory McIlroy teed off in the second to last group of the Tour Championship, but not without some concern.

As first reported by Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, McIlroy, the defending champion in the FedEx Cup, is nursing an injury to his lower back suffered earlier this week at his home.

“It’s a muscular issue,” Lewis tweeted. “This morning he arrived at East Lake, received treatment and hit 20 balls, which was the first time he hit balls this week. He will it up today for Tour Championship but may have discomfort.”

McIlroy didn’t mention an injury during his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday morning, but he also wasn’t asked if anything was ailing him. There is no pro-am at the Tour Championship and McIlroy took the last two days off to give his back a rest.

He finished third on Sunday at the BMW Championship and enters the Tour Championship in third place with a starting position of 7 under in the staggered-start tournament, three strokes behind Scottie Scheffler. Last year, McIlroy fell as many as 11 strokes behind before erasing a six-stroke deficit in the final round to become the first three-time champion of the FedEx Cup. He’s attempting to become the first player to win the Cup back-to-back.

McIlroy has $18 million reasons — the prize for winning the FedEx Cup — for attempting to play this week despite back trouble. There’s also a scenario where he could return to world No. 1.

McIlroy is expected to take next week off and then compete in the Horizon Irish Open (Sept. 7-10) followed by the BMW PGA Championship (Sept. 14-17) ahead of the Ryder Cup (Sept. 29-Oct. 1).

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Photos: Best merchandise at the 2023 Tour Championship in Atlanta

East Lake’s merch tent is loaded this week.

ATLANTA — The merchandise tent is one of the coolest places on property this week at East Lake Golf Club, home of the Tour Championship and the finale of the FedEx Cup.

Fans are literally hanging out there for the air conditioning. With temperatures expected to be in the upper 90s every day and the heat index to hit triple digits, I bumped into some friends on Wednesday who were doing just that — a veteran move if I’ve ever seen one.

But while fans are enjoying some cooler climes, they are also shopping with a plethora of brands to choose from —Peter Millar, Nike, Puma, Under Armour and adidas among the big names as well as Lululemon, Johnnie-O, Bobby Jones, Levelwear, TASC, Barstool Sports, Trap Golf, Ahead and Pukka. All your usual favorites can be found. Check out some of our favorites here.

Best 2023 Tour Championship gear and apparel

Check out our list of the best Tour Championship gear including brands like Nike, Adidas, Puma and more.

It’s the final week of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and now you too can look like you belong in the final 30 at East Lake.

We’ve done the digging and found the best Tour Championship apparel money can buy. Polos, pullovers, hats, t-shirts and more are featured on this list to help you find the perfect addition to your golf wardrobe.

If you’re looking for more than just Tour Championship gear, be sure to check out some of our favorite polos, shorts, pants, golf shoes, hats and more. Even though the summer is winding down, there’s still plenty of time to find your new favorite apparel item!

Jon Rahm or Scottie Scheffler? FedEx Cup finale may tip scales in PGA Tour Player of the Year race

“I’ve got to go with the guy who is winning more than the guy who is consistent,” Tony Finau said.

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ATLANTA – Tony Finau took a deep breath.

The question posed to him demanded some deep thought. Who would he be voting for as the PGA Tour Player of the Year? Some years, like when Tiger Woods wins three of four majors or 10 titles, it’s a cinch, but not this go-round.

“Man, I think that’s really hard,” Finau said. “This year, is it Jon Rahm or is it Scottie Scheffler?”

Finau wore a perplexed expression and it was evident that his mind was working double time to break it down.

“Scottie’s been unbelievable. He hasn’t finished outside the top 12 ever, right, and that’s an amazing accomplishment,” Finau said. “But because Rahm won a major and how hot Rahm’s year was, winning four alone in the calendar year and in the first four months, this year it’s got to be Rahmbo.”

Finau isn’t the only player who is torn in determining who will garner his vote for the Jack Nicklaus Award, which is voted on by the players. (The PGA of America gives its own Player of the Year award, which is based on a points system, and the Golf Writers Association of America chooses its own winner at the end of the calendar year.)

“It depends what you value,” Rory McIlroy said Wednesday during his pre-tournament press conference ahead of the Tour Championship at East Lake. “I think Scottie’s won twice this year, Jon’s won four times, Jon’s won the Masters, Scottie’s won the Players. If you go on total wins — it’s hard because how can you not — it’s going to be really difficult because Scottie’s had — he could end up with the best ball-striking season of all time. He’s hit the ball as good, if not better, than Tiger hit it in 2000, which is the benchmark for all of us. But I think Jon probably has a little more to show for his year. But I think it could come down to this week and who performs. But it’s a two-horse race between Jon and Scottie.”

Tour Championship: Picks to win | Thursday tee times, how to watch

Brian Harman, the Champion Golfer of the Year, agreed with that sentiment and predicted it would come down to the wire and depend on who wins the FedEx Cup. For Rahm, it could be déjà vu all over again. He narrowly lost the Player of the Year in 2021 to Patrick Cantlay, who won the FedEx Cup by a stroke over Rahm, but Rahm had captured the U.S. Open that season.

“Gosh, yeah, it’s so close,” Harman said. “Scottie’s had one of the most incredible stretches of ball striking that we’ve maybe ever seen in golf. And then Jon Rahm, especially at the beginning of the year, he just seemed almost unbeatable. They’re two incredible players and I don’t think there’s a bad choice for Player of the Year. I don’t have a specific opinion, no. They’re both really, really good. I certainly wouldn’t want to make one of ’em mad before I have to play against them week, so I’ll refrain.”

Xander Schauffele played Switzerland too.

“I think this week will be pretty important in determining who may win that,” he said.

Let’s go back to Finau, who came to his final answer on a difficult decision with the following logic: “I still believe the hardest thing to do on Tour is win; the second hardest thing is consistency,” he said. “I’ve got to go with the guy who is winning more than the guy who is consistent.”

But Finau left himself an out in case he changed his mind.

“If Scottie wins the FedEx Cup on Sunday,” he said, “I might be voting differently.”

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Photos: 2023 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club

Check out some of the best photos from East Lake here.

The final event of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season is here as the top 30 in the FedEx Cup point standings are in Atlanta for the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.

Under the Starting Strokes format, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will begin the event at 10 under, two shots clear of Viktor Hovland, who is fresh off a win at the BMW Championship.

Three back of the Texan will be Rory McIlroy, the only three-time FedEx Cup winner. The Northern Irishman has now finished T-9 or better in nine straight starts thanks to his solo fourth at the BMW.

First place this week is worth a whopping $18 million in bonus money.

Here are some of the best photos from the week in the ATL.

Scottie Scheffler has unfinished business at the 2023 Tour Championship

Scheffler is hoping to get his revenge this week at East Lake.

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ATLANTA – Scottie Scheffler has unfinished business this week at the Tour Championship.

A year ago, the world No. 1 squandered a six-stroke lead as Rory McIlroy mounted the largest final-round comeback in tournament history, shooting 66 to win the FedEx Cup by a stroke.

Scheffler helped McIlroy’s cause by making three bogeys in the first five holes.

“I don’t know if impatient is the right word, in the final round, but I just didn’t get off to a good start,” Scheffler recalled. “I remember walking down No. 8 and kind of just having a talk with myself about, you know, ‘This is why you practice, this is why you prepare,’ just kind of give yourself a little pump-up speech, and then after that I snapped right back in.”

Asked what he learned about that defeat, he said, “how much I like to fight out there.”

Tour Championship: Picks to win | Thursday tee times, how to watch

Scheffler returns to East Lake Golf Club this week feeling the sting of another close call on another Sunday. Scheffler looked poised to notch his third PGA Tour win of the season, and first since March, at the BMW Championship until Viktor Hovland closed with seven birdies in his final nine holes to race by him.

“I think it’s just quite difficult to win out here. I mean, like, last week I think is a great example, going into Sunday tied for the lead, and I think I was 5 under on 17 tee for the day on a golf course that’s hosted the U.S. Open and I got bypassed,” he said.

Scheffler has been a model of consistency all season, winning the WM Phoenix Open and the Players Championship and finishing T-12 or better in 19 of 22 starts. Stats guru Justin Ray noted on social media that if Scheffler hits 62 or more greens in regulation this week, he will be the first player to finish a Tour season with a greens-in-regulation percentage of 75 percent or higher since Tiger Woods in 2000.

“He could end up with the best ball-striking season of all time,” McIlroy noted on Wednesday. “He’s hit the ball as good, if not better, than Tiger hit it in 2000, which is the benchmark for all of us.”

Despite his otherworldly ball striking, Scheffler’s putter has kept him out of visiting the winner’s circle more often. Sunday will mark 168 days since Scheffler’s last win, during which he’s reeled off nine top-5 finishes in his last 12 starts.

“Any time I don’t win a tournament I’m disappointed, but being a professional golfer I think you try to find a way to live with that disappointment, because you just, you can’t win that often,” he said. “But I’m trying my best to do it every week.”

Don’t feel too bad for Scheffler – he’s earned more than $20 million this season, setting a Tour record and became the first player to enter the Tour Championship with the lead in the FedEx Cup two years in a row. He enters the tournament at 10 under in the staggered start, two strokes better than his closest pursuer Viktor Hovland. At the conclusion of the Tour Championship, the player with the lowest stroke total over 72 holes when combined with FedEx Cup starting strokes will be crowned the FedEx Cup champion.

“I feel like I’ve joked a decent amount about being No. 1, you don’t get any extra strokes and you show up this week and I do get some extra strokes. So it’s a bit strange, but it should be a fun week,” Scheffler said.

But starting in front is no guarantee of victory. As McIlroy noted, he fell as many as 11 strokes behind Scheffler after two holes of the opening round last year before completing his improbable comeback.

“If I can come back from 11 shots, I feel like everyone in this field should feel like they have a chance to win,” McIlroy said.

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