Tag: East Lake Golf Club

What if the Tour Championship was a match-play event? Here’s how it might play out

How interesting would this next week at East Lake Golf Club if we had match play?

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How does Jon Rahm vs. Jordan Spieth sound? Would you watch Wyndham Clark vs. Collin Morikawa? Or what about Xander Schauffele vs. Tony Finau?

In other words, what if the Tour Championship was a match play? How interesting would this next week at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta be then?

The PGA Tour’s lone match-play event, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, was played in Austin for the final time in March. There is no upcoming match play tournament on the schedule.

It certainly seems like there’s room somewhere on the schedule for such an event. Why not bring the format to the high-stakes Tour Championship? Let’s do away with the staggered scoring format and bring on some head-to-head competition.

To make it work, the Tour would need to allow two more golfers into the field. We’d need 32 to make a nice, clean bracket. Doesn’t seem like having the top 32 advance from the BMW instead of the current top 30 is that big of a deal.

Also, 32 golfers make for a four-day event. The Dell had 64 golfers and needed five days of competition. It also had the pod system for the first three days but we don’t need that here. This Tour Championship Match Play (or whatever it would be called) would be an old-school “lose and go home” format.

Curious what the 2023 matchups would be? Based on the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings, here ya go:

  • Scottie Scheffler (1) vs. Chris Kirk (32)
  • Viktor Hovland (2) vs. Sahith Theegala (31)
  • Rory McIlroy (3) vs. Sepp Straka (30)
  • Jon Rahm (4) vs. Jordan Spieth (29)
  • Lucas Glover (5) vs. Tyrrell Hatton (28)
  • Max Homa (6) vs. Emiliano Grillo (27)
  • Patrick Cantlay (7) vs. Sam Burns (26)
  • Brian Harman (8) vs. Jason Day (25)
  • Wyndham Clark (9) vs. Collin Morikawa (24)
  • Matt Fitzpatrick (10) vs. Adam Schenk (23)
  • Tommy Fleetwood (11) vs. Nick Taylor (22)
  • Russell Henley (12) vs. Taylor Moore (21)
  • Keegan Bradley (13) vs. Si Woo Kim (20)
  • Rickie Fowler (14) vs. Corey Conners (19)
  • Xander Schauffele (15) vs. Tony Finau (18)
  • Tom Kim (16) vs. Sungae Im (17)

Just for fun, we created a mock printable bracket here.

First place at the Tour Championship would still be worth $18 million. The total purse would still be $75 million. Yes, half the field would only be in Atlanta for a single day of competition, but with this being the season ender, they’d merely get an early start to their offseasons.

One sticking point could be how the TV networks feels about it. (CBS and NBC alternate years as broadcast partner for all three playoff events.) They probably don’t want to risk not having the Scotties and Rorys and Rahms of the world around on the weekend, and nothing can be done to assure only big names advance.

After all, this is match play, where weird things happen. But it could make for some amazing viewing for golf fans to wrap up the season.

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Two Atlanta businesses get support from Mastercard, Capital One Business ahead of Tour Championship

Mastercard and Capital One Business have built out both shops on the grounds of the Tour Championship.

At the Tour Championship, Mastercard and Capital One Business partnered to bring Foodies & Fairways™ to East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia, a program that gives two local food businesses an opportunity to showcase and sell their signature dishes to fans at golf tournaments across the country. 

Mastercard and Capital One Business’ support for Kayla’s Italian Ice and Local Green takes on added significance given their proximity to the golf course as Atlanta-based businesses.

Foodies & Fairways™ not only showcases the commitments of Mastercard and Capital One Business to local entrepreneurship but also emphasizes their dedication to promoting community engagement.

Kayla’s Italian Ice is comprised of a mother-daughter duo, Theresa and Kayla, who wanted to bring a New York summer treat to Georgia. With Kayla being only 15, she provides youthful ideas to such a structured business plan.

“At first, no one really took me seriously,” she said. “My biggest achievement has been growing our clientele, getting out of a pushcart and opening a food truck.”

Their flavors are made from fresh local ingredients and their truck now serves the community, business events, parties and more. They hope to start franchising their business around the country.

Kayla's Italian Ice founders
Kayla’s Italian Ice founders. (Kayla’s Italian Ice)

Local Green was formed with the intention to bring healthier options to a community where Southern soul, comfort and fried foods are popular. The owner, Zak Wallace, once weighed more than 300 pounds and knew he needed to make a lifestyle change to preserve his health. 

“I was trapped in the world between fast food, fried food, processed foods and I realized I’m addicted to this kind of flavor,” Zak said. “I wanted to make the focus more about nutrition and bring that into the conversation from somebody that’s from the community.”

Local Green started as a food truck and now serves as a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Atlanta as well as a food truck at Walt Disney Resorts providing flavorful cuisine to minority-dominated areas.

Local Green Atlanta founders
Local Green Atlanta founders. (Local Green Atlanta)

By awarding each of these businesses a grant of $10,000 and Mastercard digital tools and resources, as well as providing personalized business coaching with Ginger Siegel, Mastercard’s North America Small Business Lead, Mastercard is going beyond financial assistance to offer valuable guidance and expertise.

These resources are likely to enable Kayla’s Italian Ice and Local Green to strengthen their operations.

“Now we can get some automatic fillers that would really help our production, as well as build out our trucks, get more brand awareness and participate in more events like this,” Theresa said. 

Mastercard and Capital One Business have built out both shops on the grounds of the Tour Championship, which presents a unique opportunity for these businesses to connect with a broad range of attendees, fostering networking, exposure, and potential sales.

“There are probably not a lot of people in the golf world who are familiar with Local Green, but there are a lot of people in the sport that do want options that are both healthier and flavorful,” Zak said. “I think once people find out about us, they’re hooked.”

By participating in the event and selling their offerings on-site, Kayla’s Italian Ice and Local Green stand to benefit from increased visibility and revenue, all while contributing to the vibrant atmosphere of the tournament.

As a result of Mastercard and Capital One Business’ collaboration, the positive effects of this partnership are likely to extend well beyond the duration of the tournament. The grants, digital tools, coaching and exposure received by these businesses can serve as catalysts for growth and long-term success.

“I really want to know how we can direct ourselves into retail and how we can better guide our franchisees as they come along for a business that we’ve built,” Theresa said. “That’s part of giving back to the community: providing jobs, entrepreneurship and training based on the skills that we’ve learned.”

Tournaments, dates, courses and what’s at stake in the 2023 FedEx Cup Playoffs

Get prepared for golf’s postseason, which starts this week in Memphis.

Hard to believe it’s already August, and that means it’s time for the 2023 FedEx Cup Playoffs.

The field for the first event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, is official now that final putt has dropped at the Wyndham Championship.

The defending champion at TPC Southwind, Will Zalatoris, will not be in the field as he hasn’t played since withdrawing from the Masters due to injury.

There are several other big names not there as well, including Justin Thomas (71) and Adam Scott (72), who missed the top-70 cutoff.

To get you ready for the home stretch of the PGA Tour season, we put together everything you need to know for every stop of the postseason including dates, course, defending champion and what’s on the line for everyone in the field.

Vanderbilt men’s golf outlasts Arizona State in East Lake Cup final

The championship match of the East Lake Cup came down to the last hole.

It seems only fitting that the championship match of the East Lake Cup between the nation’s top two teams in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings would come down to the last hole.

With the title match between top-ranked Vanderbilt and No. 2 Arizona State tied at 2-2, William Moll delivered the deciding point for the Commodores with a birdie on the par-5 18th hole for a 1-up win over Jose Ballester.

Both players hit errant tee shots, but they managed to escape trouble to set up birdie putts on the final hole. After Ballester’s 15-footer missed his mark, Moll rolled in a four-footer to deliver the title to the Commodores.

The win capped off a comeback victory for Moll, who was 4 down through 10 holes against the Spaniard.

“It’s a big confidence boost,” said Moll. “I was pretty nervous over that putt but I was able to knock it in and it feels awesome for the team.”

Matthew Riedel put the first point on the board for the Commodores, scoring a lopsided win over ASU’s Ryggs Johnston, 7 and 6.

In the most exciting match of the championship, Sun Devil freshman Luke Potter rolled in a 15-foot, left-to-right breaking putt on the par-5 18th hole for a birdie and a 1-up win over Cole Sherwood. Potter enjoyed a 4-up lead through five holes but lost the lead when Sherwood tied the match with a birdie on the par-4 12th hole.

Potter bent, but he didn’t break, as regained the lead on the 13th with a birdie and again on the difficult par-3 15th with a par. Sherwood evened the match again with a birdie on 16 and after the players halved the 17th with par, they went to 18 all squared, with Potter eventually prevailing with a birdie on the last.

Vanderbilt went back in front after Reid Davenport rallied from a two-hole deficit to beat Michael Mjaaseth, 2 and 1.

After ASU’s Preston Summerhays defeated reigning NCAA individual champion and East Lake Cup medalist Gordon Sargent, 3 and 1, in the final pairing to even the match, all eyes turned to Moll, who was lining up his short birdie putt on 18.

The ball found the back of the hole, giving the Dores their second East Lake Cup title and first since 2017.

“For me, the word that comes to mind is grit,” Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh said. “I’m super proud of how the boys battled all day long, seeing the hole a couple of them were in early and how they were able to find a way to get the job done was an awesome way to end the fall season.”

The win is Vanderbilt’s third team title of the fall after victories at The Frederica Cup and SEC Preview. But after being upset in the finals of the SEC Match Play by Tennessee, the winter break will be that much nicer for the nation’s top-ranked team after their performance in Atlanta.

“We’re certainly excited to finish the fall this way, but also to see if we can improve,” said Limbaugh. “We’re going to get some rest and then work on some areas we need to get better in to be the best team we can be.”

Go to amateurgolf.com for more coverage of college and amateur golf.

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2022 Tour Championship bonus money payouts for each PGA Tour player at East Lake Golf Club

Rory McIlroy is going home $18 million richer.

Rory McIlroy made history Sunday at East Lake.

McIlroy became the first golfer to win three FedEx Cups, as he came from six strokes behind to top Scottie Scheffler and Sungjae Im to win the Tour Championship in Atlanta. McIlroy shot 5-under 65 in the final round and finished at 21 under, beating Scheffler and Im by one shot. What’s even more impressive is McIlroy started the week with a triple bogey on his first hole.

Scheffler held at least a share of the lead the first 69 holes of the tournament, but a bogey on the par-4 16th dropped him out of the lead for the first time, and he wasn’t able to birdie either of the final two holes.

Nevertheless, both McIlroy and Scheffler are going home with big checks.

Here’s a look at the bonus money payouts for each player at the 2022 Tour Championship, the final event of the PGA Tour’s 2021-22 season.

Tour Championship: Scores | PGA Tour all-time money list | Winner’s bag

Tour Championship 2022 bonus money

Position Player Score Earnings
1 Rory McIlroy -21 $18,000,000
T2 Sungjae Im -20 $5,750,000
T2 Scottie Scheffler -20 $5,750,000
4 Xander Schauffele -18 $4,000,000
T5 Max Homa -17 $2,750,000
T5 Justin Thomas -17 $2,750,000
T7 Patrick Cantlay -16 $1,750,000
T7 Sepp Straka -16 $1,750,000
9 Tony Finau -15 $1,250,000
10 Tom Hoge -14 $1,000,000
T11 Hideki Matsuyama -13 $925,000
T11 Joaquin Niemann -13 $925,000
T13 Jordan Spieth -12 $825,000
T13 Aaron Wise -12 $825,000
T15 Matthew Fitzpatrick -11 $715,000
T15 Viktor Hovland -11 $715,000
T15 J.T. Poston -11 $715,000
T15 Jon Rahm -11 $715,000
19 Cameron Young -10 $660,000
20 Cameron Smith -9 $640,000
T21 Brian Harman -8 $600,000
T21 Billy Horschel -8 $600,000
T21 Collin Morikawa -8 $600,000
24 Sam Burns -7 $565,000
25 Adam Scott -4 $550,000
26 Corey Conners -3 $540,000
27 K.H. Lee -1 $530,000
28 Sahith Theegala 1 $520,000
29 Scott Stallings 3 $510,000

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Morning rise: Scottie Scheffler opens up 6-stroke lead at Tour Championship, FedEx Cup title in his sights

“An $11.5 million difference can change your tempo a little bit. I think he survived the day he didn’t have it.” — Paul Azinger

ATLANTA – When play was suspended on Saturday, Scottie Scheffler was fighting his swing, if not the pressure of trying to clinch his fifth win of the season at the Tour Championship, the FedEx Cup and $18 million in bonus money from the season-long competition, not to mention the PGA Tour Player of the Year award. His lead was down to a single stroke.

But Sunday represented a new day and a fresh start, and Scheffler took advantage when the third round resumed at 9:45 a.m. He made birdie at his first hole of the morning, No. 13, and closed his weather-interrupted third round with four birdies in his final six holes to open up a six-stroke lead on Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy. Scheffler signed for 4-under 66 at East Lake Golf Club and improved to 23 under for the tournament and the largest lead after any round since Starting Strokes began in 2019. (Scheffler began the week at 10 under in the staggered-start scoring.)

Schauffele, in contrast, never found his rhythm, making bogey at 14 and all pars to shoot even-par 70, tying his worst score in 23 rounds at East Lake.

“Shooting even par out here on Tour is never going to get it done, unless it’s blowing 100 miles an hour,” said Schauffele, who blamed a cold putter, and added, “that’s the worst I’ve ever putted here.”

Rory McIlroy birdied each of his two remaining holes on Sunday morning to complete a round of 7-under 63, his low score in 35 rounds at East Lake, to tie Schauffele at 17 under. McIlroy and Scheffler will be in the final pairing, teeing off at 1:50 p.m. ET Sunday.

Tour Championship: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+

Sungjae Im and Patrick Cantlay, the defending FedEx Cup champion, both shot 66 and are tied for fourth at 16 under.

NBC’s Paul Azinger told Golfweek that Scheffler caught a huge break in having the third round suspended due to lightning on Saturday.

“The significance of what it means to him was evident yesterday. He looked lethargic to me, he wasn’t his normal self. An $11.5 million difference can change your tempo a little bit,” Azinger said. “I think he survived the day he didn’t have it, which was yesterday. He comes out this morning and shoots 4 under; that wasn’t going to happen. Now he gets to finish without another night’s sleep. I expect him to be in great rhythm the rest of the day.”

The largest final-round comeback in Tour Championship history came from Camilo Villegas in 2008 when he trailed Sergio Garcia by five shots and posted a final-round 66, defeating Garcia in a sudden-death playoff. McIlroy, who is bidding to become the first player to win the FedEx Cup three times, is on a serious heater. He’s 17 under since being 4 over through his first four holes on Thursday, and would be tied for the lead with Scheffler through 54 holes without the starting strokes.

Schauffele won the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions with a final-round 61 to erase a five-stroke deficit, and already has shot 63 once this week at East Lake, his favorite hunting ground on Tour.

“He’s the sneaky, little pesky silent-assassin just quietly plodding along,” Azinger said of Schauffele. “He and Rory both like to come from behind. They know how to get it going early and go bananas.”

Schauffele summed up the prevailing sentiment that the chasers will try to carry into the final round in hopes of tracking down Scheffler.

“You’ve got nothing to lose. There’s no target on your back,” Schauffele said. “Fortunately I’ve been on both sides of that now, so I need to tap into some older wins that I’ve had.”

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After tweeting about it before the round, it looks like Max Homa is thoroughly enjoying watching Rory McIlroy ‘bomb drivers’

Everyone loves watching Rory hit driver. Even Max Homa.

Joaquin Niemann finished his round Friday with an eagle at the par-5 18th and jumped in front of Rory McIlroy on the leaderboard. We can thank the Chilean for the fantastic pairing we get to watch Saturday afternoon.

The Northern Irishman is playing with another fan favorite, Max Homa, for the third round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

Before their tee time, Homa tweeted that he was looking forward to spending the day with the four-time major champion and was excited to watch him “bomb driver.”

Because, let’s be honest, everyone loves the long ball.

Tour Championship: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+

Well, McIlroy delivered the goods at the par-5 sixth early in the pair’s round, sending a monster drive over the right-hand fairway bunkers. All Homa could do was laugh.

Even better than the drive was the approach, a six iron McIlroy stuck to a few feet for an easy eagle.

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Tour Championship: Scottie Scheffler sets pace, Xander Schauffele’s fast finish, Max Homa’s sizzling 62

These are the five standouts from Friday’s second round in Atlanta.

ATLANTA — For most of the day at East Lake Golf Club, Scottie Scheffler looked as if he was going to turn his five-stroke overnight lead into a rout.

The World No. 1 tacked on three birdies in his first six holes and lead by as many as seven strokes. The trophy engraver was already checking the spelling of his name – that’s Scottie with an ‘ie’ not a ‘y’ and don’t forget the ‘c’ in Scheffler.

But just when the weekend of the FedEx Cup finale seemed destined to be a snoozer, Xander Schauffele, who played alongside him, caught fire and played the final three holes in 4 under to trim Scheffler’s lead to a slightly more manageable two strokes.

Asked if Saturday’s round will feel any different with a smaller lead, Scheffler said: “I don’t think so. Today it was only the second round of the tournament. I think that’s part of it that’s a little bit weird, is you talk about a six-shot lead, but it’s pretty weird to have that after one round of golf.

“For me I’m still looking at it like a four-day event, and right now after two days I’m in position to win the tournament.”

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

Indeed, he is.

Scheffler made six pars coming home to shoot a bogey-free 4-under 66 and improve to 19 under in the staggered-start scoring. (He began the tournament at 10 under.) It marked his fifth round of 66 or better in his 10th round at East Lake Golf Club. He’s only made one bogey in the tournament as he bids to win for the fifth time this season and attempt to lock up PGA Tour Player of the Year honors, too. No one has won five times in a season on the Tour since Justin Thomas in 2016-17, and no one has won at least his first five career tournaments in the same season since Bobby Locke won six times in 1947.

Scheffler’s lead was five strokes at the halfway mark when he won the Masters in April. He’s developed a comfort level playing with the lead, whether it is seven shots or just two.

“I like being in positions where I’m able to win tournaments, and it’s something I’ve grown more comfortable with over time,” he said.

Here are four more standouts from Friday’s second round at the 2022 Tour Championship.

2022 Tour Championship Saturday tee times, TV and streaming info

Everything you need to know for the third round of the 2022 Tour Championship.

For a while Friday, this tournament looked like it was over. Scottie Scheffler was head and shoulders above the rest of the field after going out in 32, but Xander Schauffele turned it on down the stretch.

During the second round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Schauffele posted a 29 on the back nine and played his last three holes 4 under.

He’s now just two back of the world No. 1 entering the weekend.

The biggest mover of the day was Max Homa, who had the second tee time this morning but thanks to an 8-under 62 will tee off with Rory McIlroy Saturday afternoon sitting at 9 under, 10 back.

From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s what you need to know for the third round of the 2022 Tour Championship. All times listed are ET.

Tour Championship: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+

Third-round tee times

1st hole

Tee time Players
12:26 p.m. Sahith Theegala
12:37 p.m.
Scott Stallings, K.H. Lee
12:48 p.m.
Corey Conners, Sam Burns
12:59 p.m.
Adam Scott, Billy Horschel
1:10 p.m.
Brian Harman, Viktor Hovland
1:21 p.m.
Cam Smith, J.T. Poston
1:32 p.m.
Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa
1:43 p.m.
Hideki Matsuyama, Tony Finau
1:54 p.m.
Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Thomas
2:05 p.m.
Sepp Straka, Aaron Wise
2:16 p.m.
Cameron Young, Tom Hoge
2:27 p.m.
Max Homa, Rory McIlroy
2:38 p.m.
Joaquin Niemann, Sungjae Im
2:49 p.m.
Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm
3 p.m.
Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler

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 27th

TV

Golf Channel: 1-2:30 p.m.
NBC: 2:30-7 p.m.

Radio

SiriusXM: 2-7 p.m.

STREAM

ESPN+: 12:30 p.m.-7 p.m.

Sunday, August 28th

TV

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

Radio

SiriusXM: 1-6 p.m.

STREAM

ESPN+: 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m.

We recommend interesting sports viewing and streaming opportunities. If you sign up to a service by clicking one of the links, we may earn a referral fee.

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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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