From tee times to TV info, here’s everything you need to know for Monday’s final round of the Tour Championship.
It all comes down to this.
The finish line for the PGA Tour’s season-long race for the FedEx Cup and the $15 million prize is just 18 holes away with Monday’s final round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Dustin Johnson holds a five-shot lead entering the final round at 19 under, with Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas T-2 at 14 under. Jon Rahm sits in fourth at 13 under and rising-star Collin Morikawa rounds out the top five at 12 under.
Check out the final round tee times, TV info and prize money payouts below.
In all, there’s $60 million that will be paid out this week. First place gets $15 million, second place gets $5 million, and so on, down to the 30th-place finisher, who will pocket $395,000.
Position
Winnings
1
$15 million
2
$5 million
3
$4 million
4
$3 million
5
$2.5 million
6
$1.9 million
7
$1.3 million
8
$1.1 million
9
$950,000
10
$830,000
11
$750,000
12
$705,000
13
$660,000
14
$620,000
15
$595,000
16
$570,000
17
$550,000
18
$535,000
19
$520,000
20
$505,000
21
$490,000
22
$478,000
23
$466,000
24
$456,000
25
$445,000
26
$435,000
27
$425,000
28
$415,000
29
$405,000
30
$395,000
TV, streaming information
All times are listed in Eastern.
Monday, Sept. 7
PGA Tour Live on NBC Sports Gold: 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. (featured groups) PGA Tour Live on ESPN+: 1:30-6 p.m. (featured holes) Golf Channel (watch for free on fuboTV): 12-1:30 p.m. NBC: 1:30-6 p.m. PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 1-6 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.
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan’s leadership and the players’ responses saved the season and set a blueprint for success.
ATLANTA – On a hauntingly silent morning back in March, players cleaned out their lockers in the clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass and headed into the unknown.
The Players Championship near the PGA Tour’s headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, had been cancelled the night before when most of the sports world went dark as COVID-19 spread across the globe.
That morning, the calendar read Friday the 13th.
“It’s like when the zombies have taken over. It’s really, really scary,” Brendan Steele said before departing for his cross-country travels to his California home.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, who earlier that week announced the Tour’s signing of a new media rights deal said to be worth more than $7 billion over nine years, addressed the media that morning and in short order announced the next three Tour events were cancelled. Then word came forth the Masters was postponed to the fall.
“Our goal now,” an exhausted Monahan said, “is to focus on a plan for the near and long-term and maintain the strength we’ve built through our organization over the past 51 years, and I’m confident we’ll do exactly that.”
His confidence was rewarded.
Shelter-at-home on steroids
The following week Monahan’s staff got to work in conjunction with the Tour’s policy board, the 16-member Players Advisory Council, other members of the Tour, tournament organizers, title sponsors, TV partners, government officials and health experts in the field of infectious diseases, the Federal Coronavirus Task Force and other specialists and laboratory directors.
“I told Jay he owed me a few new iPhones because battery was dying so often from being on the phone so much,” joked Kevin Kisner, a player director for the PGA Tour policy board. “As things progressed and we knew we were going to have to come back to a different way of life on the PGA Tour, the calls ramped up, the amount of time that we spent on the phone was longer. We all had to come up with an agreement on how we were going to do things.
Jon Rahm and Kevin Kisner talk in the players lot after the cancellation of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. (Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)
“It was really a remarkable job done by all in a short amount of time, and the fact that we teed it up in June I think is something that is nothing short of a miracle.”
The titanic work produced a blueprint that is ever evolving titled “Return to Golf,” a plan outlining safety and health protocols, from layered and constant testing to social distancing measures and to spectators being forbidden. The goal? Create a “bubble” of protection for players, caddies, staff, media, and volunteers at events.
A sort of a shelter-at-home standard on steroids.
As well, in consultation with golf’s governing boards, title sponsors and tournament organizers, a new schedule was formed.
After a 13-week break – the longest stoppage of play on the PGA Tour since World War II – golf resumed in June with the Charles Schwab Challenge at revered Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
Q-tips down nostrils became as important as the yardage book, social distancing as important as the putter. Hooking up with friends at a high-end restaurant came to a halt. Handshakes and hugs were bypassed. Large group gatherings anywhere were frowned upon. Playing in silence became the norm.
All those inside the ropes and the bubble bought in and the Tour hasn’t stopped playing ever since, traveling to 12 states across three times zones. There were a few bumps along the way, especially in the beginning, but the culmination of a long road well-traveled is this week’s Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club, the finale of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, where the top 30 players vie for the $15 million bonus awarded the victor.
“I was confident that we had the right plan,” Monahan said. “But I was uncertain as to whether or not, like everybody else, you’d be able to get to this point. As gut-wrenching as that day and the weeks to follow were, as we ultimately canceled or postponed nearly 30 percent of our season, the adaptability, innovation, and collaboration that has brought us to this week is incredibly gratifying.
“As a sport, we have persevered through this pandemic and have found a way to keep our Tour moving forward.”
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan holds a live press conference with the media during the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020, in Atlanta. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
The numbers speak to the success amidst the pandemic. The Tour has gone five consecutive weeks without a positive COVID-19 test among players and caddies. Since the restart, 3,651 on-site tests have been administered with seven positives among players and four among caddies. In other words, the tournaments played have outnumbered positive tests.
“It’s a testament to everybody involved in the events, everyone on the PGA Tour for supplying everything we need to make sure we’re not putting ourselves at risk,” world No. 2 Jon Rahm said. “It’s a testament to all the players and caddies out there that have been as careful as possible to have so many individuals go in different places, different weeks, and still stay clean for so long.
“We see other sports struggling with it, and we all keep our mindset even when we go home. I would like to hang out with my friends and I would like to do a lot of things and go to restaurants and have a good time and a weekend off, but I can’t. You can’t risk it, because I know I can test positive and indirectly put somebody else in danger.
“It’s clear that if you do what you’re supposed to do, sports can go on.”
Many players thought the sport was going to stop after the third week back at The Travelers Championship in Connecticut. The week before, Hilton Head Island, home to the RBC Heritage in South Carolina, was more akin to a spring break in Florida instead of a sheltered up city during a pandemic.
Then, at the Travelers, Cameron Champ and two caddies tested positive (which led to withdrawals of Brooks Koepka and Graeme McDowell). World No. 6 Webb Simpson also withdrew when a member of his family tested positive. By week’s end, two more players – Dylan Frittelli and Denny McCarthy – tested positive.
Monahan flew up to Connecticut.
“When he flew up to Travelers, I thought that was a really big deal, because players were scared that he was flying up to shut it down,” Simpson said. “But he went the opposite way. He said, ‘Listen, this is here to stay. We’re going to have to deal with it. As long as we’re being smart, we’re going to keep going.’”
Players adapted with increased discipline and the Tour revised portions of the safety protocols going forward.
“I think it’s a huge deal that honestly hasn’t been made a big enough deal,” Simpson added about the Tour’s return. “You see other leagues, and they’re having all sorts of issues with the coronavirus.
“Our numbers are so shockingly low compared to other organizations or groups of people, and I never thought that we’d have this smooth of a process. It probably hasn’t been smooth behind the scenes, but I feel like Jay Monahan, the board, the PAC, all the PGA Tour staff, whoever has been responsible for keeping us going, has been huge.”
As for the play inside the ropes, it’s been nothing short of stellar. Six of the current top-10 players in the world have accounted for nine of the 13 wins since the restart – Dustin Johnson (2), Rahm (2), Collin Morikawa (2), Justin Thomas, Simpson and Bryson DeChambeau, who turned into Paul Bunyan with his weight gain and became a powerful force that attracted massive attention to golf. As well, Daniel Berger, ranked 13th, won the first tournament of the return to golf.
By no means, however, does the work end with Monday’s conclusion of the Tour Championship. The Tour has adopted a week-to-week mindset that won’t wander.
So … what’s next?
The Tour took a financial hit in the tens of millions of dollars without pro-ams, spectators and hospitality suites, and the absence of those three pillars cannot continue much longer. But this week a robust, 50-event schedule for the 2020-2021 season that begins next week was unveiled, with every tournament fully funded. Six majors are on the schedule, including the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in two weeks and the Masters in November.
And pro-ams will return to the Tour in three weeks in the Dominican Republic.
“I don’t think there’s really a word that I could say or really anything I can say to describe how impressive it is,” Thomas said of the Tour’s return. “The Tour had a great plan in place, but most importantly they stuck to it, and we stuck to it.
“Everybody did everything that they could. We obviously had some little things kind of go on there at the beginning of the restart. But it’s been a team effort. It’s not like commissioner Monahan could just say, ‘All right, guys, everyone needs to do this,’ and then it’s done. Everyone needs to do their part, and that includes the Tour officials, the staff, the workers on the grounds of the tournaments, the caddies, the players, the people in the bubble, the trainers, the physios.
“It’s a selfless decision. You can’t do stuff that’s going to benefit you that could jeopardize the entire Tour, and everyone has done an unbelievable job of that, to make sure that we’re here in Atlanta this week.”
Johnson survived a wild driving day to shoot 70 and maintain a 1-stroke lead at the Tour Championship.
ATLANTA – Who needs fairways?
Well, Dustin Johnson didn’t in Saturday’s second round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. Although it’s been said over and over that if one is to be successful on this track, one needs to find the fairways, the world No. 1 kept his lead in the finale of the FedEx Cup Playoffs despite hitting just two of 14 fairways on Saturday and just seven the first two rounds.
Somehow, though, out of the nasty rough that rims the fairways at East Lake, Johnson was able to fashion an even-par 70 in the second round and remain 13 under with the staggered scoring format in use this week. He leads Sungjae Im by one shot heading into Sunday’s third round.
Im, by the way, hit 10 of 14 fairways en route to a 64, the lowest round of the day.
“It was a tough day on the course, but managed to scrape it around pretty good,” Johnson said. “Golf course is two different golf courses if you’re playing from the fairway or playing from the rough.
“Playing from the fairway you can attack the course. You can shoot a good score. Playing from where I did, it’s not so much fun. But I managed my game pretty well, and pleased with the score that I shot, especially the way I drove the ball.”
Johnson did have his moments – he made a 37-footer for birdie on three, a 31-footer for par on the fourth and chipped in from 45 feet on the eighth.
“I feel like I got my two bad rounds out of the way and I got two good ones coming,” Johnson said. “My game feels good. I’ve still got a lot of confidence in everything I’m doing. Just I’ve got to hit it in the fairway. That’s pretty simple.”
Two shots back after a 65 is Xander Schauffele, who won the Tour Championship here in 2017, tied for seventh the following year and finished second last year. Another shot back is Justin Thomas, who said he played “miles better” than his 71 would indicate. Four shots back are Collin Morikawa (65), Tyrrell Hatton (66) and Jon Rahm, who was tied for the lead after the first round and at one point reached 14 under before sliding way back with three bogeys and a double in his last 10 holes as he shot 74.
“It’s one of those days I can’t escape here,” Rahm said. “That’s been my downfall pretty much every time I come. I can’t escape the one day where just nothing goes right, and I can’t really post a score.”
Johnson and Rahm – the top 2 players in the world – were putting some distance between themselves and the field in the early going as Johnson reached 15 under with three birdies in his first eight holes and Rahm moved to 14 under with his birdie on the fifth.
Then both went backward, with Johnson making three bogeys in a seven-hole stretch and Rahm having his problems, and the top of the leaderboard bunched up.
Johnson two-putted the final hole for birdie to gain his advantage.
And Im got back in it by getting back to being Im.
“I honestly wasn’t feeling very confident the last few weeks. I feel like it’s all coming back to me now,” he said. “I’m having a lot of good momentum and I hope to keep it going for the next two days.
“I haven’t been swinging the ball like I’ve been wanting to the last few weeks. Starting last week though, my swing started to feel a lot better and I was hitting the ball similar to how I was hitting it before the quarantine. That allowed me to play with more freedom and consistency.”
That’s Johnson’s goal coming Sunday and Monday. If he does start finding more fairways, he’s going to be hard to chase down.
“I still feel like I’m swinging my irons really well. I’m putting and chipping it pretty good. Got a lot of confidence in that part of my game. I just need to get it in the fairway a little bit more here the next two days,” said Johnson, who spent time on the range immediately after the round. “It wasn’t like I was hitting drives that I’ve never seen before or anything. You know, just the setup was a little bit off. But this golf course, obviously the fairways are narrow. It’s tough to hit them.
“But if you can hit it in the fairway, the golf course is right there for the taking.”
From tee times to TV info, here’s everything you need to know for the third round of the Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club.
The FedEx Cup Playoffs head to Sunday for the third round of the 2020 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. It’s the final event of the 2019-20 PGA Tour season.
The no-cut tournament, which concludes Monday on Labor Day, features a field of 30 golfers battling for a $15 million prize.
At 13 under, Dustin Johnson enters Moving Day with a one-shot lead over Sungjae Im and two-shot advantage over Xander Schauffele. Justin Thomas is fourth at 10 under while Collin Morikawa, Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm are all T-5 at 9 under.
Check out the third round tee times, TV info and prize money payouts below.
In all, there’s $60 million that will be paid out this week. First place gets $15 million, second place gets $5 million, and so on, down to the 30th-place finisher, who will pocket $395,000.
Final spot
Amount
1
$15 million
2
$5 million
3
$4 million
4
$3 million
5
$2.5 million
6
$1.9 million
7
$1.3 million
8
$1.1 million
9
$950,000
10
$830,000
11
$750,000
12
$705,000
13
$660,000
14
$620,000
15
$595,000
16
$570,000
17
$550,000
18
$535,000
19
$520,000
20
$505,000
21
$490,000
22
$478,000
23
$466,000
24
$456,000
25
$445,000
26
$435,000
27
$425,000
28
$415,000
29
$405,000
30
$395,000
What else do they get?
Finishing in the top 30 also earns the players exemptions for at least three of next year’s majors, the WGCs and the Sentry Tournament of Champions. The winners-only event is granting invites to the top 30 in the FedEx Cup after losing three months worth of tournaments due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
TV, streaming information
All times are listed in Eastern.
Sunday, Sept. 6
PGA Tour Live on NBC Sports Gold: 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. (featured groups) PGA Tour Live on ESPN+: 3-6 p.m. (featured holes) Golf Channel (watch for free on fuboTV): 1-3 p.m. NBC: 3-7 p.m. PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 2-7 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 7
PGA Tour Live on NBC Sports Gold: 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. (featured groups) PGA Tour Live on ESPN+: 1:30-6 p.m. (featured holes) Golf Channel (watch for free on fuboTV): 12-1:30 p.m. NBC: 1:30-6 p.m. PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 1-6 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.
Rory McIlroy hit the most relatable shot ever on Saturday after catching one a little fat from the rough at the Tour Championship.
It’s not every day that amateur golfers like you or me can relate to the professionals on the PGA Tour.
Today was one of those days thanks to Rory McIlroy, who hit what might be the most relatable shot the game of golf has to offer.
On Saturday during the second round of the Tour Championship, the world No. 4 and defending champion was in the thick rough after bombing a 370-yard drive on the par-5 18th hole. McIlroy – who became a father earlier in the week – then caught his his second shot a little fat, flubbing it 20 yards directly in a pond.
The Tour’s Twitter account said it best: “It happens to the best of us.”
“Yeah, the lie was sort of iffy,” McIlroy said after his round. “My biggest concern was trying to carry the first bunker on the right there, and I knew I needed to hit it really hard and I swung hard at it, and I got it just — I got it maybe like right in the middle of the ball and I didn’t get — I felt like if I tried to sweep it, it would be better, and I just sort of came up on it a little bit.”
“Probably in hindsight trying to take on a little bit too much,” he added. “So yeah, and then it would have been nice to get away with a par. It wasn’t to be.”
McIlroy did well to scramble for a bogey, signing for a 1-over 71 to finish the second round T-8 at 8 under, five shots behind leader Dustin Johnson.
Rory McIlroy took to East Lake Golf Club and turned in a 6-under-par 64 in Friday’s first round of The Tour Championship
ATLANTA — Happy father, joyful round.
Free of expectations and worry, an exhausted Rory McIlroy took to East Lake Golf Club four days after becoming a father for the first time and turned in a 6-under-par 64 in Friday’s first round of The Tour Championship, a round highlighted by three closing birdies and eight in all.
With his wife, Erica, and daughter, Poppy — who introduced herself to the world at 12:15 p.m. ET Monday — doing just fine in Florida, McIlroy got into a bubble of concentration and the defending champion turned in one of his best rounds in weeks as he looks to win the FedEx Cup for an unprecedented third time.
Naturally, McIlroy thought of his family during the round – “It’s like every three hours she’s supposed to be fed, so I’m like, ‘OK, there’s a feeding coming up,’” he said – but for the most part, his mind was on his game.
And his game was on point. His first shot since last Sunday’s final round of the BMW Championship was a 340-yard drive that found the fairway. From there, he hit the flag on the fly and then knocked in a 6-footer for birdie.
He bogeyed holes three and eight when missing the fairway, but his iron play was stellar and his putter was working superbly to make up for more erratic tee balls to come. In addition to his eight birdies, he left another birdie try on the lip and rimmed another try for a red number.
“Golf was the furthest thing from my mind the first few days this week,” he said. “And then once we got home on Wednesday and everything was good and mom and baby were healthy, that sort of took a load off my mind, and that meant I could come here and somewhat focus on what I’m supposed to do.
“It just shows you golf is such a mental game, and if you come in with low expectations, that’s always when I’ve played well. Whether I don’t feel like my game is in a good place or I’m not the favorite coming into a tournament, all that stuff, I feel like that’s when I usually play my best and I can play with a bit of freedom, and that’s what I did today.
“I played as good as I have in a long time, and that was very encouraging.”
With the staggered scoring format in play this week, McIlroy began the day seven shots out of the lead. About five hours later, he was four back of Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm, who toppled Johnson in a playoff at the BMW Championship.
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Last year, McIlroy started five shots out of the lead before roaring to victory.
“For the most part I hit a lot of good iron shots, good wedge shots again,” McIlroy said. “That’s been something in my game that’s been pretty good over the last few weeks, even though the results haven’t been there.
“I just need to get the ball in the fairway more. If I can get the ball in the fairway, I can take advantage of how my iron play is. I love these greens. I’ve always putted these greens well and I putted them well again today. Just a few more balls in the fairway and hopefully I’ll be right there.”
The No. 4 player in the world hasn’t been right there since COVID-19 shut down the PGA Tour in March. McIlroy was the hottest player in the world at the time, with seven consecutive top-5 finishes, including a victory in the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions.
But since golf returned in June, McIlroy hasn’t had a top-10 in eight starts, with last week’s tie for 12th in the BMW Championship his best finish. McIlroy said dealing with a perfect storm of worrying about his wife and expectant daughter, having energy issues playing in front of no fans, and losing focus from time to time and fighting to motivate himself attributed to his poor stretch.
“You’re in limbo a little bit. Your body is here and your mind is trying to be here, but your mind is also sort of divided and back (at home). It’s not an excuse. It wasn’t a distraction, but it was on my mind,” McIlroy said of the pregnancy. “At the end of the day I just didn’t play well enough over the last few weeks to get myself into contention, and I never want to make the excuse that there was other things on my mind, because you should be able to concentrate for that 15 or 20 seconds you’re over a golf shot to do what you need to do.”
He did what he needed to do in the first round to get into contention.
We move on to Day 2 at East Lake Golf Club for the Tour Championship, the season finale with a $15 million first-place bonus on the line.
The FedEx Cup Playoffs conclude with the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
The tournament, which began Friday and conclude on Labor Day Monday, features a field of 30 golfers. It’s the final event of the 2019-20 PGA Tour season.
Dustin Johnson started the event at 10 under with a two-shot lead over BMW Championship winner and Golfweek/Sagarin‘s world No. 1 Jon Rahm. Johnson opened with a 67 but Rahm shot a 65 and so those two are tied for the lead at 13 under. Justin Thomas shot a 66 and is third at 11 under. Rory McIlroy, the defending FedEx Cup champion, shot a 64 and is 9 under. Abraham Ancer also shot a 64 and is at 7 under.
Browse through first-round tee times and find out where you can watch all the week’s action below.
PGA Tour Live on NBC Sports Gold: 10:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. (featured groups) Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 1-6 p.m. PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 12-6 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 6
PGA Tour Live on NBC Sports Gold: 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. (featured groups) PGA Tour Live on ESPN+: 3-6 p.m. (featured holes) Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 1-3 p.m. NBC: 3-7 p.m. PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 2-7 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 7
PGA Tour Live on NBC Sports Gold: 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. (featured groups) PGA Tour Live on ESPN+: 1:30-6 p.m. (featured holes) Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 12-1:30 p.m. NBC: 1:30-6 p.m. PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 1-6 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.
Jon Rahm? Dustin Johnson? Collin Morikawa? Justin Thomas? Who deserves to win the Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year on the PGA Tour.
ATLANTA – In less time than it would take him to tap in a putt, Justin Thomas gave his answer when asked who the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year would be at the current moment.
“Me.”
If Thomas would have elaborated this week at East Lake Golf Club, his argument would have been strong. The world No. 3 is the only player to win three times this season – he captured the CJ Cup last fall; defeated Xander Schauffele and Patrick Reed in a playoff at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January; and closed with a 65 to win the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational last month to become the world No. 1 for a brief moment.
He also lost in a playoff in the Workday Charity Open and tied for third in the Waste Management Phoenix Open. And Thomas, who was the 2017 POY winner, is the Tour’s leading money winner.
But the competition is stout for the POY honors for the 2019-2020 season.
World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, No. 2 Jon Rahm, No. 5 Collin Morikawa and No. 6 Webb Simpson have says in the matter, too. Brendon Todd, ranked 39th, can’t fully be dismissed from the discussion, either.
Which leads us into The Tour Championship beginning Friday. It is the season ending event and the finale of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, with the victor receiving $15 million. And possibly the Jack Nicklaus POY award.
“I think right now it’s really close,” Johnson said. “I think this week could help solidify Player of the Year.”
Johnson’s in the pole position in The Tour Championship and starts with a two-shot lead because of the staggered scoring format. He’s in a strong position to win POY honors, too. He’s won twice – the Travelers Championship and the Northern Trust, the first event of the postseason where he shot 30 under to win by 11 and became the No. 1 player in the world.
The 2016 POY also lost in a playoff last week in the BMW Championship and finished in a tie for second in the PGA Championship.
Rahm’s case is strong, too. He became the No. 1 player for a week when he won the Memorial and defeated Johnson in last week’s BMW Championship with a 66-foot putt on the first extra hole.
Rahm also finished runner-up in the Farmers Insurance Open, tied for third in the WGC-Mexico Championship and tied for sixth in the Northern Trust. He also won two times on the European Tour (though most players who vote for the PGA Tour’s POY only consider events played on the PGA Tour).
Rahm starts two shots behind Johnson in the first round at East Lake.
“I will say being as fair as possible, I think it comes down to if any one of us wins this week,” Rahm said. “If any of those names (he rattled off the six contenders) that I just said wins, I think they will be a deserving Player of the Year.”
Morikawa is the only major champion this season, winning the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. The win came with possibly the shot of the year when he drove the green of the 16th hole and knocked in a seven-foot putt for eagle.
Morikawa also beat Thomas in a playoff to win the Workday Charity Open and lost in a playoff to Daniel Berger in the Charles Schwab Challenge, the first tournament after a 13-week break due to COVID-19.
Simpson has won twice – he beat Tony Finau in a playoff in the Waste Management Phoenix Open and won the RBC Heritage. He has six other top-10s, including a playoff loss to Tyler Duncan in the RMS Classic last fall.
Todd is the longshot in the POY talks. He won twice in the fall – the Bermuda Championship and the Mayakoba Classic and has two other top-10s.
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Here is a history of East Lake Golf Club, home of the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship in Atlanta.
One week after winning the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields, a Willie Park Jr. jewel on the South Side of Chicago dating to 1916, Jon Rahm has his sights set on the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup at another venerable layout, East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
“I love all these traditional golf courses,” Rahm said. “It’s always a true testament of good golf course design when it stands the test of time.”
The elite 30-man field competing this week at East Lake Golf Club must prepare to walk in the footsteps of an impressive collection of major champions. The club is steeped in history, first and foremost as the boyhood home course for World Golf Hall of Famer Bobby Jones, who later co-founded Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. His father, Robert Jones, was president of East Lake and served as director for 38 years.
The club previously played host to the 1950 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, the 1963 Ryder Cup, and the 2001 U.S. Amateur. The Tour Championship debuted at East Lake in 1998, and became the permanent home in 2005, with a roster of winners, including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy twice each as well as Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson.
“It keeps you on your toes on every single shot, and you need to think your way around,” Rahm said. “If you don’t happen to hit it that good, that’s how much better the putting and chipping needs to be.”
Tom Bendelow laid out the first holes at East Lake in 1907, followed by Donald Ross (1913) and George Cobb (1963). Rees Jones undertook a restoration in 1994 when it became the focus of a neighborhood revitalization project, reestablishing a wonderful flow of holes routed around a two-story Tudor-style clubhouse and a central lake with views of downtown skyscrapers. The par-70 layout has been stretched to 7,346 yards, but it remains a triumph of design over distance. The bunkering is moderate but strategic and the raised, undulating greens are considered so challenging to read that a cryptographer could be needed to crack them.
“The greatness of East Lake is that it doesn’t favor any set style of player,” Jones said, “basically, any one of the 30 top players has a chance to win. The course has many qualities — the ebb and flow is quite varied — you have long and short holes. East Lake doesn’t favor any ball flight or movement.”
Xander Schauffele, who finished first in his tournament debut in 2017, in a seventh-place tie a year later and second a year ago in his three appearances, seconded Jones’s assessment that East Lake is a parkland course that demands full control of all shots.
“If you’re not kind of on with all aspects of your game, it’ll punish you in bad ways,” he said, especially with balls sinking into the Bermuda rough this week.
A view of the 18th green and the clubhouse at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. (Photo: Butch Dill/USA TODAY Sports)
“Fairways are going to be key,” said reigning PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa, noting that long irons and hybrids might be needed to excavate from trouble on some of East Lake’s long par 4s.
In 2016, the PGA Tour flipped the nines, so that the old back nine – which featured a 240-yard par-3 as the 18th hole – became the front nine. A pivotal stretch in determining a champion Monday will be Nos. 14-16, a stretch Rahm conceded that has kept him from being in the trophy hunt in the past. The 211-yard par-3 15this one of the first ever to use a peninsula green, with a lake front and right. One bad swing and disaster looms at this hole.
“If you can play those three even par, I think you’re gaining a stroke on the field,” Rahm said.
The new finishing hole is a 590-yard downhill par 5, which offers a more dramatic and television-friendly finish, especially if one of the contenders can make a closing birdie or eagle.
“There aren’t a whole lot of birdie opportunities on the golf course for the most part unless you’re driving the ball incredibly well, and 18 sort of is one of those shots where if you can hit a good tee shot you really set yourself up for success on the hole,” Schauffele said. “It’s almost like a sigh of relief that once you get there you can kind of get one back on the golf course that’s been beating you up for most of the day. It’s a really cool finishing hole, I think, for a big tournament.”
