Tag: East Lake Golf Club

Tour Championship: What you need to know about staggered scoring, the money, the trophies

The final leg of the 2020 FedEx Cup Playoffs starts on Friday at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The season finale always comes with plenty of intrigue. This tournament was originally on the schedule for the weekend of Aug. …

The final leg of the 2020 FedEx Cup Playoffs starts on Friday at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

The season finale always comes with plenty of intrigue.

This tournament was originally on the schedule for the weekend of Aug. 27-30, but the global coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing schedule disruption forced many changes. So the PGA Tour slid one of its marquee events back a week and decided to wrap things up on Labor Day Monday. Which is totally fine with us.

The battle for the season’s money title is already decided. Justin Thomas won that honor for the third time in the last four seasons.

What else should you know about the tournament this week?

Let’s take a look.

The scoring format

There are 30 golfers in the field and they’ll start with staggered scoring. Dustin Johnson finished first in the points so he’ll start at 10 under. Jon Rahm is second and he’ll begin at 8 under and it goes from there, down to golfers in the 26-30 slots. They will start at even par.

A year ago, Rory McIlroy won the FedEx Cup starting five shots back.

Rank Player Starting position
1 Dustin Johnson 10 under
2 Jon Rahm 8 under
3 Justin Thomas 7 under
4 Webb Simpson 6 under
5 Collin Morikawa 5 under
6 Daniel Berger 4 under
7 Harris English 4 under
8 Bryson DeChambeau 4 under
9 Sungjae Im 4 under
10 Hideki Matsuyama 4 under
11 Brendon Todd 3 under
12 Rory McIlroy 3 under
13 Patrick Reed 3 under
14 Xander Schauffele 3 under
15 Sebastian Munoz 3 under
16 Lanto Griffin 2 under
17 Scottie Scheffler 2 under
18 Joaquin Niemann 2 under
19 Tyrrell Hatton 2 under
20 Tony Finau 2 under
21 Kevin Kisner 1 under
22 Abraham Ancer 1 under
23 Ryan Palmer 1 under
24 Kevin Na 1 under
25 Marc Leishman 1 under
26 Cameron Smith Even
27 Viktor Hovland Even
28 Mackenzie Hughes Even
29 Cameron Champ Even
30 Billy Horschel Even

Bonus money

The FedEx Cup Playoffs bonus money dished out this week is not considered part of a player’s official earnings for the season. It’s considered bonus money. That’s why Thomas already has the money title locked up. But that $15 million first-place prize sure looks good in your bank account.

In all, there’s $45 million that will be paid out this week. The 30th-place finisher will still take home – before taxes – $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 made the golfers exempt for at least three of the majors next year, the WGCs and the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. The winners-only event is granting invites to the top 30 in the FedEx Cup from having lost three months worth of tournaments to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two trophies

Before the staggered scoring format started last season, we’d see one golfer win the tournament and another golfer win the FedEx Cup. Now, whoever wins the Tour Championship is the FedEx Cup champion, eliminating any confusion and also bringing the focus to one player.

This also means that both trophies go the winner: The FedEx Cup trophy and the Calamity Jane putter. Tiger Woods won the putter by winning the Tour Championship in 2018, the last time they had the split system in place, while Justin Rose won the FedEx Cup.

The Tour Championship
Justin Rose holds the FedEx Cup and Tiger Woods holds the Calamity Jane, a replica of Bobby Jones putter, after the 2018 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. Photo by Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports

The Calamity Jane putter trophy is a replica of the putter used by Bobby Jones. Since 2005, when East Lake became the permanent home of the Tour Championship, the putter trophy has gone to the tournament winner. The original Calamity Jane currently resides in a trophy case about 140 miles east at Augusta National Golf Club.

The course

East Lake is a par 70 that will play 7,346 yards. It was the home course for Jones and is the oldest golf course in Atlanta. It first opened on July 4, 1908.

No cut

With only 30 players, there’s not cut this week. The tee times will be set each night based on the scoring. The golfers will go out as twosomes on the first tee each day.

TV, streaming information

All times are listed in Eastern.

Friday, Sept. 4

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.

Saturday, Sept. 5

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.

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak and David Dusek contributed to this article.

Daughter’s birth might be exactly what Rory McIlroy needs to get back on track at Tour Championship

Rory McIlroy opened up on his daughter Poppy’s birth and how he thinks it may help his golf game get back on track at the Tour Championship.

ATLANTA – An exhausted Rory McIlroy arrived at East Lake Golf Club Thursday morning to begin preparations for his title defense in the Tour Championship and his run at an unprecedented third FedEx Cup.

But a little ball of joy name Poppy was the only thing on his mind.

McIlroy and wife, Erica, welcomed Poppy Kennedy McIlroy into the world at 12:15 p.m. ET Monday in Jupiter, Florida.

“It’s amazing,” McIlroy said at East Lake Golf Club. “You see other people having kids and babies, and you’ll say congratulations and you’re happy for them, but you don’t really know how it feels.

“Now that I do, anyone that I know that has a child, there’s so much more admiration for the mother, what they go through, and it’s just amazing. You feel like you get to know your baby while she’s still in her mother’s belly, but to go from not having met this person to having unconditional love for them from one minute to the next, there’s nothing like it in the world.

“It’s probably the best part of being a human being, and I’m glad that I got to experience it.”

As for the experience of leaving his daughter and wife for the first time, that he could have done without.

“I didn’t want to leave,” he said. “It was just hard to leave, really hard to leave. But at the end of the day life doesn’t stop. Life moves on. I know that Erica is surrounded by her family, and my mom and dad are just around the corner, so she’s got all the help she needs, so I felt a little more comfortable being able to go.

“We got her home yesterday. It’s nice in the hospital. You’ve got so much help and all the nurses are around and they did a phenomenal job. You don’t appreciate that side of things, as well. And then you’re handed your child and they’re like, ‘See you later,’ and they don’t come with an instruction manual.

“Look, every parent has to sort of go through it, and we’re going through it.”

McIlroy said he and Erica went through names of flowers when they talked about naming their first child. Once Poppy came up, it stuck.

“We really liked it,” McIlroy said. “I have a cousin of mine; her daughter is named Poppy. We know a few other Poppies. And we just really love the name. We were sort of trying to go through a lot of the flower names, Rose, Iris, all those things.

“My mom is a Rosie, so we were sort of like, ‘That might (not) work.’ We know Alex Noren has an Iris. Shane Lowry has an Iris. We wanted to go with something that was pretty unique, maybe more common back where I’m from, but we landed on Poppy and we loved it.”

As for his golf, McIlroy will try to break out of a poor stretch since golf returned in June after a 13-week break due to COVID-19. Before the virus spread across the globe, McIlroy had top-5 finishes in seven consecutive tournaments, including a victory in the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions. Since the return, he has posted zero top-10s in eight starts.

With the staggered scoring format this week, McIlroy will start seven shots behind leader Dustin Johnson in Friday’s first round. Last year, when he joined Tiger Woods as the only two-time winners of the FedEx Cup, he started five shots back.

“It’s been hard to think about golf the last few days just because I’ve been so focused on making sure that everything is OK at home,” said McIlroy, who took to the range around 1 p.m. ET. “I mean, maybe this is what I needed, just for everything to happen and go well.

“I haven’t played my best since coming back out since sort of post-COVID. But yeah, maybe things just will fall into place. It’s already been the best week of my life, and this would obviously just be the icing on the cake.”

Rory McIlroy won the Tour Championship after starting at 5 under. Can Collin Morikawa?

Collin Morikawa has had an impressive season on the PGA Tour. Now, he prepares to play at the Tour Championship at East lake in Atlanta.

Collin Morikawa begins the Tour Championship in fifth at 5 under under the second-year FedEx Cup Playoff format.

Last year, so did Rory McIlroy.

Morikawa enters his East Lake Golf Club debut this week five shots behind leader Dustin Johnson in the PGA Tour’s season finale in Atlanta, a feat that’s entirely conquerable as McIlroy proved last year.

Does the 23-year-old PGA Championship winner take any comfort in the fact that he’s in position to pull off a win in the season’s final tournament?

He’s played too much golf to read that much into it.

“Yeah. I mean, Rory is obviously a very, very good player, but five shots, that can be a lot, that can be a little,” Morikawa said Wednesday. “You don’t know how the guys are going to play ahead of you. You don’t know how anyone is going to play below you. All you can really do is show up on Friday and play good golf. … We’ve got a lot of work to do, obviously, being five shots out, but to know that it’s been done is nice.”

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McIlroy and Morikawa’s situations approaching the Tour Championship aren’t entirely the same — McIlroy, then 30, already had 16 Tour wins under his belt to Morikawa’s three, including four majors (two PGA Championships) to Morikawa’s one — but there are similarities.

Each golfer had two wins and only two missed cuts headed into the Tour’s season finale. McIlroy finished T-19 at the BMW Championship in 2019 while Morikawa finished T-20 last week.

And then there’s the biggest factors: hunger and resolve.

Both finished the second half of their respective seasons playing impressive golf. Two months ahead of the 2019 Tour Championship, McIlroy had four top-10s in seven events. Morikawa’s past two months have looked noticeably different compared to last season’s schedule due to the Tour’s 13-week break amid the coronavirus pandemic, but in eight events, he notched three top-10s, two of them wins.

Collin Morikawa pumps his fist after matching birdie putts with Justin Thomas on the first playoff hole of the 2020 Workday Charity Open. Photo by Adam Cairns/The Columbus Dispatch via USA TODAY NETWORK

Since golf’s return, Morikawa has done more than create buzz — he’s proven he’s a threat. He shot rounds of 64 and three consecutive 67s at the Charles Schwab Challenge to take Daniel Berger to a playoff and place second in the Tour’s return.

Two weeks later, he missed the first cut of his Tour career at the Travelers Championship. It didn’t deflate him. In his next start, he won the Workday Charity Open at 19 under after taking Justin Thomas to a thrilling three-hole playoff at Muirfield Village. Who could forget the moment Morikawa made a 25-foot putt on the first playoff hole to extend the playoff following a 50-footer by Justin Thomas?

What a savage.

One month ago on Tour, Morikawa became the fourth player since World War II to win the PGA Championship before turning 24, joining some guys name Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Oh, and McIlroy.

Not only did Morikawa impress with his eagle on 16 that led him to becoming one of the youngest major winners in history, he endeared fans with his compelling look of horror as the lid of the Wanamaker Trophy toppled during his first trophy hoist as a major winner.

Since the biggest win of his career, Morikawa admitted he’s struggled with finding his footing again. In his first start after winning at TPC Harding Park, Morikawa missed the second cut of his career at the Northern Trust, but last week at the BMW Championship, he seemed to regain some of that mojo. He shot back-to-back 68s in the third and final rounds to finish at 5 over at the challenging Olympia Fields course.

Good enough to finish fifth on the FedEx Cup points ranking and good enough to feel comfortable in Atlanta.

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“It’s been kind of an up-and-down past couple weeks of trying to figure out how to play golf again after the PGA Championship, but we’re heading in the right direction,” Morikawa said. “You know, like I said, it’s kind of been a crazy ride since the win at the PGA, but I think everything is pretty much settled down now and I’m ready to play some really good golf this week.”

He’s in a good position to “play some really good golf” not only because of the success he’s had this season, but because before that, there was a significant shift in maturity and confidence.

The former Cal-Berkeley golfer was asked Wednesday what he’s done to become so visibly comfortable on Tour since his first win at the 2019 Barracuda Championship.

“I think winning last year early helped,” Morikawa said. “Obviously the 3M loss helped. But just getting out here, getting comfortable with these guys, these guys being really nice to me out here, being able to play with no status just really helped me. And then I believed I could do it. … Out here you’ve got to be sharp, and how do you get as consistent as some of the guys when they’re really at their peaks finishing top 5, finishing top 10s in pretty much every event. That’s what I want to get to.

“Wins will start coming, more wins will start coming like that. So it’s just figuring out that kind of specific routine and strategy to get there.”

This week, Morikawa already feels confident despite never competing at East Lake. Even before playing nine holes Tuesday and the other nine Wednesday, Morikawa said he felt like he already knew several holes because of what he’s seen on TV from previous Tour Championships, especially with Woods’ win two years ago.

His practice rounds early this week gave him the opportunity to survey the course.

“Fairways are going to be key. … Overall I think the course looks really good. Fits a lot of my tee shots,” Morikawa said. “I don’t really feel uncomfortable with any of them, which is always nice heading to a course. But yeah, I think there’s going to be some birdies out there for sure.”

Morikawa tees off his quest for his first FedEx Cup in  Friday’s first round at 2 p.m. ET alongside Daniel Berger.

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Television coverage, quality venues like East Lake Golf Club highlight SEC’s fall golf schedule

Few conferences are playing college golf this fall, and the SEC is one of them. Strong fields and great venues make it can’t-miss viewing.

Three weeks ago, Ole Miss coach Kory Henkes wasn’t sure if her team would even have a fall season due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now the Rebels are gearing up for three tournaments, two of which will be televised live on Golf Channel. (The SEC announced that teams can compete in a maximum of three tournaments this semester beginning on Oct. 1.)

On Tuesday, the new Blessings Collegiate Invitational presented by Tyson Foods was announced. Arkansas will host all 14 SEC men’s and women’s teams Oct. 5-7 in a 54-hole stroke-play event.

SEC teams will then move to West Point, Mississippi, to compete in The Ally at Old Waverly, hosted by Mississippi State. The 54-hole tournament, named in honor of MSU star Ally McDonald Ewing, will take place Oct. 19-21.

With the Pac-12 and ACC conferences not competing this fall due to COVID-19, three SEC teams were invited to compete in the East Lake Cup Collegiate Match Play Championship, which is also be televised live on Golf Channel. South Carolina, Ole Miss and Florida will join Texas Oct. 26-28 at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Wake Forest, Arizona State and Southern Cal were originally in the field. Golfstat rankings were used to fill out the field as the NCAA Championship was canceled last spring.

Those teams not in the East Lake field will round out the fall season in a third event Nov. 6-8 that has yet to be announced.

“For me, I feel like to keep our players motivated, having three events is amazing,” said Arkansas coach Shauna Taylor, “to build the team and to build a culture of connection.”

That connection, of course, doesn’t come as easily as most years given the social-distancing practices that are now in place. The Razorback team operates in three pods of three. They live together, practice together and share meals in those pods.

At the Blessings event, teams will play together as a fivesome during tournament rounds, just as they would a practice round. That format is the recommendation from the Women’s Golf Coaches Association for all fall tournaments.

Henkes has three international students coming in over the course of the next week. One freshman, Smilla Sonderby of Denmark, won’t be arriving until the spring because she couldn’t get a visa in time due to coronavirus closures.

South Carolina’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, currently No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, will head back to campus on Sept. 15 after the European Team Championships. Fellow Frenchwoman Mathilde Claisse heads back Sept. 21. Spain’s Ana Pelaez will be back in the spring. Freshman Kaiyuree Moodley is still in South Africa awaiting a visa.

Head coach Kalen Anderson said Moodley was handling it pretty well until her teammates received their gear for the semester.

“She’s having FOMO (fear of missing out) almost every day,” said Anderson. “She knows the time’s going to come.”

Moodley, like her teammates, started classes online Aug. 20.

Campus life in Columbia is vastly different these days. COVID-19 tests are administered to athletes each week. Players get takeaway from dining halls and training tables and stick to their small clusters. One golfer has already been quarantined due to contact tracing.

“I know my players are taking it very seriously,” said Anderson.

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Small goals and making the bed: How Xander Schauffele is preparing to win again

Xander Schauffele is doing the little things, like making the bed, in order to get back to his winning ways on the PGA Tour.

The trouble with achieving success right way is backing it up can be tougher than winning for the first time. Xander Schauffele is learning that the hard way.

After winning the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta as a PGA Tour rookie in 2017, he has qualified for the event again this week, marking the fourth time the 26-year-old from San Diego will be in the 30-man field at East Lake Golf Club. It’s a fantastic achievement, but something is missing.

“I haven’t really contended that much, which has been a bummer,” Schauffele said on Wednesday during a virtual press conference. “I’ve had a few top-25 finishes, which, it sounds bad to say, I don’t really care about that, but I obviously want to contend and get the juices flowing on the weekend, which I’ve been missing out on quite often.”

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Schauffele was the runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the WGC-HSBC Champions last November, but that feels like decades ago now. Since the PGA Tour’s restart in June, he’s earned a tie for third at the Charles Schwab Challenge and a tie for sixth at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. He has made every cut, but really, he’s just been hanging around. Earning over $3.8 million this season has kept his accountant happy, but Schauffele wants wins.

“I think I was more happy, maybe, when I got here my rookie year versus expecting to get here,” he said. “Maybe I should just go back to being very happy? I mean, I am happy that I’m here, but I’m trying to be more focused.”

Schauffele is an elite player, ranked No. 11 on the Official World Golf Ranking and No. 14 on the FedEx Cup point list. His game has no weaknesses. He’s sneaky long off the tee, ranks 11th in greens in regulation and seventh in strokes gained tee to green. He’s even a very respectable 57th in strokes gained putting.

To win for the first time since January 2019, Schauffele does not have to rebuild anything, but he recognizes that he needs to do a few little things better. He needs to be more focused on details and get more efficient. It’s a philosophy that he’s employing both on the course and off it.

“I’ve been trying to make my bed every day,” he said. “There’s been books about it, about how important it is to start the day with a win. I don’t know if it’s changing much, but for a few weeks now, I’ve been trying to make my bed at home. My girlfriend makes the bed always. I’m pretty bad at that. But here on the road or hotel or Airbnb or whatever it is, I try and make my bed.”

He has also tried to concentrate more during practice sessions, referring to notes on his phone and focusing on specific things rather than letting his mind wander and letting loose shots affect his attitude.

“Those are kind of the small, little goals I try and make for myself during the day to make sure I feel like I had a productive and successful day,” he explained.

There’s no better place for Schauffele to have success than East Lake. After winning at Bobby Jones’ old club, he tied for seventh in 2018 and was a runner-up last year. He loves the course.

“For this week, hopefully, some old memories will spark on the property here, and I can get something going,” he said. “Last year I started at 4 under, this year at 3 under, so I don’t really see the big change for me mentally. I just kind of go out and get it. I’ve got nothing to lose.”

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Jon Rahm on a roll heading into FedEx Cup Playoffs finale

Jon Rahm, fresh off a playoff win at the BMW, hopes his game travels as he rolls into East Lake Golf Club for the Tour Championship.

ATLANTA – Jon Rahm needed time adjusting to the new normal on the PGA Tour when the sport returned in June after a 13-week break due to COVID-19.

Constant testing, social distancing, creating a bubble of safety on and off the course, flying across the country, playing in silence as spectators remain forbidden, coping with the unknown.

In his first four starts after the restart, he missed one cut and posted ties of 27th, 33rd and 37th. Even after winning the Memorial, he still remained a bit off kilter and tied for 52nd in the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

“You fly in, you get tested, then you go to the hotel or the house, hope you test negative, then you go back, get your lanyard, then get registered and get the week started,” Rahm said Wednesday. “It took me a while to get used to it.”

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But he’s adjusting much better these days. Yes, he’s adjusting just fine.

After tying for 13th in the PGA Championship and tying for sixth in the Northern Trust, the FedEx Cup Playoffs opener, Rahm delivered a dramatic victory in last week’s BMW Championship in a dual among the top 2 players in the world.

World No. 1 Dustin Johnson forced a playoff with Rahm by draining a 43-foot putt for birdie on the final hole. Twenty minutes later, Rahm said hold my beer as he drained a winning 66-foot putt for birdie on the same hole.

“I still can’t believe it. It’s as simple as that,” said Rahm, who finished 66-64 at Olympia Fields south of Chicago to win last week. “I played one of the most solid 18 holes I’ve played in a very long time, missed two fairways, missed one green, and had a lot of good birdie looks.

“Just solid and calm and had a lot of fun out there.”

Now Rahm hopes his game travels as he rolls into East Lake Golf Club for the Tour Championship, the season ender and the final event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Rahm is No. 2 in the world and with the staggered scoring format this week he will start in second place, two shots behind Johnson.

“Feeling good about the game,” said Rahm who has five Tour titles. “It’s a tough week. It’s a tough challenge. Usually it’s really hot and humid. It’s easy to get tired, especially after how much golf we’ve played. It’s a battle, but the good thing is everything that we’ve done until now doesn’t matter.

“It’s a winner-take-all situation.”

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