ATLANTA - This week was never guaranteed, which should make us that much more grateful that it is here. Even PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan admitted there were moments he doubted this season would see its completion. "It's been a long road," he said Wednesday at East Lake Golf Club, site of the season-ending TOUR Championship. This season has traversed a tumultuous year in this country's history. Golf can serve as a diversion during such times, or even better, as an inspiration. And the world's best players have done that by producing their best performances in the midst of so much turmoil. We would be remiss, however, if we didn't acknowledge that we've faced issues much bigger than golf this year. Matters of life and death, of justice and morality. A single golf shot cannot change the world, but the TOUR and its players have committed to using their platform for good. On Wednesday, PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan announced that the TOUR will commit $100 million over 10 years toward organizations that benefit racial equity and inclusion efforts. Players from Cameron Champ to Jon Rahm have spoken out against the issues that roil our country. "The truth is the PGA TOUR and many PGA TOUR players do an outstanding job with the platform that we have to help communities all around the country," Rahm said Wednesday. "We play 40-plus weeks a year, and each week we help a community." That impact isn't always felt by people hundreds or thousands of miles from an event, but millions tune in each week to be awed by elite players performing unfathomable feats. We've seen plenty of that this season. Just look at the first two weeks of the FedExCup Playoffs. Dustin Johnson put on arguably the best performance of his Hall of Fame career, breaking a barrier that's never been breached outside the Sentry Tournament of Champions and its unique venue. En route to an 11-shot win at THE NORTHERN TRUST, Johnson became the first person to shoot 30 under in a PGA TOUR event outside of the par-73, Coore-and-Crenshaw designed course at Kapalua. A week later, Johnson holed a 43-footer on the final hole to force a playoff with Rahm at the BMW Championship. How did the Spaniard respond? With a 66-footer for birdie on the first extra hole. It's believed to be the longest putt holed on the final hole of a tournament by the winner since ShotLink started measuring strokes in 2003. We've also seen 23-year-old Collin Morikawa establish himself as a star after suffering heartbreak in the first event back from the season's cessation. He missed a short putt to lose the Charles Schwab Challenge to Daniel Berger but responded with wins at the Workday Charity Open and PGA Championship. Of the 13 events held since the season was halted by the coronavirus pandemic, more than half have been won by a top-10 player in the world. And that doesn't include the two wins from Morikawa, who jumped into the top 10 after his win at the PGA Championship. For the first time in history, the top three in the FedExCup and Official World Golf Ranking mirror each other at East Lake. Johnson, Rahm and Justin Thomas have established themselves as the TOUR's leading trio. But so much still hangs in the balance with just five days remaining in the PGA TOUR season. The FedExCup will be awarded to the player atop the TOUR Championship's leaderboard on Monday evening. But that's not all. The PGA TOUR's Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards are up for grabs, as well. Those races are still too close to call. Like the FedExCup, they could come down to the final putt at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club. The rookie race comes down to Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland. Scheffler could be the second consecutive player to win the Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year and PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year awards in consecutive years. Sungjae Im did it last year. Before him, only one player, Stewart Cink, had accomplished that feat. Scheffler, who's 17th in the FedExCup, finished fourth in both a FedExCup Playoffs event (THE NORTHERN TRUST) and a major (PGA Championship). He also had two third-place finishes this season, and shot a 59. Viktor Hovland, on the other hand, has something Scheffler does not: a win. Hovland's came at the Puerto Rico Open. He also finished third in the Workday Charity Open and ranks 27th in the FedExCup. He probably needs to surpass Scheffler this week to have a chance at taking home top rookie honors. The race for Player of the Year is much more wide open. At least one-fifth of the TOUR Championship field has a chance at the Player of the Year trophy, which is voted on by the players. Justin Thomas leads the TOUR with three wins this season, including the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Another five players have won twice this season (strangely, we've seen more multiple winners in this shortened season than we did last season). Any of those two-time winners can lay claim to the Player of the Year Award if they win the FedExCup. Not only would the TOUR Championship be their third win of the year, but it would come with the prize of the FedExCup, which awards season-long excellence. The group of players with two wins includes Johnson, Rahm, who has conquered two of the four hardest courses this season (Muirfield Village, Olympia fields); Webb Simpson, a medium-length driver thriving in an era of long hitters; Brendon Todd, whose comeback from oblivion would undoubtedly garner votes from his peers; and Morikawa, who was beat out by Matthew Wolff for college golf's top awards in 2019 but could be PGA TOUR Player of the Year a year later. Morikawa starts the first round at East Lake five strokes behind Johnson. It's the same position in which McIlroy started before winning last year's TOUR Championship and FedExCup. This is the second year of the TOUR Champioship's staggered start. Johnson, the FedExCup leader, starts at 10 under. Rahm is 8 under. And players farther down the FedExCup standings will start farther behind Johnson. Then, come Monday, the final leaderboard also represents the final FedExCup standings. One scoreboard. One championship. One trophy. The unique format plays mind tricks on the world's best players, disrupting their routines and throwing them out of their comfort zones. Many would consider the two-shot lead an advantage, but it's not that easy. At most tournaments, a player doesn't hold a lead until Thursday night. Johnson has been leading the TOUR Championship since he left Olympia Fields on Sunday night. That wears on a player. "You essentially have the pressure of the FedExCup on your shoulders four days in a row, even though you still need to play really good golf for four rounds," Rahm said. "It’s in your mind. Right? We’re constantly getting reminded, you’re No. 1, you’re No. 2, or your No. 3. I think if you’re behind it almost helps just because you already know where the leader is at." Thomas, who'd won the FedExCup just two years earlier, arrived at last year's TOUR Championship in the pole position of the FedExCup. He couldn't maintain the advantage, though, eventually finishing five behind McIlroy (even with the starting advantage). "It was weird. Nobody in golf can say that they have ever teed up on Thursday with a two-shot lead and leading the entire field, so I (didn't) know how to react, and nobody really would," Thomas said recently. "But I feel like I didn’t handle it as well as I should have." Whoever handles it the best this week can lay claim to being the best player in a PGA TOUR season unlike any other. That's a prize worth fighting for.
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