For golfers who just played in big-money major tournaments, how much do the Olympics matter?

It’s the big 5-0! The 50-event super season concludes with this week’s TOUR Championship. If the playoff between Patrick Cantlay and Bryson DeChambeau at the BMW Championship was the pregame for the final celebration of 2020-21, then we’re in store for quite a show at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. After surviving six holes of sudden death to prevail on Sunday, Cantlay rose to No. 1 in the FedExCup standings, so he will start atop the leaderboard on Thursday. You’ll find the explanation for that, how Starting Strokes influenced the first two editions of the Playoffs finale and much more beneath the ranking. NOTE: This full-field Power Rankings includes starting score for every golfer in the field. POWER RANKINGS: TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP Tabulation of FedExCup points ended at the BMW Championship, so only scores matters now. Starting Strokes was introduced at the TOUR Championship in 2019. It’s the compromise between rewarding bodies of work in the long- and short-term, and the promise to crown the winner of the tournament as the FedExCup champion. Unlike all other stroke-play competitions, the golfer with the lowest 72-hole aggregate at the TOUR Championship isn’t necessarily going to be the winner, but that’s how it worked out when Rory McIlroy captured the title in 2019. As the 5-seed, he opened at 5-under, and then scored 13-under (267). His 72-hole aggregate was three better than the second-lowest, but all that mattered was that his final score in relation to par of 18-under (5-under + 13-under) was the best in the field. In fact, the winner is determined on score in relation to par with Starting Strokes contributing, and that did matter in the second spin. Starting Strokes aided Dustin Johnson in emerging with his first FedExCup title last year. He opened at 10-under, shot 11-under during the tournament and posted 21-under for a three-stroke victory. However, his 72-hole aggregate was 269 was good for just T3 without Starting Strokes contributing. Xander Schauffele was lowest at 15-under 265 but opened at just 3-under as the 14-seed, so he settled for co-runner-up (with Justin Thomas) at 18-under. Unlike trends based on FedExCup points and positions, which are unique to every season, Starting Strokes has laid the foundation for an apples-to-apples comparison between TOUR Championships. Consider that in each of the first two editions, exactly six golfers seeded 12th or worse upon arrival finished inside the top 10 in relation to par at the conclusion of their respective events. (That’s a total of 12 among the combined 21 top 10s.) The highest climb to date belongs to 25-seed Chez Reavie in 2019. He opened at 1-under, shot 5-under and finished eighth at 6-under. Last year’s biggest riser was Tyrrell Hatton, who opened at 2-under as the 19-seed, and then shot 10-under for a combined 12-under and seventh place. Of course, movement occurs in the other direction as well. Coincidentally given Sunday’s duel, the top drops of the first two TOUR Championships with Starting Strokes were Cantlay (2019) and DeChambeau (2020). Cantlay opened as the 2-seed and finished T21. DeChambeau finished 22nd last year as the 8-seed. After the unknown of Caves Valley, the familiar backdrop of East Lake awaits. It remains a stock par 70 at 7,346 yards with bermudagrass greens ready to roll up to 13 feet on the Stimpmeter. Primary rough again is 2½ inches high. Essentially, for the 28 who have given it a go here before, it’s an open-book examination. Yes, that means that debutants 10-seed Sam Burns and 27-seed Erik van Rooyen are cramming, but they aced the first two tests, anyway. After East Lake held up for a historically average 70.033 in 2019, it proved to be vulnerable last year at 68.917. It was its lowest scoring average since 2007, the last edition before Rees Jones’ second of three renovations to the course. (Course scoring averages are not influenced by Starting Strokes.) Despite that dip, because the course is the same, the objective is the same – hit greens and sink putts. However, setting up scoring opportunities also remains the primary challenge. East Lake held firm in allowing a customary 11.6 GIR per round last year, 12th-lowest among all courses last season. Getting the ball onto the putting surfaces is harder than getting it into the hole. Last year’s field converted one-third of GIR into par breakers. That also aligns with recent history, but it connected in salvaging par 60.81 percent of the time, a record high at East Lake. The pair of par 5s – Nos. 6 and 18 – are most vulnerable and always have been. En route to his victory, DJ recorded six birdies and two pars on the set to rank T5 in par-5 scoring for the week. He also supported the theme of how the long game trumps the accurate at East Lake. He was T2 in distance of all drives but 28th in fairways split, yet still finished T5 in GIR, T11 in proximity to the hole and third in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. His putting was good enough to total 20 birdies against nine bogeys. What’s left on the backside of Hurricane Ida that will skirt northern Georgia will be long gone by the time the turf on the first tee box is pierced on Thursday. Outstanding conditions throughout the tournament will allow for East Lake to present as planned. Daytime temperatures will climb into the 80s and winds will be light. A few pillows passing in the sky won’t develop into anything. In addition to forever being known as the 15th FedExCup champion, the winner also will record an official victory and a five-year PGA TOUR membership exemption. By qualifying for the Playoffs finale, all 30 in the field receive exemptions into the 2022 editions of the Masters, U.S. Open and The Open Championship if not already eligible. All prize money distributed is unofficial but very real. The winner pockets $15 million. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Fantasy Insider, Expert Picks SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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Andy Ogletree has imagined hitting that tee shot many times. It always ends up in the same spot, just past the deep bunker that guards the right side of Augusta National’s first fairway. Ogletree was scheduled to hit that tee shot today in the first round of the Masters. But then the world was turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic. Sports, like the rest of life, were impacted, and the Masters is no exception. The tournament was pushed back seven months, to Nov. 12-15. Related: The Masters in November: What to expect | Roundtable: Most emotional Masters | Ranking Tiger’s top 10 clubs Fans and players alike anticipate this rite of spring with unparalleled excitement, but Ogletree has a unique perspective. He wasn’t just scheduled to play his first Masters. He was going to play with Tiger Woods. “I’ve thought about it a lot. I’m not going to lie,â€� he said. He doesn’t let those thoughts travel past the first tee shot, though. “I’ve played that tee shot a lot in my head, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. The gameplan is to focus on the first one and then add them up from there,â€� he said. Pairings for this year’s Masters haven’t been released, but pairing the U.S. Amateur and Masters champions is one of the tournament’s many traditions. Augusta National was co-founded by the greatest amateur of all time, the incomparable Bobby Jones, and its respect for the amateur game runs deep. Woods put on his fifth green jacket last April. Ogletree watched the final round in his apartment with his teammates. “We all went crazy,â€� he said. “It’s definitely a day I’ll remember forever.â€� Another one came four months later, at the historic Pinehurst Resort. Ogletree knew what was at stake when he faced John Augenstein in the final match of the U.S. Amateur. “(Playing with Woods) was a big interview topic throughout the week,â€� Ogletree said. Both finalists already had Masters invitations in hand, but only the winner would play with the 15-time major champion. Ogletree was 4 down after five holes but won four of the final seven holes for a 2-and-1 win. His four-hole deficit is believed to be the fourth-largest overcome by a champion. Woods was 6 down through 13 holes against Trip Kuehne in 1994. Two years later, he was 5 down after the morning round of the 36-hole match, as was Labron Harris in 1962. “I was definitely looking forward to it,â€� Ogletree said about the Masters. “I’ll just keep looking forward to it for a while. It’s all perspective. I just have to have a positive outlook. That’s all I can do now.â€� Ogletree also joins Jones and Matt Kuchar as Georgia Tech alums to hoist the Havemeyer Trophy as the U.S. Amateur champion. Kuchar, Ogletree and Jones’ grandson, Bobby Jones IV, all met at last year’s TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Kuchar also played with Woods in the Masters after winning the 1997 U.S. Amateur. Woods won that year’s Masters by 12 shots. Woods beat Kuchar by just a stroke, 71 to 72, in the first round and just three strokes for the week. Woods finished T8, six shots behind Mark O’Meara, while Kuchar, then a college sophomore, impressed with a T21 finish. He finished T14 at that year’s U.S. Open, as well. Kuchar and Ogletree are scheduled to play a practice round at the Masters, but perhaps Ogletree can also dispense some advice. He’s already played Augusta National in November. Last fall, he played the same weekend that that this year’s tournament is scheduled to be played. Now he has even more time to prepare for his first major. His senior season at Georgia Tech was cut short by coronavirus, so he returned home to Mississippi to be with his family. His hometown of Little Rock, Mississippi, has approximately 2,000 residents. “It’s a lot easier to social-distance here,â€� he said. His U.S. Amateur win also earned him spots in The Open Championship, which has been pushed to back to 2021, and U.S. Open, which is now scheduled to be played in September. These changes have likely delayed his plans to turn pro. Every aspect of life is full of uncertainty right now. For now, Ogletree is working on his game at two local courses. “I’m sure I’ll watch this week. Anytime it’s Masters week, I’m watching with multiple screens,â€� Ogletree said. “It was always a big week for my family, as golf fans.â€� This year, it will be even bigger.

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