The First Look: TOUR Championship

The PGA TOUR’s 2020-21 season will wrap up at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta with the thrilling finale to the FedExCup. The top 30 golfers in the FedExCup standings at the conclusion of the BMW Championship will once again be vying for the ultimate prize in golf. This is the third year of the TOUR Championship’s Starting Strokes format which sees players start between 10-under and even par depending on their positioning. FIELD NOTES: The final field will be determined at the conclusion of the BMW Championship, the second leg of the FedExCup playoffs. However, all inside the current top 30 have committed to East Lake… THE NORTHERN TRUST winner, Tony Finau, is currently the No.1-ranked golfer in the FedExCup standings, however, the BMW Championship winner is likely to wrestle that from him… Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm (3rd at THE NORTHERN TRUST) and Patrick Cantlay are in great position to join Finau in the top five headed to Atlanta after hot starts at Caves Valley… The defending FedExCup champion, Dustin Johnson, will qualify for East Lake for the 13th year in a row – the longest active streak… Johnson is also defending his title at East Lake… Veteran Stewart Cink will earn a spot at East Lake for the first time since 2009. Cink won twice this season. His victories (Safeway Open, RBC Heritage) were his first on TOUR since that 2009 season when he won The Open Championship… Rory McIlroy is trending towards qualifying, giving him the chance to become the first three-time FedExCup winner. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives the FedExCup. COURSE: East Lake Golf Club, par 70, 7,346 yards. The storied club has hosted the TOUR Championship since 2005, meaning all 14 previous FedExCup champions (2007-2020) have been crowned there. Originally designed in the early 1900s by Tom Bendelow, Donald Ross re-worked the course not long after while Rees Jones helped restore the original design in 1994. STORYLINES: It all comes down to this. The top-ranked player in the standings after the BMW Championship will head to East Lake knowing he starts Thursday’s opening round at 10-under, giving him a two-shot margin over second seed who will start at 8-under… The starting numbers continue to drop from there. No.3 seed starts 7-under, No.4 at 6-under, and No.5 begins at 5-under. From there groups of five drop a shot at a time. So, No.6-No.10 start at 4-under, No.11-No.15 3-under, No.16-No.20 2-under, No. 21-25 1-under and finally No.26-No.30 start at even… The last two FedExCup winners have started 1st and 5th, respectively… The winner receives the coveted trophy and a $15 million bonus… No one has defended their title at East Lake since 1998… Steve Stricker will also announce his six captains picks for the U.S Ryder Cup team following the event. 72-HOLE RECORD: 257, Tiger Woods (2007). 18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Zach Johnson (3rd round, 2007). LAST TIME: Dustin Johnson finished at 21-under for the week and defeated Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele by three shots to win his first TOUR Championship – and first FedExCup. Thomas, a past FedExCup champion, shot rounds of 66-66 on the weekend but it wasn’t enough to overtake Johnson, who shot rounds of 64-68 to hold on to the No.1 spot in the FedExCup standings having started at 10-under. Schauffele made a spirited move up the leaderboard (he started the week in 14th, seven shots back of Johnson) but fell just short. Jon Rahm, who started the week in second place, couldn’t bounce back from a second-round 74 and finished fourth. Scottie Scheffler ripped up the standings from No. 17 to 5th. Johnson bogeyed No’s 7 and 8 on Sunday to open the door a crack to his competitors but stayed steady through the back nine, adding a birdie on the par-5 18th to close out the season. He finished the Playoffs going 1-2-1. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2:30 p.m.-7 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 12 p.m.-1:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 1:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC) PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 10:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m. (Preview Show), 11:45 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m. (Preview Show), 11:45 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (Featured Groups), 2:30 p.m.-7 p.m. (Featured Holes). Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (Preview Show), 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. (Featured Groups), 1:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m.-7 p.m. Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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