Horses for Courses: TOUR Championship

East Lake has been the host since 2004 so familiarity won’t hurt this week. The TOUR has used a couple of different formulas to determine the “winner” here over the years and I’ve sorted all of that for you as well. Patrick Cantlay enters the week as top dog on 10-under in Starting Strokes and we’ll go from there starting Thursday.

A breakdown of starting strokes and payouts for the @PlayoffFinale.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 31, 2021

All of the gold at the end of the rainbow is up for grabs at East Lake Golf Club outside Atlanta as the FedExCup Playoffs will pay out $60 million in bonuses to close the 50-event 2020-2021 season.

East Lake Golf Club, established in 1904, has served as the permanent host of the TOUR Championship since 2004. Tom Bendelow’s original design was updated in 1913 by Donald Ross so greens pitching back-to-front will again be in play this week. Rees Jones has handled the upkeep over the last 25 years to keep up with the best players on TOUR annually.

The FedExCup Playoffs debuted in 2007 so course history is a very real angle this week.

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In 2008 East Lake changed their greens from Bentgrass to Bermuda so Zach Johnson’s course record of 60 set in 2007 can be taken with a grain of salt. Since the introduction of Bermuda, 63 has been the lowest round posted four times, last done by Henrik Stenson in 2015.

Before 2016 the event concluded with a Par-3 hole. The nines were flipped in 2016 to add another layer of drama as the Par-5 18th, one of the easiest annually on the course, will provide the final act. Xander Schauffele holds the event (gross) record, set last year, on 15-under 265. Since the nines were reversed, the winning score has been double digits under par in every event.

Zoysia fairways and Mini-Verde Ultradwarf Bermuda greens running around 13 feet are surrounded by almost three inches of Bermuda rough. The remnants of Hurricane Ida are dumping rain Tuesday on the area after a very abnormally wet July. The Par-70 (35-35) already stretches out to 7,346 yards and nothing about firm or fast will be on the cards this week. The two Par-5 holes annually play the easiest on the course so scoring on both of them will be required. Wet Bermuda rough won’t allow for much control off of the fairway and around the greens. The perfect Bermuda greens, just over 6,000 square feet on average, will see putts holed for both par and birdie. The formula this week will involve finding the most fairways to attack hole locations and saving pars when missing the fairway and greens. Like any big-time event, the full bag and the six inches between the ears should be in play and that is definitely the case this week.

The 30 players involved will have four rounds (no cut) to try and chase down FedExCup leader Patrick Cantlay and his Starting Strokes of 10-under par. The player posting the lowest net total (Starting Strokes combined with the total of strokes accumulated after 72 holes) after 72 holes will take home the biggest bonus of them all, $15 million plus a five year exemption on TOUR.

Dustin Johnson is back for the 13th time in this event and will look to repeat as FedExCup Playoff champion. The only multiple winner of this event (entered this week) is Rory McIlroy (2019, 2016) and nobody has ever defended the title of Playoff Champion or Event champion.

Top 30 FedExCup bonus money distribution

1	$15,000,000	16	$570,000
2	$5,000,000	17	$550,000
3	$4,000,000	18	$535,000
4	$3,000,000	19	$520,000
5	$2,500,000	20	$505,000
6	$1,900,000	21	$490,000
7	$1,300,000	22	$478,000
8	$1,100,000	23	$466,000
9	$950,000	24	$456,000
10	$830,000	25	$445,000
11	$750,000	26	$435,000
12	$705,000	27	$425,000
13	$660,000	28	$415,000
14	$620,000	29	$405,000
15	$595,000	30	$395,000

Recent Event Winners Stats

Year	2020	2019	2018
	Dustin Johnson	Rory McIlroy	Tiger Woods
To Par	-21	-18	-11
MOV	3	4	2
Age	36	30	41

Disantance – All Drives	T2	1	23
Driving Accuarcy	28	T3	T3
GIR	T5	T5	T14
Ball-Striking	T7	3	7
Proximity	T11	T12	T15
Putting: Birdie or Better %	T9	2	1
SG: Off-the-Tee	7	1	6
SG: Approach-the-Green	11	9	14
SG: Around-the-Green	4	2	9
SG: Putting	12	11	2
SG: Tee-to-Green	3	1	7
Scrambling	T13	5	1
Bogey Avoidance	T5	T1	1
Par-3 Scoring	T17	T2	T8
Par-4 Scoring	3	2	1
Par-5 Scoring	T5	1	T9

Recent Winners

2020 – Dustin Johnson (-21 net, -11 gross)

Fired a final round 68 to win by three. … Won his sixth FedExCup Playoff event and first FedExCup championship. … First No. 1 seed to win since Tiger Woods in 2009. … Led by five, an event record, after posting 64 in Round 3. … Final group off Round 3 after leading by one after 36 holes. … Opened with 67 to share the first round lead. … Would have finished T3 without Starting Strokes. … 17th win in start No. 274. … His six wins in the FedExCup Playoffs are the most in history. … Picked up his third win in his 10th tournament since the restart. … 64 tied the low round of the week (four others listed below). …

Notables in the field this week:

2017 FedExCup Playoff EVENT champion Xander Schauffele (2nd) posted the lowest 72 hole total since Bermuda was introduced in 2008. … 2017 FedExCup Playoff champion Justin Thomas (T2) picked up his fifth top 10 in his fifth visit. … Jon Rahm (4th) posted the second WORST round of the week with 74 in Round 2. … Debutant Scottie Scheffler (5th) posted 12-under (gross), second best on the week. … Debutant Collin Morikawa (6th) co-led the field with Schauffele with 21 birdies. … 2019 champion Rory McIlroy (T8) also posted 64 (Rd 1) but only made four birdies thru the middle two rounds. … Patrick Reed (T8) picked up his best finish in his seventh attempt as he led the field in Fairways and Pars. … Sungjae Im (11th) opened 68-64 to trail Johnson by one after 36 holes. … Harris English (T12) ranked third in Putts. … Daniel Berger (T14) joined the party with 64 in Round 3. … Abraham Ancer (T18) opened his second visit with 64 before cooling. … Viktor Hovland (T20) led the field in GIR. … Scoring average was 68.917. … Only five bogey-free rounds and Reed had 40 percent of them.

2019 – Rory McIlroy (18-under net, 13-under gross )

2016 winner posted a final round 66 to become just the second player to win the FedExCup Playoffs and Event twice. … Began the final round one shot back of Brooks Koepka. … Only player to post all four rounds in the 60s as he won by four shots. … Posted 13-under gross, three better than Schauffele, for the best total of the week. … Led the field with 20 birdies. … Co-led the field in Bogey Avoidance. … Becomes the only winner to also win THE PLAYERS in the same season. … Third win of the season along with the RBC Canadian Open. … Hits the top 10 for the sixth time in seven visits. … 17th TOUR victory in start No. 268.

Notables in the field this week:

Xander Schauffele (T2) opened with the co-low round of the week, 64, posted 10-under (gross) and co-led the field in Bogey Avoidance. … Brooks Koepka (T3) tried to go wire to wire but his final round 72 saw him fall short. … 2017 FedExCup Playoff Champion Justin Thomas (T3) entered the week as the No. 1 seed. … Tony Finau (7th) posted all four rounds 70 or better. … Hideki Matsuyama (T9) matched McIlroy with two rounds of 66. … Patrick Reed (T9) cashed his first top 10 in six appearances. … Just eight players posted rounds of 60 on Sunday. … Scoring average 70.003. … Only three bogey free rounds for the week.

2018 – Tiger Woods (11-under, 259)

Did not qualify this season (injury). … Woods won the Event but Justin Rose (did not qualify) won the FedExCup Playoff Championship. … Final edition before Starting Strokes. … Only player double digits under par. … Led by three after 54 holes. … Shared the 36 hole lead with Rose. … Opened with 65, co-low round of the week, to share the lead. … Becomes first player to win the FedExCup Playoff Event twice. … 80th win in 346th start. … First appearance since 2013.

Notables in the field this week:

2014 champion Billy Horschel (2nd) led the field in Fairways and GIR. … Dustin Johnson (T3) picked up his best finish in his 10th appearance. … Hideki Matsuyama (T4) ranked T3 in Fairways, 3rd GIR and signed for the only bogey free round of the week. … Rory McIlroy (T7) played in the final group and co-led the field with 19 birdies. … 2017 champion Xander Schauffele (T7) picks up his only finish outside of the top two. … Justin Thomas (T7) was one of four players who posted all four rounds at 70 or better. … Jon Rahm (T11) joined McIlroy with 19 birdies. … 69.617 scoring average.

Key stat leaders

Top golfers in each statistic on the 2020-2021 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week.

Strokes-Gained Tee to Green
Rank	Player

1	Jon Rahm
2	Collin Morikawa
3	Justin Thomas
4	Bryson DeChambeau
5	Patrick Cantlay
8	Rory McIlroy
9	Brooks Koepka
10	Corey Conners
11	Viktor Hovland
13	Sergio Garcia
14	Hideki Matsuyama
15	Tony Finau
16	Daniel Berger
17	Xander Schauffele
19	Dustin Johnson
22	Scottie Scheffler
24	Louis Oosthiuzen
25	Joaquin Niemann
27	Abraham Ancer
32	Sam Burns
35	Jordan Spieth
36	Patrick Reed
40	Sungjae Im

Par 4 Scoring
Rank	Player

1	Patrick Cantlay
3	Daniel Berger
3	Abraham Ancer
8	Jon Rahm
8	Sam Burns
8	Collin Morikawa
8	Louis Oosthuizen
8	Justin Thomas
15	Scottie Scheffler
19	Jordan Spieth
19	Kevn Na
19	Tony Finau
19	Patrick Reed
19	Corey Conners
19	Viktor Hovland
19	Sungjae Im
19	Dustin Johnson
19	Brooks Koepka
34	Bryson DeChambeau
34	Joaquin Niemann
34	Harris English
34	Rory McIlroy
34	Sergio Garcia

Bogey Avoidance
Rank	Player

1	Jon Rahm
2	Daniel Berger
3	Patrick Cantlay
7	Abraham Ancer
8	Louis Oosthuizen
13	Sungjae Im
14	Collin Morikawa
15	Justin Thomas
15	Cameron Smith
29	Joaquin Niemann
31	Harris English
32	Stewart Cink
33	Corey Conners
37	Sergio Garcia
46	Xander Schauffele
48	Tony Finau

FedEx Cup Event Winners entered this Week	Wins

Dustin Johnson	6
Rory McIlroy	5
Justin Thomas	2
Bryson DeChambeau	2
Billy Horschel	2
Tony Finau	1
Jon Rahm	1
Xander Schauffele	1
Jordan Spieth	1
Patrick Cantlay	1