• GIR the key stat at East Lake

• Look to Sedgefield for clues

• Read my British Masters preview here

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Tournament History

Tom Watson won the first edition of the Tour Championship, back in 1987, when it was known as the Nabisco Championship.

Originally played in November, it was designed as a showcase event to round off the PGA Tour season with only the top 30 on the money list in attendance and the event saw its fair share of drama. The four editions that followed Watson's inaugural victory all went to a playoff and some stellar names are on the trophy but at the turn of the century, getting the very best in the world to turn up was proving difficult, if not impossible.

The majors were all done and dusted, and the game's stars felt it was wind down time so something had to be done to revive the tournament as it was starting to look a bit farcical. Having an event to showcase the year's stars when the stars weren't willing to line-up was a problem that needed solving and so the FedEx Cup Playoff Series was born.

First staged in 2007, the FedEx Cup Playoff Series consisted of four events initially and after the introduction of a rest week, it ran over five weeks but it was all change five years ago when the Dell Technologies Championship was done away with and so too was the week off.

The top 70 in the standings played in FedEx St Jude Championship two weeks ago and the top 50 battled it out for a place in the top 30, and a place in the field here, at the BMW Championship last week. What previously took five weeks and four events, now takes three weeks and three events.

After the first two FedEx Cup Series' turned into damp squibs, with Tiger Woods in 2007 and VJ Singh in 2008 entering the Tour Championship with unassailable leads, the format was tweaked for the first time to make it more competitive. The scores were reset before the Tour Championship and if any of the top five in the standings won the Tour Championship, they'd also win the FedEx Cup. It was a little more complicated for those ranked 6-30 but they could still win the FedEx Cup if others above them performed poorly. 

The changes made had the desired effect and from 2009, seven of the first eight Tour Championship winners also won the FedEx Cup but in 2017 and 2018, Xander Schauffele and Tiger Woods, like the 2009 winner, Phil Mickelson, didn't so a new and even more radical format was introduced six years ago. 

Since 2019 the Tour Championship has been played as a handicapped event with the leader in the standings after the first two events beginning the week's decider leading by two on -10, with the scores staggered down to level par after that, but it's all changed again this year, thankfully, with all 30 players starting on level par.

I really didn't like the handicap format so it's good to see it's been consigned to history, and we probably have Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler to thank.

Despite beginning the week on -8 and two behind Scheffler, Hovland won by five two years ago, having led by six with 18 to play, and it was just as boring last year.

As the number one player in the FedEx Cup standings, Scheffler began the week on -10 and having been trading at around 6/42.50 before the off, he was a 1.330/100 chance on Friday morning after he'd shot the best round of the day on Thursday.

Trading at 1.091/11, he was five clear of Collin Morikawa and nine in front of the rest with a round to go before cruising to a simple four-stroke victory. It was far from an exciting finale, and I can see why the handicap system has finally been scrapped.

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First 17 FedEx Cup Winners

2007 - Tiger Woods
2008 - Vijay Singh
2009 - Tiger Woods
2010 - Jim Furyk
2011 - Bill Haas
2012 - Brandt Snedeker
2013 - Henrik Stenson
2014 - Billy Horschel
2015 - Jordan Spieth
2016 - Rory McIlroy
2017 - Justin Thomas
2018 - Justin Rose
2019 - Rory McIlroy
2020 - Dustin Johnson
2021 - Patrick Cantlay
2022 - Rory McIlroy
2023 - Viktor Hovland
2024 - Scottie Scheffler

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Venue

East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia.

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Course Details

Par 70, 7,490 yards
Stroke index in 2024- 68.62

Dating back to 1904, East Lake has been remodelled by some renowned architects over the years. 

In 1913 Donald Ross completely reworked the course and then George Cobb tinkered with the place before the 1963 Ryder Cup. The club was neglected after that though, when the majority of its members switched to nearby Atlanta Athletic Club, but it was restored once again in 1994 by Rees Jones and was altered again prior to last year's edition. 

With the use of an aerial photograph from 1949, Andrew Green restored East Lake, combining elements of the original Donald Ross design with exciting new changes that reflect the modern game. 

Every tee, green, fairway and bunker were rebuilt. Fairways were converted from Meyer Zoysia to Zorro Zoysia and in some cases, they were reshaped to encourage more movement on the ground.

The greens were reshaped to imitate the original designer's intent and converted from Mini Verde Bermudagrass to TifEagle. 

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TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 18:00 on Thursday.

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Last Eight Winners with Handicap Start and Prices

2024 - Scottie Scheffler (-10) 2.56/4
2023 - Viktor Hovland (-8) -27 6.86/1
2022 - Rory McIlroy (-4) -21 10.09/1
2021 - Patrick Cantlay (-10) -21 5.14/1
2020 - Dustin Johnson -21 (-10) 3.211/5
2019 - Rory McIlroy -18 (-5) 9.89/1
2018 - Tiger Woods -11 13.525/2
2017 - Xander Schauffele -12 120.0119/1
2016 - Rory McIlroy -12 8.415/2

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What Will it Take to Win?

Accuracy off the tee is usually slightly more important than power here, although Scheffler ranked first for Driving Distance and second for Driving Accuracy last year, but neither stat is of vital importance.

The first two home two years ago, Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele, ranked third and first for Putting Average, Scheffler ranked third last year and Rory McIlroy ranked first for PA when he won three years ago.

Rory also ranked second when winning six years ago and Tiger Woods topped the PA stats a year earlier, but Patrick Cantlay only ranked 13^th when he won in 2021, so a hot putter isn't absolutely essential and the main stat to concentrate on at East Lake has always been Greens In Regulation.

The last two winners have both ranked first for GIR, the first two home ranked fourth and first in 2022 and the first six on the leaderboard in 2021 ranked tied first, seventh, eighth, 13^th, third, and tied first. The top six all ranked tied fifth or better in 2020 and seven of the top eight in 2019 ranked inside the top eight for GIR.

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Is There an Angle In?

From a course correlation angle, form at Donald Ross designed tracks tends to cross over well so check out the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club, Aronimink Country Club, which hosted a now defunct event called The National way back in both 2010 and 2011 as well as the BMW Championship in 2018, the 2023 US PGA Championship venue, Oak Hill, and Sedgefield Country Club, home of the Wyndham Championship.

Now that this venue and Sedgefield Country Club, both have Bermuda greens, form at the two events should crossover very nicely and that's been the case over the last decade or so.

East Lake specialists, Justin Rose and Adam Scott, as well as Kevin Na, who along with Jon Rahm, shot the lowest 72-hole score in 2022 all contended at Sedgefield in 2021.

The 2015 winner of this event, Jordan Spieth, was beaten in a playoff at the Wyndham, Webb Simpson, who finished fourth in 2013 and 2018, is a former winner of the event and in 2012, three of the first five home here had all previously won the Wyndham. And Luke Donald, who finished third, finished runner-up in the Wyndham seven years ago.

The 2017 Wyndham winner, Henrik Stenson, won here in 2013, the Wyndham's first and fourth in 2018, Brandt Snedeker and Jim Furyk, won this event in 2012 and 2010 and Billy Horschel, who has a first and a second here, was second in the Wyndham in 2020 and he contended again there this year.

If all that wasn't enough, to cement the correlation even further - check out the result of the 2015 renewal of the Wyndham Championship... The 2008 Tour Championship winner, Camilo Villegas, beat the 2011 winner, Bill Haas.

Kevin Na, along with Jon Rahm, posted the lowest 72-hole total in 2021 at a huge price having just finished tied second in the Wyndham and Sungjae Im emulated him three years ago, finishing second here after finishing runner-up in the Wyndham Championship a month earlier.

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Is There an Identikit Winner?

The 2023 winner, Hovland, and the 2021 winner, Patrick Cantlay, had both won the BMW Championship the week before and in nine of the previous 12 years, and on 12 occasions in total, someone has won two FedEx Cup Playoff events.

In addition to Cantlay and Hovland, Tiger Woods (2007), Camilo Villegas (2008) and Billy Horschel (2014), have all won the last two events.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are the only two to have won the FedEx Cup more than once but neither achieved the feat back-to-back.

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Winner's Position and Price Pre-Round Four

2024 - Scottie Scheffler - led by five 1.091/11
2023 - Viktor Hovland - led by six 1.132/15
2022 - Rory McIlroy - T2 - trailing by six 11.521/2
2021 - Patrick Cantlay - led by two 1.834/5
2020 - Dustin Johnson - led by five strokes 1.292/7
2019 - Rory McIlroy T2 - trailing by one 3.7511/4
2018 - Tiger Woods - led by three strokes 1.664/6
2017 - Xander Schauffele - T2 - trailing by two 6.611/2

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In-Play Tactics

The 2022 edition of this event was bizarre. Having been matched at a low of just 1.132/15, and following a weather delay on Saturday, Scottie Scheffler returned to the course on Sunday morning and finished round three by birdying four of his remaining six holes.

Scheffler led by six with a round to go before a three-over-par 73 in round four opened the door for McIlroy and the Northern Irishman's four-under-par 66 saw him win by one but the other five renewals with the handicap system in place produced really dull finishes.

McIlroy never looked like losing six years ago, Dustin Johnson won cosily in the end in 2020, after a little wobble on the front-nine on Sunday, the 2021 event was a two-man race between Jon Rahm and the winner, Cantlay and as already stated above, the last two editions were done and dusted after 54 holes.

It's been largely dull here for the last six years but looking a bit further back, we could be in for some fun over the weekend...

Tiger won wire-to-wire back in 2018, in the final edition prior to the introduction of the handicap system, but in the two years before that, after they switched the front and back nines in 2016, there was plenty of in-play drama and five players went odds-on before getting beat.

In 2016, Dustin Johnson was matched at odds-on during round three before finishing sixth, Kevin Chappell hit a low of 1.21/5 in regulation play on Sunday, and Ryan Moore (another Sedgefield winner) was matched at 1.68/13 in extra time before Rory went on to win.

Paul Casey was matched at 1.814/5 before he failed to birdie the 18^th in round three in 2017 and Justin Thomas was matched at just 1.454/9 after he'd birdied the 17^th hole in round four before Xander Schauffele went on to win by a stroke.

Phil Mickelson was seven back and in 26th place after an opening round of 73 before going on to win in 2009 and like the 2016 playoff protagonists, McIlroy and Moore, the 2012 winner, Brandt Snedeker, and the 2008 champ, Camilo Villegas, were five adrift at the halfway stage.

Bill Haas was three off the lead with a round to go in 2011, Lefty was still four back in 2009, and Villegas made up a five stroke deficit in the final round before beating Sergio Garcia (yet another Wyndham winner) in a playoff a year earlier so, so considering the size of the field in this event, we certainly can't describe East Lake as a frontrunners track.

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Scheffler Set to Sign the Season off in Style

Nobody has ever won back-to-back Tour Championships but that's not a stat to put off Scottie Scheffler backers and he's still fairly priced at around 15/8 to sign the 2025 season off in style.

The world number one has won five of the 10 events he's played in since May and he's traded at odds-on on several occasions when he hasn't won.

Since cruising to victory in the Open Championship he traded at as short as 1.68/13 at the FedEx St Jude two weeks ago before edging out Robert MacIntyre at the BMW Championship last week and it's very hard to envisage him not contending again here.

The Wyndham Championship winner, Cameron Young, has held his form quite nicely since his Sedgefield success last month and I was happy to chance him modestly again at 38.037/1.

An opening 74 last week left him too much to do in Maryland and a third round 71 at TPC Southwind derailed his charge at the FedEx St Jude Championship but he's playing nicely, and he looks fractionally big given he's no bigger than [3-/1] on the High Street.

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Now read more Golf tips and previews here.

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