Tour Championship 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 six 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 seven years ago.
Between 2019 and 2024 the Tour Championship was 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 all changed again last 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 three years ago, having led by six with 18 to play, and it was just as boring in 2024.
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 was finally scrapped.
Pre-event 14/115.00 chance, Tommy Fleetwood, won by three strokes last year.
First 18 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
2025 - Tommy Fleetwood
Venue
East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia.
Course details
Par 70, 7,490 yards
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 altered again prior to the 2024 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.
East Lake will host the Tour Championship again next year but it will visit different venues from 2027 onwards.
TV coverage
Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 18:00 on Thursday.
Last 10 winners with handicap start and Betfair Exchange prices
2025 - Tommy Fleetwood -18 15.014/1
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
A statistical look at the Tour Championship
Accuracy off the tee is usually slightly more important than power here, but neither stat is of vital importance.
Viktor Hovland topped the Scrambling stats when he won in 2023, but Fleetwood only ranked 22nd last year and Rory McIlroy ranked 23rd in 2022 so that's not been a key stat lately.
Most winners find lots of greens and putt really well.
Patrick Cantlay only ranked 13th for Putting Average and 14th for Strokes Gained: Putting in 2021 but the four winners since have ranked first, third, third, and first and second, fourth, third and first for those two metrics.
Fleetwood only ranked seventh for Greens In Regulation and 13th for Strokes Gained: tee-to-Green 12 months ago but three of the four winners before him topped the GIR rankings, fifth was the worst any of the previous six winners ranked for GIR, and seven of the eight winners before Fleetwood ranked no worse than third for Strokes Gained: Tee-to Green.
Check out other Ross designs
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 back in 2010 and 2011, as well as the BMW Championship in 2018 and the US PGA Championship in May, 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 eight 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.
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 four years ago, finishing second here after finishing runner-up in the Wyndham Championship a month earlier.
And last year's runner-up here, Russell Henley, was second at the Wyndham in 2023 and he led the event by three with a round to go before eventually finishing seventh in 2021.
Will we see another multiple playoff event winner at East Lake?
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 13 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. A stat that doesn't bode well for Fleetwood.
Winner's position and Betfair Exchange price pre-round four
2025 - Tommy Fleetwood - tied for the lead 2.6213/8
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
2016 - Rory McIlroy - trailing by two 4.47/2
In-play trends
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 seven 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 under the handicap system were done and dusted after 54 holes.
Fleetwood soon took charge on Sunday last year so it's been largely dull here for the last seven 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 18th in round three in 2017 and Justin Thomas was matched at just 1.454/9 after he'd birdied the 17th 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.