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Tour Championship: Expert Picks

Xander Schauffele will lead the way through East Lake Golf Club.

By Mark Abell
TOUR Championship - Final Round Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Tournament Information:

Tour Championship
Date: September 2nd – 5th
Course: East Lake Golf Club
2020 Winner: Dustin Johnson (-10)

Course

East Lake Golf Club — This par 70, 7,385 yard course in Atlanta hosts the FedEx Championship. It was created in 1904 and built by Donald Ross and Reese Jones, and it has a 76.2 course rating. It underwent a transformation from one of the worst project areas to a beautiful and vibrant bucolic area. The fairways are generous with a few rolling hills, traps, and lakes sprinkled throughout. I’m partial to hole 8 with a nice lake running alongside and traps to complement. Hole 8 provides a great visual for the beauty that is in this course.

TOUR Championship - Final Round Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images

My Starting 4

Xander Schauffele (fourth selection this year) – Only two golfers have top 10 finishes in the last four straight Tour Championships. Xander won here in 2017 and was second in 2019 and 2020.

Justin Thomas (fifth selection this year) — The only other player (besides Xander) to have four consecutive top 10’s at East Lake coming into this tournament is Justin Thomas, who finished third and second in the last two years.

Jon Rahm (fourth selection this year) – Jon’s last four years here have been all top 15 finishes: Seventh in 2017, 11th in 2018 , 12th in 2019, and 4th here last year. Rahm owns the No. 1 spot in OWGR currently.

Collin Morikawa (third selection this year) — In his first year here (last year) he finished sixth. Collin has six top 15 finishes in his last nine tour events, and he’s been quite selective in where he plays of late. He’s 1st on the tour in strokes gained approaching the green and 2nd tee to green.

My Bench 2

Patrick Reed (fifth selection this year) — Reed is one of a handful of guys to have top 10 finishes the last two years here, as he finished ninth and eighth. It’s not a huge concern, but he’s had just two top 25 finishes in his last seven tournaments.

SungJae Im (first selection this year) – Sungjae was 11th here last year, and he comes into the championship with top 25 finishes in four of his last five tournaments. He’s currently 15th in strokes gained off the tee.

2020-2021 Stats

(1st percent would be the top golfer picked every week)

Starting 4: Average finish 39th (30th percent)
Bench 2: Average finish 50th (37th percent)