The Tour Championship, the final tournament of the FedExCup Playoffs, begins on Thursday. Only 30 golfers qualified to participate in this weekend’s event, which takes place at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Unfortunately, despite 30 players qualifying for the event, only 29 players will participate this weekend. Will Zalatoris, who was third in the FedExCup standings, withdrew from the Tour Championship earlier this week due to an injury.
PGA Tour Announces Further Changes to Formats and Scheduling
The PGA Tour has already announced changes to future tournaments earlier this summer after LIV Golf held its first events. The tour announced that eight tournaments would have increased prize money, fewer players would qualify for the FedExCup playoffs in the future, and that new events would take place after the Tour Championship each season.
This week, the PGA Tour announced more changes that will take place next year. Most significantly, some of the best players on the PGA Tour, according to the Player Impact Program, will commit to playing 20 events on the PGA Tour.
Those events will include the eight tournaments with increased prize money that were announced earlier this year, along with another four events which will also have increased prize money. Other events would include the major championships and the Players Championship.
In addition, a minimum salary of $500,000 has been introduced by the PGA Tour. The Player Impact Program will also be expanded, along with a new program that will assist some players with travel expenses.
The PGA Tour will hope these changes help the tour continue to compete with LIV Golf. There is a possibility more changes will be made by the PGA Tour in the future.
Tour Championship Concludes FedExCup Playoffs
This year’s FedExCup playoffs conclude this weekend with the Tour Championship. Scottie Scheffler will begin this year’s tournament in the lead at 10 under par as he enters this week No.1 in the FedExCup standings.
The winner of last weekend’s BMW Championship and last year’s Tour Championship, Patrick Cantlay, begins the tournament in second place, two strokes behind Scheffler. Xander Schauffele, who finished tied for third at the BMW Championship, will begin the Tour Championship in third place, four strokes behind Scheffler.
Scheffler begins this weekend with the lead after playing extremely well at the BMW Championship last weekend, where he finished tied with Schauffele for third. However, Cantlay has been even better during the last month, winning last weekend in addition to finishing tied for second at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and tied for eighth at The Open.
This weekend, Cantlay, Scheffler, and Schauffele will begin the tournament as the favorites. However, players such as Sam Burns, who begins in fourth place, and Cameron Smith, who begins the tournament tied for fifth, will compete to win this weekend.
Tee Times for the Tour Championship
The Tour Championship is expected to begin at 11:45 a.m. on Thursday. Aaron Wise will be the first player to tee off at the tournament, and he will play alone during his first round due to Zalatoris’ injury.
Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa tee off alongside each other at 12:35 p.m. At 1:05 p.m. Cameron Young and U.S. Open winner Matthew Fitzpatrick will begin the first round. 10 minutes later Scott Stallings and PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas are scheduled to tee off.
2022 British Open winner Cameron Smith and Rory McIlroy begin the tournament at 1:45 p.m. Xander Schauffele and Sam Burns tee off at 1:55 p.m. before the final group, Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler, tees off at 2:05 p.m.
This weekend’s tournament should be fantastic. Scheffler has the opportunity to win the FedExCup and his fifth tournament of the season, while Cantlay could win the FedExCup in back-to-back years.
