The 2018 PGA Tour season concludes this week with the TOUR Championship, where the season-long FedExCup champion will be crowned at East Lake Golf Club. In addition to the two trophies up for grabs, an absolutely ridiculous amount of prize money will be awarded to each of the remaining 30 players in the playoff field. The TOUR Championship purse is $9 million with $1.6 million going to the winner. The FedExCup champ will haul in the bonus $10 million prize. And even the player who finishes dead last will walk away with a cool $175,000. This is the week to cash in, and here are five things you need to know about the TOUR Championship and 12th FedExCup Playoffs.
Inside the Field
Bryson DeChambeau locked up the top spot heading into this final event on the strength of back-to-back wins to start the playoffs and is one of five players along with Justin Rose, Tony Finau, Dustin Johnson, and Justin Thomas who will automatically win the FedExCup with a victory at East Lake. Rose can ascend to the number one ranking in the world if he takes the FedExCup crown. Finau is a newly minted final member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team and can actually win the FedExCup without being crowned champion of a single event all year. Thomas makes his third trip to Atlanta this year and would become the first back-to-back FedExCup champion with a victory at the TOUR Championship.Major Storylines
FedExCup leader Bryson DeChambeau could become the first player to win three FedExCup playoff events in one season. Tiger Woods returns to the TOUR Championship for the first time in five years. Xander Schauffele’s strong performance at the BMW Championship earned him the opportunity to return and defend his title. Hideki Matsuyama started the playoffs ranked 76th, but charged all the way up to 27th thanks to three straight top-15s in the first three events. Dustin Johnson’s been the best player all season but has hit a slump in the playoffs, sliding from the top spot to his current 4th place position.
Tiger Watch
Nine months ago Tiger Woods was ranked 1,199 in the OWGR. He was coming off his fourth back surgery in as many years and hadn’t played a round of competitive golf for almost an entire year. Woods was battling chipping yips, making headlines for all the wrong reasons, and it looked like the end of his career. This week Tiger enters East Lake ranked 20th in the playoff standings and has a fighter’s chance to win it all. Only eight players have picked up more FedExCup points per start than Woods. A testimony to how good and how consistent he’s been all season. No matter what Tiger does this week – his comeback is arguably the biggest sports story of the year.Big Changes Coming
This is the last year a player could potentially win the TOUR Championship but not the FedExCup. Beginning next season, the FedExCup points race will still award FedExCup points for regular-season events, World Golf Championships, and the major championships. Once the final 30 players reach East Lake, however, points will be eliminated. Instead, the leader will start out the week at 10-under par, and the other players in the field will have their scores staggered based on their positions in the standings. This new seeding system would automatically award the FedEx Cup to the winner of the Tour Championship and avoid the confusing scenario where one player wins the season's final tournament and a different player wins the FedExCup.Inside the Course
East Lake Golf Club is a par-70, 7,385 yard Tom Bendelow design that provides ample scoring opportunities coming down the stretch on the par-4, 454-yard 16th, par-4, 430-yard 17th, and par-5 590-yard 18th holes. Before getting there, however, players need to survive two of the most demanding holes on the course: the par-4, 520-yard, No. 14 and the par-3, 211-yard, No.15. The 14th requires players hit their second shot with a long iron from a downhill lie into tight hole locations. The 15th hole features an intimidating 200-plus yard tee shot into a deep but skinny green that’s surrounded by water and made even more challenging with a left-to-right prevailing wind.
