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The PGA Tour season has reached its climax. The tournament that every regular event has been building to is finally here. That’s right, it’s time for the FedEX Cup finale, which is of course the Tour Championship. This week, the best of the best will battle it out for the chance to get their hands on an eye-watering $18,000,000.
Where is the Tour Championship played?
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The Tour Championship will take place at its usual home of East Lake Golf Club, which is located in Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta golfing venue has served as the host course of the Tour Championship since 1998. Originally, East Lake alternated with Houston’s Champions Golf Club, but that arrangement came to an end in 2004. For nearly 20 years, East Lake has been the sole host of the Tour Championship.
Recent winners of the Tour Championship at East Lake include Rory McIlroy, who won this event last year, Jon Rahm, who won in 2021 and Xander Schauffele, who emerged from this event victorious back in 2020.
East Lake course info
Designed by course architect Donald Ross and renovated (in 2016) by Rees Jones, East Lake, which is the oldest golf course in Atlanta, is a real test of both accuracy and tactical golf.
To excel at East Lake, players must put sheer power and big-hitting to one side and instead favour a measured approach, one that focuses on consistent ball-striking and clever shot making.
At 7,400 yards, East Lake is long, but it’s certainly not all about distance. This Par 70 course features only two par-5’s, so it’s certainly not all about power. The rough is fierce, the course is littered with deep bunkers, while there’s no shortage of water either. Many of the greens are elevated, while their MiniVerde Bermudagrass design mean that they run somewhat rapidly.
The fairways at East Lake are among the narrowest on the PGA Tour, so accuracy off the tee is rewarded, while waywardness is very much punished.
What does it take to win at East Lake?
As touched on above, players need to be quite accurate off the tee, so look for players who consistently hit the short stuff. Those who have been successful at East Lake have also ranked very highly when it comes to strokes gained: ball-striking, so that’s an important stat, while you also want to pay plenty of attention to strokes gained: off-the-tee.
The greens are tricky and not easy to putt on either, so approach play is important, while those known to gain strokes over the field with the flat stick should thrive.
Essentially, East Lake provides players with something of an all-round test, one that places an emphasis on both accuracy from the tee box and accuracy on hitting greens.
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