Course Preview and Fits: Tour Championship

Well, this is it — the last week of the season, and what a week it is. Regardless of what you think about the “starting strokes” format of the PGA Tour Championship, you can’t deny that the drama is real, with all these guys fighting it out for some serious cash. I’m generally not a fan of the really small-field stuff, but you can’t deny that this past week was pretty damn exciting, even as someone who was left holding some Scheffler tickets. Props to BDV for a back nine for the ages.

It’s important to understand the format this week, as the Tour Championship features a unique one. The field is set at only 30, and players will start with a handicap based on their position on the FedEx points list, with Scottie Scheffler starting at -10, the bottom few guys on the points list starting at even par, and the rest of the field scattered in between. Here’s the full list:

 

-10 – Scottie Scheffler

-8 – Viktor Hovland

-7 – Rory McIlroy

-6 – Jon Rahm

-5 – Lucas Glover

-4 – Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay, Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick

-3 – Tommy Fleetwood, Russell Henley, Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele

-2 – Tom Kim, Sungjae Im, Tony Finau, Corey Conners, Si Woo Kim

-1 – Taylor Moore, Nick Taylor, Adam Schenk, Collin Morikawa, Jason Day

Even – Sam Burns, Emiliano Grillo, Tyrrell Hatton, Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka

 

It’s also another no-cut event, meaning everyone will play all four rounds, barring injury or disqualification. For DFS, starting strokes and finish points will be baked into pricing; that means that Scottie Scheffler will cost a fortune, but as soon as he tees off he’ll have the first-place finish points, and they’re his to lose. It makes for some interesting strategy and game theory this week, but I’ll leave that to Cody and Adam. Let’s take a look at the course.