World No.1 Scottie Scheffler put the bow on a magical season when he lifted the PGA Tour’s ultimate prize, the FedEx Cup for the first time at the Playoffs finale, the Tour Championship. His four-stroke triumph made it a grand total of seven victories in 2024 where he was also the gold medal winner at the Paris Olympic Games. This is his blog from East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta.
The previous two years Scheffler arrived as the top seed and exited as just another guy with deep pockets – and his hands were stuffed frustratingly to the bottom of them in dejection. This time, his hands cradled the huge FedEx Cup trophy.
Honesty is the best policy, so the saying goes, but in professional golf, it also sometimes come with a heavy price, as in the case of Sahith Theegala.
During a wide-ranging press conference on the eve of the Tour Championship, the final event of the FedEx Cup schedule, Jay Monahan provided an overview of the 2024 season and a look ahead on several fronts, none more compelling than potential changes to golf broadcasts in the weeks ahead.
The tour’s rules committee had contemplated internal OB at the beginning of the week before deciding against it, believing the change would be too penal. However, with a number of players asserting their intentions to circumvent the 18th, the tour decided to reverse course.
Six times a winner on the PGA Tour this season, including the Masters and the Olympic gold medal, Scheffler has to think that the third time is absolutely, positively the charm at East Lake Golf Club.
East Lake Golf Club’s extensive restoration under architect Andrew Green has this year’s crop of 30 players feeling like they’re playing it for the first time.
For all the jockeying for position over 72 holes at Olympia Fields Country Club, for all the drama as players moved in and out of the top 30 in the FedEx Cup points standings, only one player – Matt Fitzpatrick – was able to play his way into the Tour Championship.
Venerable East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, host of the annual Tour Championship and the venue Bobby Jones grew up playing, is the latest to reach into the past and return to pre-World War II versions of its architecture.
Horschel has been a vocal supporter of the PGA Tour. He said he’d had discussions with Smith about the LIV reports but did not try to convince Smith to say.
Australian Golf Digest
