Purse: €75,613,875 (€18,147,330 to the winner)
Where: Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The course: East Lake Golf Club – 7,346 yards, par 70. It was originally crafted by Donald Ross and Tom Bendelow but Rees Jones was called in to redesign the course in 1994. In 2007 all the greens were changed from Bentgrass to Bermuda. It is an extremely long and challenging layout for a par 70 with firm, fast greens adding to the difficulty of the assignment. There are only two par-fives. To be successful places a premium on driving accuracy because the fairways are notoriously difficult to hit and the rough is lush and cloying. There are few easy birdie opportunities so one of the virtues required is patience and another, an ability to grind out pars. East Lake hosted the tournament in 1998, 2000, 2002 and from 2004 onwards.
The field: The American Will Zalatoris withdrew from the season-ending tournament finale with a back injury. If it was a normal tournament Ireland’s Shane Lowry would have made it as the next player in line but in the FedEx playoffs no one is added to the events in the event of a withdrawal. It means that 29 players rather than 30 will tee it up at East Lake. Zalatoris will pocket €503,502 as he is deemed to have finished 30th. A handicap system has been in operation at the Tour Championship finale since 2019 with the FedEx Cup leader in the standings, in this case Scottie Scheffler, starting on 10 under, Patrick Cantlay (eight under), third (seven under), fourth (six under), fifth (five under), sixth to 10th (four under), 11th-15th (three under) etc, right down to those in 26th-29th place who will begin on level par.
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Irish in the field: Rory McIlroy, twice a former FedEx and Tour Championship winner (2016 and 2019), will start six shots behind US Masters champion Scottie Scheffler on four under par. In the latter win he amassed a brilliant 13 under par, total over four rounds, coming from five shots back to win by four. He is a course and distance winner to borrow from racing parlance. The Northern Ireland golfer has seven top-eight finishes in his last 10 tournaments, finished in the top eight in all four Majors and won the Canadian Open.
Betting: Rory McIlroy (12-1, 6.45pm, Irish time) offers some decent value considering both his form and pedigree in this tournament. Accuracy off the tee is a key attribute around East Lake and if at his best there are none better than McIlroy with the driver. The last two Tour Championships have been won by the player who started atop the leaderboard – Dustin Johnson (2020) and Patrick Cantlay (2019) – but Scheffler’s current form isn’t great, mirroring his putting. There isn’t anybody hotter that Xander Schauffele (15-2) at present with wins in the Zurich Classic, Travelers Championship, JP McManus Pro-Am and the Scottish Open, while also finishing third in the BMW Championship last week. He starts at four back.
On TV: Live on Sky Sports from 5.30pm.
