The Tour Championship at East Lake
We have made it golf lovers, the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship, the last event of the 2019-2020 season. As we all know this season has been an absolute rollercoaster. Between Covid-19, the suspended season, the restart, and the rescheduling or cancellation of golf tournaments throughout the year. Nonetheless through all the drama we have finally made it to end. However, before we get into talking about East Lake, we will rewind to last week’s BMW Championship, which as we all know gave golf fans one of the most electrifying finishes we've seen in quite some time.
Last week’s BMW Championship was some of the best golf I've seen. I'm a fan of tough golfers.I love when 5-8 under par is the winner. When the scores are that low it shows that the course is difficult and it demands smart, consistent, unwavering play. Last week at Olympia Fields we were given that. With most of the field being over par, leaving very few under par. After regulation play, we were down to Dustin Johnson and John Rahm tied at 4 under. What a better way to end the second playoff event with a playoff between the number one and two players in the world.To say the least it was perfect. However the journey for DJ to get into the playoff was spectacular. To make it to four under DJ was faced with a downhill, triple-breaking 24 footer, a must make. To nobody’s surprise DJ rolled right in the back of the cup. Now we're into extra holes and the playoff finish was even more exciting. Rahm was faced with a 66 footer, and DJ was faced with a slightly shorter 30 footer. However each put had a make percentage of less than 4%, Rahms being around 1%. Naturally, Rahm shocked the world and found himself in that 1%. Rahm rolled in an absolute bomb from 66 feet. I don’t know many players who can make a putt following that but if i had to pick DJ would be at the top of my list. Sadly DJ left his birdie chance a few inches short, making Rahm the BMW Championship Winner. However even in defeat DJ still holds a commanding lead in the running for The FedEx Cup heading into the Tour Championship at East Lake.
Like last year the format is the same.The PGA rewards the top players in FedEc Cup points with a handicap. Dustin Johnson, who sits atop in the cup standings will start this week's championship at 10 under, John Rahm who holds second place will start at 8 under and so on and so fourth finishing off the leaderboard with the 30th ranked player starting at even par. Personally, I absolutely hate this format. However the PGA believes it will provide larger viewerships and better ratings. The serious golf fans are not interested in these types of handicaps, the weekend watchers find it to be more exciting. Nonetheless it’s golf all the same, which I won’t be complaining about. Making it to East Lake is huge, not only is it good for your career to make it to the top 30 points holder, but the payouts are extreme. The total purse for East Lake is 45 million, granting 15 million to the first place finisher. Which is even more astounding is the last place finisher. The last place finisher receives $395,000, which is just shy of $100,000 per round for coming in last place. In my opinion I think this might be a little to much money in one breathe, however in the next breathe they worked hard all year long, played so well and now they get rewarded. Nevertheless the PGA Tour will continue to increase purse amounts and more and more money will be available to players. (Mike)
Final Thoughts on The BMW
There was plenty of clutch moments at the BMW last weekend, but I am not sure I have seen two better putts like that in back to back holes. DJ had no business making his to force a playoff and Rahm made one of the best putts I have ever witnessed considering what was on the line and the level of difficulty. My final takeaway is that golf has never been in a better position. Every week it seems to come down to the wire with different players. There are so many guys out there that can win on any given week and nobody seems to be scared of the moment. Golf is without a doubt better when Tiger is in contention, but last weekend showed that golf can be equally remarkable when Tiger is not near the top of the leaderboard. This is a topic that the blog will look at more in the down months of the tour season, but in my opinion, the game has never been in a better position as far as talent is concerned. (Tyler)
Tour Championship
My pick for this week is DJ. Giving him a two-shot lead on the field makes this pick that much easier for me. I do not think anyone is playing better golf on the planet and without Rahm’s unbelievable putt we may be talking about DJ winning three in a row. I think he takes care of business this week and positions himself nicely to be the frontrunner headed into the US Open at Winged Foot.
My dark horse for this week is Webb Simpson. I think he is within striking distance this week and has been playing some of the best golf on the planet this year, especially since the restart. I am not sure anyone will catch DJ, but I expect Webb to start well and make DJ earn his win this week. Webb is certainly near the top of the player of the year discussion and winning the FedEx Cup would go a long ways to helping him secure that accolade. (Tyler)
When Is It Too Much?
With first place winning 15 million this week and dead last making roughly 395k there is plenty of money up for grabs this week, but has the amount of money these players are playing for become TOO much? This is a topic that comes up every year around this time. It is hard to wrap my head around the amount of money these guys are playing for this week. They are guaranteed at worst, 365,000 just for making it this far. Taking into consideration how many people have struggled this year financially due to COVID-19 it seems like the money they are playing for this week might be too much. I am all for guys being able to make as much money as they can, but I think the average fan can be put off by watching these golfers compete for 15,000,000 this week as they struggle to make ends meet. I am not sure what the solution is here, but my personal belief is that these guys are playing for way too much money in these playoffs. I would like to see the LPGA, the Korn Ferry, different youth golf initiatives get more funding than watching millionaires play for an additional fifteen million dollars. (Tyler)
Predictions:
This has been my favorite part of the blog so far. So far my picks have been relatively accurate, early on I had a few winning picks and even if they didn’t win they were top five or top ten. My pick last week was the furthest off, Daniel Berger did not play as well as I hoped but he’s still very in the mix to win the FedEx Cup. However this week my winner has to go to Dustin Johnson. He has played so solid the past two weeks, to have gone 34 under combined in his last two events it's just pure talent. He’s striking the ball better than anybody else on tour, he’s top 10 in total strokes gained and in scoring average, and his putter is hot. All the stats aside, he’s confident and he’s hungry for it, and as many golfers know that type of confidence is a game changer.
Now being in the top 30 none of the players are actual “sleepers” however this week’s big come from behind player goes to Daniel Berger. Berger is starting the week at 4 under, six shots behind DJ. Six shots is not a lot of ground to make up over a four round event. I believe if Berger gets off to a hot start and closes the gap early he can start the weekend playing to win rather than having to catch up on Saturday and Sunday. The most impressive stat to speaks volumes about Berger’s play right now is he #1 on tour in scrambling. 67% of the time Berger gets up and down from missed greens to save par. This is crucial because when it comes down to making a big putt or having to hit it too close to make birdie Berger has shown that he can produce time and time again. (Mike)