TOUR Championship: Power ranking all 30 players at East Lake

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ATLANTA, GA – SEPTEMBER 22: Phil Mickelson hits his tee shot on the eighth hole during the first round of the TOUR Championship By Coca-Cola at East Lake Golf Club on September 22, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /

Even though he’s played the Tour Championship just once since 2013, Phil Mickelson still has the most career starts of anyone in the field with 18. Those dozen and a half starts have been a mixed bag. Lefty won in 2000 and 2009 and was T5 in 2002 and T3 in 2008.

The rough at East Lake is pretty juicy, which doesn’t bode well for Phil who’s 192nd in driving accuracy. He’s sixth in proximity from the rough, though. This has also been a banner year for him with the putter as he once led the Tour in strokes gained and now sits fourth.

Mickelson has had moderate success in the playoffs, going T15-T12-T58. He was likely running on fumes last week, which was his fifth start in six weeks and third in a row. Mickelson is the oldest player in the field, so last week’s time off came at a perfect time.

Fans everywhere would go crazy to see Lefty make a run this week. While I’m not counting him out, I will say that it looks like a tough run, especially if he’s looking forward to the Ryder Cup at all.

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