2021 Tour Championship: Top 10 power rankings at East Lake
The marathon of a 2020-21 PGA Tour season is drawing to an end. Per usual, the campaign ends with the final 30 players standing in the FedEx Cup Playoffs descending on East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia, for the Tour Championship.
Unlike most seasons, this one featured six major championships and had more events packed in than any other. The schedule adjustments were a product of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in plenty of tournaments going either fan-less or allowing limited attendance.
Full attendance is allowed on the grounds this week to see who will take the $15 million first place prize.
East Lake is a 7,346-yard par-70. The Donald Ross design opened in 1904 and was Bobby Jones’ old stomping grounds.
The club hosted the 1963 Ryder Cup and the Tour Championship in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004-present. The course is relatively straightforward with length being an asset.
Key stats to watch include strokes gained tee to green, performance on par-4s over 450 yards, proximity from 150-200 yards, and performance on Bermuda greens.
East Lake tends to rank in the upper third as far as course difficulty on the PGA Tour in a given season. The Atlanta weather forecast shows possibility for storms in the first couple practice round days before hopefully giving way to clear skies. Temperatures will be in the 60s-80s with a little humidity mixed in and light wind.
The Format
This is the third straight year the PGA Tour has implemented a staggered net score leaderboard to determine the Tour Championship and, also as a result, the final FedEx Cup standings.
The net leaderboard is determined from the FedEx Cup standings after last week’s BMW Championship, the second of three FedEx Cup Playoffs events.
Here is how the field will begin on Thursday.
Despite missing The Northern Trust and BMW Championship due to an ankle injury coupled with bilateral pneumonia, Patrick Reed still qualified for the Tour Championship as the 30th man. He is not expected to return to action and his spot in the field will not be replaced if he or any other player ultimately can’t tee it up.
Below is the starting position for each player. Continue on to the following slides for top 10 power rankings to hoist the FedEx Cup trophy.
1st) Patrick Cantlay, -10
2nd) Tony Finau, -8
3rd) Bryson DeChambeau, -7
4th) Jon Rahm, -6
5th) Cameron Smith, -5
6th) Justin Thomas, -4
7th) Harris English, -4
8th) Abraham Ancer, -4
9th) Jordan Spieth, -4
10th) Sam Burns, -4
11th) Collin Morikawa, -3
12th) Sungjae Im, -3
13th) Viktor Hovland, -3
14th) Louis Oosthuizen, -3
15th) Dustin Johnson, -3
16th) Rory McIlroy, -3
17th) Xander Schauffele, -2
18th) Jason Kokrak, -2
19th) Kevin Na, -2
20th) Brooks Koepka, -2
21st) Corey Conners, -2
22nd) Hideki Matsuyama, -2
23rd) Stewart Cink, -1
24th) Joaquin Niemann, -1
25th) Scottie Scheffler, -1
26nd) Daniel Berger, E
27th) Erik Van Rooyen, E
28th) Sergio Garcia, E
29th) Billy Horschel, E
30th) Patrick Reed, E