2022 Tour Championship: Top 10 power rankings at East Lake

Xander Schauffele made it look easy in his East Lake debut. He couldn’t gain enough ground to win the whole FedEx Cup Playoffs enchilada in 2017 (69-66-65-68), but a Tour Championship win was a nice cherry on top for a Rookie of the Year season.

The Californian’s gone on to finish T-7th (68-70-68-69) in 2018, second in 2019, T-2nd in 2020 (64-69-67-70), and T-5th in 2021 (68-69-67-64).

“East Lake’s been very kind to me,” Schauffele was transcribed by ASAP Sports in 2021. “I’ve played a lot of good rounds here and it always is a nice feeling being on property.”

Schauffele gives himself a solid chance at grabbing the PGA Tour’s grand prize.

His playoff run includes T-57th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and T-3rd and title contention last week at the BMW Championship.

The former San Diego State Aztec ranked ninth in the field in Delaware in strokes gained tee to green (6.508) and was particularly strong off the tee and on approach.

Schauffele posted some nice finishes early in the 2021-22 PGA Tour season.

He’s really come on strong in the spring and summer.

It started in April with a win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans alongside last week’s winner, Patrick Cantlay.

Schauffele then went back-to-back in June and July at the Travelers Championship and Genesis Scottish Open. He also took T-15th at The Open Championship and has made eight cuts in a row. Obviously, there’s no cut to worry about this week, but Schauffele still brings at least his ‘B’ or ‘C’ game almost every week.

On the season, the 28-year-old ranks sixth in total SG per round (1.709). He’s top-40 in every SG stat and has no weaknesses throughout the bag.

Schauffele will likely have to play aggressively to catch up to the leaders. He’s ninth on the PGA Tour in birdies per round (4.32).

I envision the king of the limited field events playing well at one yet again and improving his FedEx Cup standing by week’s end.