Tour Championship First Click: New-look East Lake, staggered scoring and more

It all comes down to this. 

The 2024 PGA Tour season's final event, the Tour Championship, begins Thursday at East Lake Golf Club. 

The first two playoff events were showstoppers, drastically shaking up the complexion of the top 30 players on the PGA Tour. 

There’s no better example than Keegan Bradley. 

When Bradley finished his St. Jude Championship he was 51st on points, and it appeared that he would miss the BMW Championship by one spot in the FedEx Cup standings. 

However, Tom Kim played his final three holes at five-over, lifting Keegan into the 50th spot and dropping Kim to 51. 

Bradley would make good on being the last man into the BMW Championship, winning the tournament and jumping into the No. 4 seed ahead of the year's final event. 

Suddenly, after just two top-10 finishes all year he’s right next to Scottie Scheffler (six wins), Xander Schauffele (two majors) and Hideki Matsuyama (two wins) in points. 

Things are going to look at little different this week on multiple levels, so let’s go over some of the bigger storylines you should have an eye on early in the week, and stick around at the end for my first click of the event. 

Let’s finish on a high note. 

A new-look East Lake

Take everything you know about East Lake Golf Club and throw it out the window. 

At least, that’s what I’ve been led to believe, hearing people discuss the new renovations on the property. 

Following the end of last year’s Tour Championship, renowned course designer Andrew Green was tasked with leading a renovation to “preserve the rich heritage while incorporating modern enhancements” of the classic Donald Ross design. 

While it seems the course will stay at its normal length and will still have its regular routing, those seem to be the only two things that are the same. 

An article written by “staff” was posted to the website tourchampionship.com in late July. Here is one of the more notable parts:

“The most notable changes to the course are reflected in the topography, greens and bunkers. Fairways have been converted from Meyer Zoysia to Zorro Zoysia, which plays firmer and will lead to increased roll which allows for the topography to play a greater role in the strategy of each hole. “We really wanted to try to get the player to feel like they’re playing more over the natural ground. And that meant that we shaped or reshaped fairways to be more natural,” said Green.”

In addition to reshaping fairways and conditions to make the course play firm and fast, the renovation also saw the addition of a number of fairway bunkers. From the same article:

“Fairway bunkers have been layered at various distances from the teeing areas, requiring players to be more accurate off the tee, both in line of play and distance of shot.”

It’ll be very interesting this week to hear the players' thoughts on the course as they arrive and play practice rounds. It is definitely a week to listen to some press conferences. 

Staggered scoring

The Tour Championship will once again feature a staggered scoring system this year. 

The FedEx Cup leader, Scheffler, will start the week at 10-under par with a two-shot lead over Schauffele in second. 

The No. 3 seed Matsuyama will start at seven-under, with Bradley at six-under and Ludvig Aberg at five-under. 

Below is the full list:

The Tour Championship changed its format in 2019. Since then, the week's winner has either been a top-two seed or Rory McIlroy. 

FIRST CLICK 

It’s the final first clicks column of the year, and we’re still in the black from the Xander Schauffele 31-1 first-round leader winner at the PGA Championship. So, I’m taking another swing this week.

With Scheffler and Schauffele getting a head start it’s going to take a special week from a special player to take them down. 

Which is why I have landed on Ludvig Aberg to win this year’s Tour Championship at 20-1. 

The 24-year-old has looked like the No. 1 player in the world at times this year but hasn’t been able to get a win over the finish line. 

With the new renovations at East Lake, I think the playing field is a bit more level for someone with no experience like Aberg. 

While Scheffler and Schauffele adjust to their new environment, Aberg will be in his normal process. 

I can’t forget that Aberg almost won the Masters in April, the ultimate place where course history matters. If he could contend there in his debut, he can do it anywhere. 

The renovations to the course really seem to stress driving and accuracy. Aberg ranks second in this field in total driving (last 36 rounds), and according to RickRunGood.com, he is fifth in the field on “hard” courses. 

My final pitch will be a game of Super Stat or Meaningless Number: 

Aberg has played three PGA Tour events on a Donald Ross design. He has gained over five strokes off the tee in all three. 

It’s time for the kid to get his crown. I’m sure the $20 million he would win wouldn’t be too bad, either.