2014 Tour Championship Discussion Thread

[mvmac]

The 2013-14 PGA TOUR season is about to wrap. Normally the top 30 players on the Fed Ex Cup list make up the field at the Tour Championship but this week it will be 29 since Dustin Johnson qualified in the last spot but will not be playing due to a leave of absence. Chris Kirk is atop the FedEx Cup standings, with Billy Horschel, Bubba Watson, Rory McIlroy and Hunter Mahan all within 1,000 points.

This week's event is worth 2,500 points, meaning players can jump drastically in the standings with a victory. Last year, Henrik Stenson won the Tour Championship by three shots over Jordan Spieth and Steve Stricker, which also gave him the FedEx Cup title and the $10 million prize.

Here are the rankings for the 29 players in the field (No. 30 Dustin Johnson has taken a leave of absence and will not play).

http://www.pgatour.com/power-rankings/2014/09/08/tour-championship-by-coca-cola.html

POWER RANKINGS: TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP BY COCA-COLA

RANK		PLAYER	COMMENT
1 Rory McIlroy Despite two four-putts, a T8 at the BMW was his 11th top 10 of the season. Tied for 10th in his only previous start at East Lake in 2012.
2 Jim Furyk Last victory anywhere occurred at East Lake in 2010 when he won the FedExCup. T4 at the BMW was his fifth top 10 in his last seven starts.
3 Rickie Fowler His T4 at the BMW is his seventh top 10 in last eight starts. During stretch, he's risen over 100 spots to T42 in strokes gained-putting.
4 Billy Horschel Epitome of how confidence and good putting feed each other. Brushed off T2 at TPC Boston with win at the BMW. T7 in debut here last year.
5 Jordan Spieth Ended a relative slump with a T8 at Cherry Hills where he shared the 18-hole lead. Co-runner-up in his first start at East Lake last year.
6 Bubba Watson Rode three straight 66s at Cherry Hills to a solo second. Led field in strokes gained: tee-to-green. T5 in last trip to East Lake in 2012.
7 Bill Haas Victorious in first look at East Lake in 2011 and won FedExCup. No worse than T16 (BMW) in last four starts; red numbers in 15 of last 16.
8 Justin Rose Steady of late, but not scoring relative to the field. Solo second (2012) and solo sixth (2013) in his last two appearances at East Lake.
9 Adam Scott Won at East Lake in 2006, but has just one top 10 in four tries on the new greens. No worse than a T16 (Deutsche Bank) in last nine starts.
10 Sergio Garcia A snowman on the penultimate hole at Cherry Hills was untimely, but the third-round 72 wasted his 36-hole lead. T9 here last year.
11 Ryan Palmer A T74/MDF at The Barclays is the anomaly. Two top fives and a T16 in his other three most recent starts. Led BMW in par-4 scoring.
12 Martin Kaymer Making his TOUR Championship debut. Backed up a T7 at TPC Boston with a T16 at Cherry Hills where he ranked T2 in greens in regulation.
13 Geoff Ogilvy Joins fellow Aussie John Senden as only two to advance to finale after starting outside top 30. Ogilvy has top 20s in all five starts here.
14 Jimmy Walker After leading FedExCup standings for most of the season, arrives sixth in points for his debut at East Lake. T9 and T20 in last two starts.
15 Zach Johnson Record at East Lake includes course-record 60 in 2007 (pre-Bermudagrass) and a T7 last year. No top 15s in last six starts entering, though.
16 Webb Simpson Tied for fifth at East Lake in 2012 and finished fourth in 2013. Shares unofficial course record on the new greens (63, 2013 finale).
17 Morgan Hoffmann Debut. Started each of first three events outside the bubble. Closed out solo third at BMW in 62-63=125, good for the season low on TOUR.
18 Gary Woodland Steady Playoffs so far with T13, T29 and T23, respectively. Second consecutive season in which he's advance after starting outside top 30.
19 Hunter Mahan Since winning The Barclays, he was chosen for the Ryder Cup team, but finished a respective 64th and T59 in his last two starts.
20 Matt Kuchar Co-leads the TOUR with 11 top 10s, but placed T29 and T46 since his caddie's wife died. Three of four results at East Lake are T20 or worse.
21 Hideki Matsuyama Hung onto a spot in the field thanks to a T20 at Cherry Hills where he ranked fourth in proximity. No top 10s since winning the Memorial.
22 John Senden East Lake slate is uninspiring, but he posted top 25s in each of the first three Playoffs events; capped all with a red number.
23 Chris Kirk First appearance in the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. The Deutsche Bank champ has only one other top 25 in his last nine starts.
24 Jason Day After opening the Playoffs as the only golfer with top 10s in the first two events, he's now coming off a back injury at Cherry Hills.
25 Cameron Tringale First appearance. Sandwiched a T2 at The Barclays and 68s on the weekend at the BMW with six consecutive rounds or par or worse.
26 Russell Henley East Lake debut. Occasionally dangerous. The University of Georgia Bulldog's T2 at TPC Boston is his only top 25 in his last 11 starts.
27 Patrick Reed Debut appearance at East Lake. Followed a third-round 82 at TPC Boston with an opening 77 at Cherry Hills. Recovered with a 67 on Sunday.
28 Brendon Todd The University of Georgia product has struggled in his last six starts, all on sites he's never played competitively. East Lake is another.
29 Kevin Na Stumbled at TPC Boston, where he missed the cut, and settled for T46 at Cherry Hills. T17 in last visit to East Lake in 2010.

[jacketlinks]

A good read on the story of East Lake Golf Club and Bobby Jones's significance to its history.

http://sportingatl.com/2014/09/11/the-story-of-east-lake-golf-club/

[Chilli Dipper]

This marks eight consecutive years of me saying I'm going to buy tickets for the Tour Championship, then never doing it. This year's excuse: I thought the tournament was next week, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to take a day off work then. I did catch a glimpse of an official BMW 7-Series leaving the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Atlanta on my lunch break yesterday. Who is sponsored by TaylorMade, has a blonde girlfriend, and a caddie who is tall and kind of pudgy?

[rehmwa]

Hideki with Eagle on 9

general coverage instead of group following today:

http://pgatour.cbssports.com/live/

[Crim]

Those American Ryder Cup captain's picks.....

[rehmwa]

6 at -3 so far......

getting close to the end

tomorrow they start early to try and get ahead of the weather

[joekelly]

Dustin Johnson, not in field, but 30th in points and eligible to play, is getting rich Coca-Cola payday based on his past performance only  This field is no-cut and all get good payout so even first hole tee shot then WD is enough for $100K, estimated. DJ not listed on Leaderboard after round one.

But here it is claimed that DJ is also getting payout because of 'voluntary illness'. Also, and this story, if true, points to some kind of collusion between parties to avoid public scrutiny and obfuscate the truth.   Not nice. Here's the story and the link..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/golf/11084640/Phil-Mickelson-was-wrong-to-walk-out-in-protest-at-BMW-Championship-hes-not-being-asked-to-wrestle-crocodiles.html

Dustin Johnson is still on his “voluntary” “leave of absence” as he battles “his personal problems”.

Perhaps it is the sympathy for his plight which has persuaded the PGA Tour not to scratch him from the FedEx Cup and so not remove him from 30th place in the list, despite the American not appearing in a single play-off event

Perhaps it is blessed humanity on the PGA Tour’s behalf which has kept his name in the Tour Championship field and so ensured that he will earn more than £100,000 regardless.

In fact, what else could it be but generosity of spirit?

Surely it couldn't be true that Johnson is not in Atlanta because the Tour would not let him be in Atlanta …

Surely it couldn’t be true that the PGA Tour have not struck his name from the FedEx Cup because if they did it would effectively be an admission that Johnson has fallen foul of a rule, or a test, or suchlike and that if he had not “voluntarily” taken that “leave of absence” they would have been forced to ensure he did so “involuntarily”.

It couldn’t be, could it?

[iacas]

He's earning $$$ for the FedExCup, not the Tour Championship. He earned 30th place in the FEC, did he not?

[joekelly]

Whoa.  You got me.

JD is not playing this week.  He's getting money.  Perhaps the convoluted system in place allows this.  If you say it's 'all square', then that's it.

Someone should tell Corrigan, the Telegraph correspondent.

[iacas]

JD is not playing this week.  He's getting money.  Perhaps the convoluted system in place allows this.  If you say it's 'all square', then that's it.

Point remains: he earned enough points in the time he did play to get 30th in the FEC. Phil, for example, did not, and is not getting paid for finishing 30th in the FEC.

That's all I said… Why should he be stripped of that, too? He earned that, despite having not played lately. If you think being on a suspension "voluntary absence" should negate that, argue it. Don't be snarky about it. Discuss. Contribute. Act like an adult.

[Pretzel]

Billy Horschel got off to a good start yesterday, I think it'd be nice to see him win this tournament and the whole shebang. He hasn't won anything large (besides the BMW he only won the Zurich Classic in 2013) but it would be a fitting way to cap off a season that started with a bunch of unknowns winning. While he's not exactly unknown, he isn't the huge figure that you might expect to win.

[DeadMan]

Rory just hit it in a guy's pocket. He sprayed it right, and it apparently it came straight down from hitting some tree branches into the shorts' pocket of a guy who was trying to get away.

Never seen that before. Rory was cracking up about it, too. Got a free drop obviously, hit the green, and made a par.

[Zeph]

The leaderboard looks like the leaderboard of majors recently. Rory, Rickie, Jason, Justin, Palmer.

[joekelly]

I'm on Rickie.  Cool mustache combined with sweet cap makes a statement with chic panache.

And, in fact, i admire  his swing.

[Hammer 4]

Gooooooooooooo  Billy..

Hope Rickie moves up the leader board.

[DeadMan]

Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but man it would be nice to have Billy on the Ryder Cup team. He's so hot, and he has that type of killer attitude that I think would be great in the Ryder Cup. His attitude could back fire on him, but I'd much rather have that fire over Furyk's ho hum attitude, for example.

[Mr. Desmond]

Ascending Rors, Descending Billy... meet in the middle

[David in FL]

Ascending Rors, Descending Billy... meet in the middle

Hope Billy can hang in there tomorrow. Should be fun to watch! Either of them wins, it's worth $11.4 million. I could live on that for awhile...... :-D