{"id":12317,"date":"2024-08-26T04:06:15","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T04:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/?post_type=article&#038;p=12317"},"modified":"2024-08-26T04:06:15","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T04:06:15","slug":"2024-tour-championship-at-east-lake-golf-club-preview","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/article\/2024-tour-championship-at-east-lake-golf-club-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club &#8211; Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The PGA Tour&#8217;s 2024 season will conclude at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia with the finale of the FedExCup Playoffs. The top 30 golfers in the FedExCup standings will compete for a $25 million winning prize with players guaranteed at least $550,000 just for making it to the Tour Championship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The oldest golf course in the city of Atlanta, East Lake is an urban track that was the home course of the legendary golfer Bobby Jones. Over the past year, it has undergone a complete restoration under the guidance of noted architect, Andrew Green. Even with substantial changes that emphasize it&#8217;s classical characteristics, East Lake remains a lush parkland layout with narrow fairways, difficult Bermuda rough, uneven lies, and fast greens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because of the nature of numerous holes, it is known as a &#8220;risk\/reward&#8221; type of course, and is one of the more difficult ones on Tour with birdies typically tough to come by. It has been the permanent home of the Tour Championship since 2004, and it has been held at East Lake 22 times since 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The key to performing well at East Lake remains the same: Keep the ball out of the penal Bermuda rough. There also might be an added edge towards quality &#8220;around the green&#8221; golfers as the shots into and around the green will offer more variety with the expanded hole locations, as well as more options for recovery with added short-grass areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"678\" height=\"688\" src=\"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-25-220035.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-25-220035.jpg 678w, https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-25-220035-296x300.jpg 296w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike every other Tour event where all players start on a level playing field at even par, this week&#8217;s field will begin with staggered scores based on their position in the FedExCup points ranking list. Despite the scorn of most golf fans who despise the staggered start, this will be the sixth consecutive year of utilizing the &#8220;Starting Strokes&#8221; format which sees players start between 10-under and even par depending on their ranking. Starting with the first round on Thursday, Scottie Scheffler will start with a two-stroke lead over Xander Schauffele, down to as much as a 10-stroke lead over those in positions 26-30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Certain players this week like Justin Thomas and Tom Hoge who are starting ten shots behind have no realistic chance of overtaking anyone near the top of the board. This limits the excitement and drama of this final event and typically makes it one of the more unwatchable golf tournaments of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">East Lake Golf Club \u2013 Course History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>East Lake&#8217;s proud history began well before it started hosting the PGA Tour Championship. With Burton Smith at the helm, a group of 65 men formed the Atlanta Athletic Club in 1898. The club initially did not have a golf course, but four years after it was founded, it had more than 700 members. The club leaders soon realized the increased interest in golf, and in 1904, acquired some property in the \u201csuburbs\u201d of Atlanta to create a country club. They approached architect Tom Bendelow to lay out the course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The grand opening of the Bendelow course took place on July 4, 1908, on the property known as East Lake. The course, a sparkling stretch of water surrounded by forestland, was originally the site of an amusement park in the 1890s. In 1913, famed golf course architect Donald Ross redesigned the Bendelow course at East Lake. The remodeled course featured a routing plan that allowed each of the nine holes to conclude at the clubhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container\" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"East Lake Golf Club: The Course That Saved A City\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xJpjY_R020M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the Ross rebuild, the course remained untouched until some changes were made before the 1963 Ryder Cup. Not long after the United States team destroyed Europe in that event, the neighborhood surrounding East Lake began to deteriorate and the course fell into disarray and was mostly forgotten. Fast forward to 1993 when the property was purchased by the East Lake Foundation and the job began to restore the course as a tribute to Bobby Jones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1994, famed architect Rees Jones completed a restoration of Donald Ross&#8217;s original layout. Rees would go on to renovate the course again in 2008 and 2016. It has been the permanent home of the Tour Championship since 2004 and is the culminating event of the PGA Tour playoffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2023-2024 Renovation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As East Lake approaches its 120th year, architect Andrew Green was brought in to do a complete restoration of the course. The goal was to recapture the feel of the golden age of East Lake and to return the course back to a version that better embodied the design Donald Ross left behind. Since the final putt in last year&#8217;s TOUR Championship, not a single round of golf has been played here. The course has been remade from the roots up &#8211; along with removing hundreds of trees, every square inch of turf has been replaced, and every green has been redesigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the 30 golfers arrive on site, East Lake will look completely different for those who have played it previously. \u201cNothing is the same, not a single golf shot on the property,\u201d said Green. After doing a deep dive into the history of the course, Green relied on a rare aerial photo from 1949 as his blueprint. How the changes will affect scoring will be determined this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container\" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Drone Footage | Famous East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta Under Major Renovation\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Bi-IfupfX-w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Greens are now planted with TifEagle bermuda (replacing Mini-Verde) and sit lower and are larger. They also feature expanded perimeter options for new hole locations. In addition to refurbished bunkers and greens, Green recontoured the fairways to create more movement and slide. In dry conditions, they\u2019ll run faster with the switch to Zorro Zoysia. Tees have also been adjusted to emphasize more shot shaping. The yardage has increased to 7,455 yards (from 7,346), and the par is now 71 versus 70 because the downhill 14th will be played as a par 5<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t have a real sense whether there will be lower or higher numbers shot,\u201d Green said. \u201cI will feel it\u2019s a success if we see a variety of shots played by the champion,\u201d he said. \u201cNot only different clubs off the tees, but around the greens being able to get up and down from not only the traditional heavy Bermuda grass rough but also the (new) short grass areas. The bunkers aren\u2019t nearly as deep as they were before but I still think there is a lot of challenge there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container\" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"EAST LAKE GOLF CLUB HISTORICAL RESTORATION\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3ZXylydIQPQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Course Features<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"762\" height=\"418\" src=\"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-25-035541-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-25-035541-1.jpg 762w, https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-25-035541-1-300x165.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 762px) 100vw, 762px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2024 TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club &#8211; Preview<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":12320,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"bs_types":[14,15],"bs_tags":[29,73,129],"class_list":["post-12317","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","bs_type-betting","bs_type-fantasy","bs_tag-golf-betting","bs_tag-golf-dfs","bs_tag-tour-championship"],"acf":false,"featured_image":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/gettyimages-1639272999-612x612-1.jpg","tags_list":[{"id":29,"name":"Golf Betting","slug":"golf-betting"},{"id":73,"name":"Golf DFS","slug":"golf-dfs"},{"id":129,"name":"Tour Championship","slug":"tour-championship"}],"types_list":[{"id":14,"name":"Betting"},{"id":15,"name":"Fantasy"}],"bs_author":{"name":"Ron Klos","profile_image":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Ron-Klos-150x150.jpg"},"bs_term_name":null,"is_paid":"true","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/12317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"bs_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bs_types?post=12317"},{"taxonomy":"bs_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bs_tags?post=12317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}