Week 37 Approach Shots: THE TOUR Championship
By PGATOUR.COM Staff
The PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup end this week at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. Tiger Woods enters the final Playoff event as the No. 1 seed. Each of the first five seeds going into THE TOUR Championship besides Woods (Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson and Heath Slocum) will control whether or not he will win the FedExCup. If any of those five seeds wins at East Lake Golf Club, he will win the FedExCup title. Meanwhile, seeds six through 10 still have an excellent chance of capturing the FedExCup with a victory in Atlanta and various lower finishes.
| Quick Facts | |||||||||||
|
THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola will have a new champion in 2009 as 2008 winner Camilo Villegas didn't qualify for the event he won in a playoff over Sergio Garcia. Thirty players arrive at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club this week, all with a chance to win the FedExCup and the $10-million first prize. Woods, the world's No. 1-ranked player, is a two-time winner of this event, in both 1999 and 2007. Woods didn't play a year ago while recovering from knee surgery.
UPWARD MOVERS: In the first three Playoff events, seven players moved from outside to inside the top 30 to qualify for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. They are (with their position jumps in parentheses): Slocum (119), Marc Leishman (62), Padraig Harrington (60), Scott Verplank (53), Jason Dufner (32), Ernie Els (25) and John Senden (1).
MAJOR CHAMPIONS: This week's field boasts 14 major championship winners, the winners of 35 overall titles. Included in that group are the four major champions from this year: Angel Cabrera (Masters), Lucas Glover (U.S. Open), Stewart Cink (British Open) and Y.E. Yang (PGA Championship).
FIRST TIMERS: There are 10 players making their TOUR Championship debut in 2009. They are Cabrera, Dufner, Brian Gay, Dustin Johnson, Leishman, Steve Marino, Kevin Na, Senden, Nick Watney and Yang. Also, there are four past TOUR Championship winners playing this week. Woods won in 1999 and 2007, Phil Mickelson won in 2000, Mike Weir in 2001 and Retief Goosen in 2004.
COURSE NOTES: In addition to hosting the 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 TOUR Championships, East Lake Golf Club hosted the 1963 Ryder Cup matches and the 101st U.S. Amateur in 2001.
The other venues to host this event, which made its debut in 1987, are Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, TX (1987), Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, CA (1988), Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, SC (1989), Champions Golf Club in Houston, TX (1990, 2001 and 2003), Pinehurst Resort's No. 2 Course in Pinehurst, NC (1991 and 1992), The Olympic Club's Lake Course in San Francisco, CA (1993 and 1994) and Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, OK (1995 and 1996).
INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS: The last two playoffs at this event have both been won by players who will play next month for the International Team at The Presidents Cup. In 2001, Weir outlasted Els, Garcia and David Toms at Champions Golf Club in Houston. A year ago, Villegas won a one-hole playoff, with Garcia again coming up short.
An international player didn't win this event in the first 14 editions. Weir finally broke through, winning the 2001 title. Since then, Vijay Singh (Fiji), Goosen (South Africa), Adam Scott (Australia) and Villegas (Colombia) have won.
ON-COURSE OBSERVATIONS: PGA TOUR Network correspondent Fred Albers is on the scene at East Lake for this week's satellite radio coverage (XM 146/SIRIUS 209). Reports Albers:
Steve Stricker comes into THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola refreshed and renewed following a week off. The Wisconsin native was visibly tired during the BMW Championship, but after spending a week in his Madison home with his family, he is energized and excited for this week.
Phil Mickelson spent Wednesday's practice round walking with his instructor, Butch Harmon. With Phil's wife and mother battling cancer, this has been an extremely difficult year for him; however he was all smiles and upbeat during Wednesday's play, saying he spent the off week working on his putting and that he thinks he has resolved some issues.
East Lake Golf Club took more than a foot of rain over the weekend, and several portions of the golf course were under water. However, the sun is now out, the fairways have dried, and the golf course is playing very well. In fact, several players have commented that the greens are even firm despite all the rain --- an obvious tribute to the SubAir system East Lake installed during the course redesign two years ago.
| Weather forecast for THE TOUR Championship | ||||||||
|
| THE TOUR Championship snippets | ||||||||
|
| In the spotlight | ||
| This week: Tiger Woods | ||
|
| A victory this week earns you ... | |||
|
Shop your favorite brand name golf equipment and accessories at SHOP.PGATOUR.COM
FANTASY GOLF
PGATOUR.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network