With two playoffs events in the books, the PGA Tour will land in East Lake this week for the season-ending Tour Championship to conclude the race for the FedEx Cup.
The leaderboard, at least on Thursday, will look a bit strange.
The Tour Championship uses a staggered start on the leaderboard, which will give top-ranked Scottie Scheffler a significant advantage in Atlanta. Scheffler, who has won six times on Tour this season, will start the week at 10-under par.
“I’m trying not to treat it any differently. Like I said, the starting strokes format is a bit different. It’s not a traditional golf tournament,” Scheffler said Tuesday.
“But at the end of the day, the format is what it is. I’m going to try to approach it the same way I approach other tournaments, and that’s stepping up on the first tee and doing my best to execute, just like I would at the Masters, at the RBC Heritage, at Palm Springs. Every tournament I am stepping up on the first tee seeing my shot and trying to hit that shot, and then going from there.”
Xander Schauffele, who finished in second in the standings, will start at 8-under on the week. Hideki Matsuyama will start at 7-under, and Keegan Bradley — who held on to win at the BMW Championship on Sunday to earn a spot in the field at East Lake — will start at 6-under. That system works down until the final five players in the 30-man field, who will start at even par.
From there, whoever wins the tournament will win the FedEx Cup. That comes with a $25 million bonus and a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour.
Here’s a look at the starting leaderboard and initial tee times for the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Tour Championship starting positions
1. Scottie Scheffler -10
2. Xander Schauffele -8
3. Hideki Matsuyama -7
4. Keegan Bradley -6
5. Ludvig Åberg -5
6. Rory McIlroy -4
7. Collin Morikawa
8. Wyndham Clark
9. Sam Burns
10. Patrick Cantlay
11. Sungjae Im -3
12. Sahith Theegala
13. Shane Lowry
14. Adam Scott
15. Tony Finau
16. Ben An -2
17. Viktor Hovland
18. Russell Henley
19. Akshay Bhatia
20. Robert MacIntyre
21. Billy Horschel -1
22. Tommy Fleetwood
23. Sepp Straka
24.Matthieu Pavon
25. Taylor Pendrith
26. Chris Kirk E
27. Tom Hoge
28. Aaron Rai
29. Christiaan Bezuidenhout
30. Justin Thomas
Tour Championship Round 1 Tee Times
All times ET
11:16 a.m. — Christiaan Bezuitenhout, Justin Thomas
11:27 a.m. — Tom Hoge, Aaron Rai
11:38 a.m. — Taylor Pendrith, Chris Kirk
11:49 a.m. — Sepp Straka, Matthieu Pavon
12:00 p.m. — Billy Horschel, Tommy Fleetwood
12:16 p.m. — Akshay Bhatia, Robert MacIntyre
12:27 p.m. — Viktor Hovland, Russell Henley
12:38 p.m. — Tony Finau, Ben An
12:49 p.m. — Shane Lowry, Adam Scott
1:00 p.m. — Sungjae Im, Sahith Theegala
1:16 p.m. — Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay
1:27 p.m. — Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark
1:38 p.m. — Ludvig Åberg, Rory McIlroy
1:49 p.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Keegan Bradley
2:00 p.m. — Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele
