East Lake - FedEx Cup Finals
Course Preview, Skill Sets Required, Best Outsiders & Best Outright Picks
Thanks for all the support over 2021 - This will be the last preview of the season.
Please share this preview - let’s see if we can sign off a great year with outright winner number 8. No favourites and obvious picks coming your way this week we are sticking to our guns and looking to find those hidden gems.
East Lake - FedEx Cup Finals
East Lake Golf Course is a private golf club in Atlanta, Georgia, roughly 5 miles east of downtown. East Lake Golf Course, which opened in 1904, is Atlanta's oldest golf course. East Lake Golf Club was the home course of golfer Bobby Jones, and much of the clubhouse is an homage to his achievements.
The Tour Championship, the last tournament of the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup, has been held at East Lake since 2004. The course hosted the Tour Championship for the first time in 1998. There are 74 sand bunkers on the course, and water comes into play on four of the holes, the course is demanding for even the worlds best players and before the staggered start came into play the winning score would be circa -10 under par for the week. Tight fairways demanding pins, and hard to hit greens means players really do have their work cut out this week.
The signature hole at East Lake is the Par 3, 15th at 211 yards, but a downhill tee shot shortens some of the distance into a peninsula green surrounded by water to the front, right and left.
Let’s breakdown how the course could play this week and the key skill sets required to lift that trophy come Sunday evening.
The Leaderboard To Start
For those new to the FedEx playoffs remember the players start on different scores so pay attention to the below if making outright picks for the FedEx cup.
This list of the top 30 players and their position in the field this week;
Patrick Cantlay (-10)
Tony Finau (-8)
Bryson DeChambeau (-7)
Jon Rahm (-6)
Cameron Smith (-5)
Justin Thomas (-4)
Harris English (-4)
Abraham Ancer (-4)
Jordan Spieth (-4)
Sam Burns (-4)
Collin Morikawa (-3)
Sunjae Im (-3)
Viktor Hovland (-3)
Louis Oosthuizen (-3)
Dustin Johnson (-3)
Rory McIlroy (-2)
Xander Schauffele (-22)
Jason Kokrak (-2)
Kevin Na (-2)
Brooks Koepka (-2)
Corey Connors (-1)
Hideki Matsuyama (-1)
Stewart Cink (-1)
Joaquin Niemann (-1)
Scottie Scheffler (-1)
Daniel Berger (E)
Erik van Rooyen (E)
Sergio Garcia (E)
Billy Horschel (E)
Patrick Reed (E) - Unlikely to play due to illness
Course & Tournament Overview
Course: East Lake Golf Club
Location: Atlanta, GA
Date: Sept. 2-5, 2021
Par: 70 / Yardage 7,346
Prize: $60 million (FedExCup Bonus) / Winner $15 Million
Fairways/Rough: Zoysiagrass / Bermudagrass
Greens: Bermudagrass (MiniVerde Ultra Dwarf)
5 Key Skill Sets Required
East Lake is a classic tree-lined course that favours shotmakers, golfers who are precise with their irons, and golfers who strike the ball hard. Accuracy and hitting fairways are valuable assets, and players with powerful strokes and tee-to-green metrics should be considered.
East Lake's fairways are among the tightest on the tour in terms of average width. The lies in the fairways and rough are frequently uneven, and players only hit about half of the greens when they miss a fairway so despite the demanding length accuracy of the tee really is important, the cream tends to rose to the top of the leaderboard come money time on Sunday’s at East Lake.
SG T2G - East lake is a proper test of golf and we won’t be seeing scores like we did last week. Winners here need to hit fairways, hit it close on approach and therefore we start in an obvious but necessary place with total SG T2G.
SG GIR - Miss fairways here at East Lake, and then you're struggling to hit greens for sure so I want players who are hitting plenty of GIR going into the week.
SG Approach Play - Most weeks on tour demand elite level iron play and this week is no different. Plenty of long challenging approach shot face the players this week and this course puts a premium on approach play for sure.
Par 4 Scoring 450- 500 Yards - With 5 demanding par 4 holes coming in at 450+ on the tape, I’m looking for players comfortable eating this up.
SG putting - Putting will be a factor this week.
Horses for courses
Cantley and BDC have suspect form at East Lake, only a small sample size admittedly but nevertheless intriguing 🧐 that they underperformed previously.
Best Outsider Picks Without handicap start
1.🥇Viktor Hovland 28/1 Hills 5 places 🇬🇧 25/1 BetMGM 🇺🇸
If we were working on a level start this week Hovland would be my number 1 pick
This course put less emphasis on shirt game, which is his weakness, although it is getting better year on year
3rd SG T2G the last 24 rounds
3rd SG Approach play in his last 24 rounds
7th in fairways found over his past 24 rounds and he is not a short hitter either
2.🥈Jason Kokrak 40/1 Hills 5 places 🇬🇧 40/1 BetMGM 🇺🇸
2nd SG Approach play in the last 24 rounds
4th Birdies made last 24 rounds
4th SG T2G over the last 24 rounds
1st in Proximity from 175yards + over the last 24 rounds
Iron play is really dialled in right now gaining strokes on approach and proximity stats, both important factors ahead of this weeks test.
💷💶💵 Outright Picks 💵💶💷
I have one selection for the main Tour Championship prize this week.
To get a glimpse in more detail you will have to tune into the YouTube video link below. It’s 10 minutes long and will provide solid reasoning behind each of this week’s picks. Tune in 📺⬇️🙏👇🎦
No recap at the end of this week episode, so you will have to tune in for the full episode to get all those ginger nuggets!!
Don’t forget to hit that 👍 button on the YouTube video all your support is needed so please do hit the like and leave a comment or 2.
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