PGA DFS: 2022 Tour Championship Coverage
PGA DFS Coverage for the Tour Championship
It was another thrilling week during the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The Wilmington Country Club made quite an impression on the PGA Tour this week. It provided a tough but fair course for the best to compete. Patrick Cantlay successfully defended his 2021 BMW Championship holding off his best friend Xander Schauffele, number one in the world Scottie Scheffler, and tour journeyman Scott Stalling to take the championship. He put himself in prime position to win his second straight FedEx Cup Title this weekend at the Tour Championship.
The PGA Tour ventures to Atlanta, Georgia for the Tour Championship. East Lake Golf Club was the home course of famed golfer, Bobby Jones. It was established in the early 1900s and has been the permanent venue of the Tour Championship since 2004. The winner of this weekend’s tournament will take home the $18 million-dollar grand prize.
The Field: Tour Championship
The FedEx Cup Playoffs conclude this week with a field of just 30 players teeing it up just outside Atlanta, Georgia. This stellar field will compete for prize money between $18 million dollars and half a million dollars. Scott Stallings made the largest jump into this field from 47th heading into the BMW to 12th this weekend. That big of a jump will also give him an added advantage with this unique format. The higher a player finished in the FedEx Cup standings, the lower starting score you have at the beginning of this event. Scottie Scheffler will start with a lead of 10 under, Patrick Cantlay at eight under, Will Zalatoris at seven under and on down the line.
The Course: East Lake Golf Club
East Lake was established in 1904 and known as the home of Bobby Jones. The course will play as a Par 70 that measures out at 7,346 yards. We’ve seen two courses this year on the PGA Tour schedule that have similar layouts, Sedgefield (Wyndham) and Detroit Country Club (Rocket Mortgage). This course will demand a player to use every club in his bag to win. Before the crazy scoring changes, the average winning score was 10.75 under par. We could see lower scores than usual with the extreme heat in Atlanta may have softened the course a bit. When you look at the stats which have correlated to success at East Lake, the ones I’ll focus on this week are Fairways Hit, Strokes Gained: Approach, Greens in Regulation, Strokes Gained: Around the Green, Sand Saves, and Par 4 Efficiency 450-500. Bogey avoidance will be key as well as we’ve got six water hazards and over 70 bunkers. Keep the ball on as many fairways and greens as possible.
The Weather: Atlanta, Georgia
This could be a wet and wild weekend in Atlanta, Georgia this weekend. We’ve got thunderstorms in the forecast throughout the week. Scattered throughout Thursday and Friday and morning showers over the weekend. The temperatures will be in the mid-80's with humidity levels around the 80's throughout.
How To Watch the Tour Championship
The television coverage for the Tour Championship on Thursday and Friday will be exclusively on the Golf Channel from 1-6pm ET. The Saturday coverage will start on Golf Channel from 1-2:30pm ET and then move over to NBC from 2:30-7pm ET. Sunday's coverage will start on Golf Channel from 12-1:30pm ET before shifting to NBC from 1:30-6pm ET.
Coverage from Fantasy Alarm
As this is a unique event with a unique scoring format, there will be no PGA DFS Playbook. I will be providing a full article breakdown of the event with PGA DFS Example Lineups available beginning at 12pm ET on Wednesday afternoon. We also help you with DFS lineup construction with our usual tools like our PGA DFS Lineup Generator and a full run of PGA DFS projections.
I look forward to getting more in-depth in my PGA DFS Playbook. As always, I wish you nothing but the best of luck in your games.
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Justin Thomas arrived at the Travelers Championship amidst a bit of a slump but left with 25 birdies to manage a T9 finish, his first top 10 since March.
Thomas is known for his stellar rate of big finishes over the course of his career but that changed recently with six straight finishes landing outside of the top 10. A cold putter has been the culprit for much of the downturn but he managed to fight through the flat-stick woes this week. Thomas lost 1.9 strokes putting at TPC River Highlands but ranked 3rd in strokes gained tee-to-green. It was a promising result to rebuild some confidence but he still has some work to do in the putting department. Despite the nice finish this week, Thomas is just 66th in the FedExCup race.
Brian Harman tossed together a 6-under 64 on Sunday at the Travelers Championship, posting a piece of second place on the final leaderboard (-20).
Harman entered the week with just one top 25 in his last 14 stroke-play events. It's been a slump for the straight shooter but TPC River Highlands was the perfect cure. The Georgia Bulldog gained 4.4 strokes on approach, 3.5 strokes around-the-green, and 4.9 strokes putting. All three ranked 13th or better for the week. This was far from his first taste of success at the course, going in the books as his sixth career top 10 at TPC River Highlands.
Chez Reavie started the day just one shot off the pace but stumbled with a 1-over 71 to drop back to a share of fourth place on the final leaderboard.
Reavie and overnight leader Keegan Bradley were in a tier of their own to begin the day. Reavie dropped a rung with seven pars and two bogeys before the turn. His driver remained steady (12-of-14 fairways) but lost strokes in each of the other three categories of strokes gained today. It was a day to forget but a week to remember for Reavie who still managed a T4 finish, vaulting him from 114th to 95th in the FedExCup race.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler steadied a 5-under 65 on Sunday at the Travelers Championship, ending the week on 19-under 261, good for a slice of fourth place.
The Texan piled up 21 birdies and a pair of eagles this week at TPC River Highlands. He ended the week ranked second in strokes gained tee-to-green (+11.08). He's now gained at least 10.6 strokes in that department in six straight events. Scheffler carded three sub-66 rounds this week but a two-birdie 70 on Friday is what held him back from truly contending. The World No. 1 now has six straight top-5 finishes and you have to go back to October to find the last time he finished worse than 12th. It's safe to say he's been the most consistent golfer on the planet over the last nine months.
Rory McIlroy raced out of the gate on Sunday at the Travelers Championship before slowing his pace to record a 6-under 64, ending his week in a share of seventh place (18-under 262).
McIlroy circled birdies on five of the first seven holes today. He couldn't maintain that pace but still bettered the field average by more than three shots today. McIlroy tossed together four sub-69 rounds this week at TPC River Highlands but didn't even sniff contention over the weekend. "I don't particularly like when a tournament is like this. Unfortunately technology has passed this course by, right? It sort of has made it obsolete, especially as soft as it has been with a little bit of rain that we had." The Northern Irishman now has five straight top-10 finishes and has his game trending back toward the winner's circle just in time for the season's final major and the FedExCup Playoffs.
Patrick Cantlay gave the leader a small scare down the stretch was swallowed two late bogeys to finish on 19-under this week at the Travelers Championship, four shots off the winning tally of Keegan Bradley.
Cantlay was slow out of the gate with eight pars and a birdie before the turn. He applied some pressure with four birdies on the next six holes, all while Keegan Bradley was starting to leak with three straight bogeys. That shrunk the lead to just three shots be Cantlay stumbled home with two bogeys and a par. "I thought I struck the ball very solid all day. Played smart. Not the finish I wanted obviously, but my game is in a good spot and a lot of big tournaments left this summer." The UCLA alum carded four sub-69 rounds this week and led the field in strokes gained tee-to-green. Cantlay now has six straight top 15s at TPC River Highlands. He collected two victories last season but still searching for his first win of the 2022-23 campaign.