A pair of PGA Tour stars want to change the tour’s tournament format, but they don’t host East Lake
Xander Schauffele was crowned PGA Tour Newcomer of the Year in 2017 with a victory in the Tour Championship.
Over the past six years, the 29-year-old has made the end of the Tour season his personal ATM with consecutive finishes of 1-T7-2-T2-T5-4. It’s safe to say Schauffele, 29, knows a thing or two about the event and its esteemed host, East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, and hasn’t backed down from his views as they discuss both ahead of the 2023 Tour Championship this week.
The culmination of a long season running FedEx Cup, the Tour Championship It features a graduated starting system It aims to reward players for their performance during the season. The top player in the FedEx Cup standings, world number one Scotty Scheffler, will start at 10-under, with Victor Hovland in second at 8-under, Rory McIlroy in third at 7-under, and so on. Chauvel would start 15th at 3 less than that.
“I can happily say I was on both sides. I never won (the FedEx Cup), but I won this event and I got the trophy and I won it and I didn’t. I can’t comment on that, just because I didn’t think On his way to make it better”, and also claimed that he “didn’t even know how the tournament was going” earlier in the year.
He continued, “I still think that when I talk to some friends and people, they still get a little confused about how it all happened.” “I think this is supposed to be like our most important event all year. It kind of comes to the moment. And for people to be confused, it’s still not a finished product for me in that sense.
John Rahm hasn’t been shy about giving his opinions on the Tour Championship, and while he admits the format is easier to understand, he still thinks some work needs to be done.
“I don’t think it’s the best we can come up with,” said the world No. 3. “I guess I hated the fact that you can come out first in the FedEx Cup.” You can win every tournament even this one. You had a bad week, finished 30th, and now you will forever be known as 30th in the FedEx Cup this season. I don’t think that’s very fair.”
The Spaniard liked the old format because if a player entered the week in first place, he rarely got out of the top three.
“But when you’re in 5th, you’re down 5, so you’re five shots off the lead,” he explained. “But you’re also five shots away from 30th. So that doesn’t make much sense to me.”
“So if you ask me I think we can come up with something better.”
However, as Schavelli points out, after Thursday and Friday, when the scores are tied in the opening rounds, everyone is on the same page until the end.
“It’s not how it started, it’s how you finish it,” Schavelli said. “And everyone knows what happens when the guys go down that beautiful final stretch here in Eastlake and everyone knows what’s at stake.”
That latest stretch will look very different this time next year, as the club is set to undergo a “radical overhaul” of everything from the golf course to the entire infrastructure at Eastlake, including drainage and irrigation.
“Man, I’m such a big believer in not changing anything that’s really great,” Schavelli said. “When you go into a restaurant and you order something that tastes good, I usually order it over and over again… So when this course is so nicely done and the condition it is now, with really quick vegetables, the roughness gets high. It’s great. It’s hard. You have to play.” your ball.
“So the guy who’s coming in, Andrew Green’s going to come, and he said he’s going to cut down a lot of trees, and that’s a little worrying, to be honest,” Schavelli explained. “I’m not a member here. I hear the members are excited. But as trekking professionals, we talk about distance and all that stuff, but the thing we can’t do is beat it through the trees. So, when you start removing a bunch of trees from a property, it certainly can It changes the way you play. And I hope East Lake keeps its teeth. Because when you play hard, you shoot 10 or 12 less than that, you win this golf tournament.
Schauffele and Ram may be rivals this week (and in the Ryder Cup next month), but they are in complete agreement on both the Tour’s championship and its host track.
“So, if it were up to me, there’s not much this golf course needs to change,” Ram said. “However, the golf course is members’ own, so members should do whatever the members think is best for the golf course. That’s what I’d say. I think it’s great the way it is, but if they want to make it member-friendly I wouldn’t object to that.” “.
Just like the PGA Tour, East Lake serves its members. The club has listened to its constituents, so will the tour take place?
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