Last stop until the fall swing starts, and yeah, this is great and all to get the top 30 golfers all playing for some big money, but the real story for sure is the changes that are coming to the playoffs starting in 2028.

If you don’t want to spend a couple minutes watching the video, the gist is: two weeks of match play, likely on some really cool courses.

I couldn’t be more excited, and it sucks we have to wait two years, but I’m chalking this up as another win for Mr. Rolapp.

For now, we’ll just have to deal with the small field at East Lake again (at least we got rid of the starting strokes). A look at the course from Ron’s article:

East Lake

Playing as a par-70 with a distance of 7,440 yards with only two par-5s, East Lake is a brute of a course. It measures as the 6th-longest course in the Tour rotation. Typically, a par-72 layout for members, the 1st and 14th holes are converted from par-5s to long par-4s, which adds to the challenge. Built on gently rolling hills, there are numerous elevation changes and uneven lies. The front and back nines start off playing uphill at the lake. Except for four holes, the routing is east-to-west with holes typically playing either into the wind or downwind.

One of the most consistent themes from players when talking about East Lake is how the course is all right in front of you. There aren’t any doglegs, tricks, or quirks. While it is tree-lined, it is open enough in most directions to view other parts of the course. Along with its length, the course will challenge players in other ways as well. Before fairways were widened to 30 yards in 2024, East Lake was known for having some of the tightest fairways on Tour. Based on data since the changes in 2023, players have found it much easier to gain strokes off the tee and slightly easier on the greens while approach and around-the-green conditions have remained the same.

Water hazards influence play on eight holes, simultaneously enhancing the course’s visual appeal and raising its degree of difficulty. Historically, before 2021, winning scores (excluding the staggered-start format) ranged from –7 to –13. In contrast, the past five years have seen East Lake play noticeably easier, averaging -1.72 strokes to par per round, highlighted by last year’s tournament which ranked as the easiest on record at –2.18.

Warm-weather grasses dominate the course as the fairways are Zoysia, and the greens and rough are Bermuda turf. This year’s rough length has been increased by one inch, as players who can’t keep the ball straight on their tee shots will have to deal with tricky 3.5″ Bermuda rough. Bermuda at that length is one of the most penal on Tour due to its unpredictability and tendency to wrap around the ball.

As part of one of his most recent renovations, Rees Jones redesigned the greens and bunkers to more closely resemble Ross’s original design. The greens sit elevated above the surrounding bunkers and feature challenging slopes that test players on both approach and putting. When firm, they can become particularly quick, typically rolling between 12.5 and 13 on the Stimpmeter.

Each of the four par-3s measures over 197 yards and has the second-longest average out of any group on Tour. The par-5s are reachable in two shots and, along with the par-3s, provide plenty of risk/reward opportunities. The two par-5s average a combined -0.54 under par are must-birdie holes. It is the par-4s, nine of which are over 440 yards, that make East Lake a brute of a course. Those holes average 4.07, with five of them featuring a bogey or worse rate of at least 18%.

The course itself starts underwhelmingly, with the first four holes being rather nondescript. Once past that early section, the course provides an exciting mix of challenging and easy holes. The last six holes provide a challenging closing stretch. The highlights include the island par-3 15th hole that brings a double bogey into the equation on errant approaches off the tee. The 18th is a long par-5 that usually has the tees moved up on Sunday to entice players to be aggressive on their approach.

Model

Zero short game in the model this week. All driving and approach, with a lean toward bombers but still factoring in accuracy. The red fields on here are a bit jarring for the top of the field, but at the same time, it’s a small group and being the 30th best at something is still pretty good in the grand scheme of things.

Avoiding hoof-and-mouth again this week and leaning a bit on the thoughts of others for some value plays in the small field.

Betting

Winner last week! The whole damn golf betting space bet him, but that’s great too. Nice to see a ton of folks I respect getting a W. It got a bit dicy at times, but it still counts.

Outrights for this week are smaller staking as I don’t see a ton of value, but still hoping to see some in-form players a bit further down the rankings get hot on some very easy greens (and Rory, who’s rounding back to where he should be after taking a full month off of golf.)

Tour Championship Outrights

Rory McIlroy +1000
Chris Gotterup +2755
Tom Kim +5500
Gary Woodland +7137

How to Watch

Television

• Thursday, August 27: 11 am - 1 pm (ESPN), 1 pm - 6 pm (Golf Channel)

• Friday, August 28: 11 am - 1 pm (ESPN), 1 pm - 6 pm (Golf Channel)

• Saturday, August 29: 1 pm - 3 pm (Golf Channel), 3 pm - 7 pm (CBS)

• Sunday, August 30: 12 pm - 1:30 pm (Golf Channel), 1:30 pm - 6 pm (CBS)

Streaming

• Thursday, August 27: 11 am - 6 pm (ESPN+)

• Friday, August 28: 11 am - 6 pm (ESPN+)

• Saturday, August 29: 12:15 pm - 7 pm (ESPN+), 3 pm - 7 pm (Paramount+)

• Sunday, August 30: 11 am - 6 pm (ESPN+), 1:30 pm - 6 pm (Paramount+)

Featured-group, marquee-group, and featured-hole coverage streams all four rounds on PGA Tour Live (ESPN+), which is also the home of the early coverage before the TV windows open. Paramount+ Premium simulcasts the CBS weekend windows, and the Golf Channel windows stream on Golfchannel.com and the Golf Channel app.

All times ET.

Weather

Some wet weather to start the week will have the course very gettable to for the first couple of rounds. It’ll still be plenty hot all week, but not as bad as we saw in Memphis. Some winds, but the location of this course doesn’t really allow itself to be affected by the gusts either way.

News and Notes

I thought it was weird that Schefter broke this, but then I remembered which channel carries TGL

Full Schedule is out for next year as well!

Injury Update!

As always, bet responsibly, have fun, and we’ll see you in the fall!

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