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Archives for September 2021

Cantlay Wins TOUR Championship

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ATLANTA – FedExCup leader Patrick Cantlay hit a five-foot, eleven inch putt on No. 16 to go two strokes ahead of Spain’s Jon Rahm, bogeyed No. 17 to make it interesting and then birdied his final hole with a six-inch tap-in to win the TOUR Championship and its $15 million first place prize for the FedEx Cup.

For the third season, the TOUR Championship was weighted by the FedExCup “starting strokes” system, with the format crowning a single champion. Patrick Cantlay, the player with the lowest score in relation to par combined with his FedExCup Starting Strokes edge of (-10), won the TOUR Championship and the FedExCup – wire-to-wire. Cantlay becomes the third player in FedExCup history to rank No. 1 in the FedExCup entering the TOUR Championship and go on to win. He also became the first player to win four or more times in a season since Justin Thomas in 2016-17.

Rahm carded his 15th Top-10 this season, the most by any player in a season since 2015-16 and Kevin Na played his final 57 holes without a bogey en route to best FedExCup finish of his career.

Joaquin Niemann (29th at (+4) played as a single in the final round, teed-off first and shot a 2-over (72) in 1 hour, 53 minutes.

TOUR Championship Leaderboard:

Final-Round Leaderboard

1 Patrick Cantlay – (Started -10) – 67-66-67-69 (-11) – (-21)

2 Jon Rahm – (Started -6) – 65-65-68-68 (-14) – (-20)

3 Kevin Na – (Started -2) – 66-67-66-67 (-14) – (-16)

4 Justin Thomas – (Started -4) – 67-67-65-70 (-11) – (-15)

Final Leaderboard: (link)

Cantlay Leads at TOUR Championship

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TOUR Championship – FedExCup Playoffs Finale Today

ATLANTA – FedExCup leader Patrick Cantlay (-20) will take his third career 54-hole lead/co-lead after posting a third-round (67) while Jon Rahm seeks to become the second consecutive FedExCup champion to win while ranked No. 1 in the world.

Cantlay recorded six birdies on the day, good for a two-shot lead entering Sunday’s final round. He had reached 21-under for the week with a birdie on the par-4 10th to assume a four-shot lead before bogeys on 11, 14 and 16 cut it to one shot as he birdied the 18th hole to finish at 20-under.

Justin Thomas recorded his only bogey of the day with a three-putt on the par-5 18th for a third-round (65), matching Saturday’s low round. He’s in third place, five back.

Sungjae Im has now carded 493 total birdies for the 2020-21 PGA TOUR season, tying the all-time record since 1980.

Brooks Koepka withdrew after 12 holes with a left wrist injury

Rahm and Cantlay will be paired together today for the 21st time in their careers.

TOUR Championship Leaderboard After 54 Holes:

1 Patrick Cantlay (Started -10) 67-66-67 (-10) -20

2 Jon Rahm (Started-6) 65-65-68 (-12) -18

3 Justin Thomas (Started -4) 67-67-65 (-11) -15

4 Kevin Na (Started -2) 66-67-66 (-11) -13

PGA TOUR Championship: First Look

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Preview – TOUR Championship First Look

COURSE: East Lake Golf Club – (Atlanta, Georgia)

ARCHITECT: Tom Bendelow

YARDS/PAR: 7,346 yards/Par 70

PRIZE Money/FedEx Champ/First Place Winnings: $60,000,000/$15,000,000

DEFENDING CHAMPION: Dustin Johnson

PAST RESULTS: (link)

PAST FedEx Cup CHAMPIONS: (link)

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @Playofffinale

OFFICIAL SITE: (TOUR Championship)

TV COVERAGE: Thursday, September 2 and Friday, September 3: Coverage from 1:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT) on Golf Channel.

On Saturday, September 4, Round 3 coverage 1:00pm to 2:30pm (EDT) on Golf Channel. NBC Sports takes over from 2:30pm to 7:00pm (EDT). On Sunday, September 5: Golf Channel opens final round coverage 12:00pm to 1:30pm (EDT) and NBC wraps it up from 1:30pm to 6:00pm (EDT).

PGA TOUR LIVE STREAMING: Streaming coverage on Thursday and Friday, from 11:00am to 6:00pm (EDT) on PGA Tour Live.

On Saturday, PGA Live coverage runs from 12:00pm Noon to 7:00pm (EDT) and Sunday, PGA Tour Live will stream 11:00am to 6:00pm or conclusion (EDT).

PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: SiriusXM Radio will have live radio coverage of the TOUR Championship with Thursday and Friday broadcasts from 12:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT). Weekend coverage on Sirius XM Radio begins Saturday from 2:00pm to 7:00pm (EDT) and Sunday’s finale from 1:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT) or conclusion. PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92).

TOUR Championship/Final of the FedExCup

ATLANTA – The 50-event 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season will conclude at the TOUR Championship, where the FedExCup Champion will be crowned. Patrick Cantlay, the PGA TOUR leader in wins this season (3), enters the TOUR Championship at No. 1 in the FedExCup standings and will begin the tournament at 10-under via FedExCup Starting Strokes.

The FedExCup Starting Strokes system was implented at the 2019 TOUR Championship. That year, No. 1 seed Justin Thomas went on to finish T3, while Rory McIlroy, who began the tournament in fifth place at 5-under came from five strokes back to win. Dustin Johnson entered as the No. 1 seed in 2020 before going on to defeat Thomas and Xander Schauffele by three strokes, becoming just the second No. 1 seed entering TOUR Championship to win the FedExCup.

The players who’ve qualified for the TOUR Championship are eligible for the following tournaments in the 2021-22 season: Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, Genesis Scottish Open and The Open Championship.

Patrick Reed, who has just recovered from a case of pneumonia (both lungs), is in the field this week at No. 30. He is also playing for possible selection for the USA Ryder Cup team. (Reed to play)

Two players in the field qualified for the TOUR Championship for the first time: Sam Burns and first-year member Erik van Rooyen. Burns earned his first victory on TOUR earlier in the season at the Valspar Championship, while van Rooyen won the Barracuda Championship. 20 players in the field qualified in 2020 and 29 of the 30 players are in the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, both record-highs for the FedExCup era (van Rooyen, No. 55).

The Basics:

With the limited field of 30 players, TOUR Championship Tee Times Thursday run from 11:40am to 2:00pm (EDT) with players playing in pairs.

Weather: Thursday forecast is for sunny skies and a comfortable 75-degrees. Humidity will be 65% with only a 10% chance of rain (link)