TOUR Championship
Purse: $40M
Winner's Share: $10M
Location: Atlanta
Course: East Lake Golf Club
Yardage: 7,440
Par: 70
Previous Winners
2025 - Tommy Fleetwood
2024 - Scottie Scheffler
2023 - Viktor Hovland
2022 - Rory McIlroy
2021 - Patrick Cantlay
2020 - Dustin Johnson
2019 - Rory McIlroy
2018 - Tiger Woods
2017 - Xander Schauffele
2016 - Rory McIlroy
Recap: Clark holds on for third win of 2026
The second FedExCup Playoff Event took place in St. Louis last week, with the top-50 players in the Standings, having already locked in exemptions to all Signature Events in 2027, looking to secure their spots in next year's majors. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler entered the week as the defending BMW championship and on the heels of a dominant victory at the St. Jude Championship.
This time around, it was CJ CUP Byron Nelson and U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark who separated himself from the pack at Bellerive Country Club, with the American entering Sunday with a two-stroke lead. He was the most dominant player on the course Saturday and Sunday, but he got off to a three-over start in the final round that opened the door for the likes of Patrick Cantlay, two-time Masters champion Rory McIlroy. However, Clark rebounded on the back nine while others faltered, securing the victory with three consecutive birdies over the last three holes. It was the third win of the year for Clark, joining Chris Gotterup and Matt Fitzpatrick as those with a trio of victories in 2026. Cantlay and McIlroy finished solo second and third, respectively, while Scheffler put together a T12 performance in his defense.
Last week saw only one player, Sungjae Im, move into the cutoff for the following week's event. Im put together a solid T10 finish at the BMW Championship, but the performance was not quite good enough for him to crack into the top-30. Three players did manage to punch their ticket to the TOUR Championship, with Cantlay, Gary Woodland (T4) and Robert MacIntyre (T7) pushing Kurt Kitayama, Bud Cauley and Rickie Fowler out of the top-30. Other notable names whose playoff push ended in St. Louis included Memorial Tournament winner J.T. Poston, PGA Championship victor Aaron Rai, Justin Thomas, Jake Knapp and Eric Cole.
Preview: TOUR Championship
Onto the TOUR Championship, the final stop of the FedExCup Playoffs that boasts a whopping $40 million purse, with $10 million going to the winner. That will be in addition to the $100 million FedExCup bonus payouts based on how players finished in the Standings following the BMW Championship. Perhaps we can thank a certain breakaway tour for that increased purse…but perhaps not.
The TOUR has gone through several changes on and off the course, with last year shifting over to all 30 players starting on equal footing, as it is with every other tournament on the schedule. East Lake Golf Club underwent massive changes following the 2023 event, with bunkers, fairways and greens all undergoing renovations. The Bermudagrass Greens are bigger, and the course increased by nearly 100 yards to 7,440. The fairways are narrower at East Lake than they are at Bellerive CC. Similar to TPC Southwind, the thick rough lining the fairways are punitive, so getting the ball into the fairways and being sharp with your long irons are going to be key at East Lake. The greens are also some of the slickest that players will have dealt with, so that putter control will also be crucial.
A note about this week's Underdog contest: Because of the 30-man field, drafts will consist of six players drafting teams of four, rather than six. As such, the layout of my suggested picks is going to be slightly different than previous iterations.
Underdog Contest Overview
Underdog hosts drafts every week at three buy-in amounts; The Par 3 at $3, the featured draft at $10, and "The Sandbagger" at $100. Each entrant will be paired up with five other players and participate in a six-man snake draft of teams made up of four players (24 total selections), with each selection on a 30-second timer. For example, the person with the first overall pick and lucky enough to get Scheffler (unless you like to live dangerously) will have to wait until 2.6 and 3.1 to make their next selections. Points are allocated to golfers based on their performance on every hole, with bonus points available for golfers who make consecutive birdies or finish a round bogey free.
First Two Rounds (1 - 12)
Ludvig Aberg (4.2 Average Draft Position)
Like last week, we're sticking with Aberg as the first suggestion, with the Swede coming off a T16 performance at the BMW Championship. He's finished in the top-20 in each of the first two Playoff events and is one of the most well-rounded players on Tour this year. He's top-50 in all strokes gained categories, including ninth in SG: Tee-to-Green and top-20 in both SG: OTT and Approach.
Wyndham Clark (6.2 ADP)
Let's ride the hot hand with Clark, who followed up his T5 at the St. Jude Championship with a three-stroke victory last week at the BMW Championship. Last week's victory put him in the conversation for the Jack Nicklaus PGA Tour Player of the Year award, with the other top candidates likely to be Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick. Clark's victory last week was enough for him to crack the top-3 of the FedExCup Standings, surpassing Cameron Young in the process. Clark ranks in the top-20 in four of five major strokes gained categories, with SG: Off-the-Tee (88th) being the exception.
Patrick Cantlay (9.5 ADP)
Cantlay found himself tied with Clark at the top of the leaderboard during Sunday's round, but bogeys on the 11th and 15th holes knocked the former out of contention, though consecutive birdies from the 16th to 18th holes were enough for him to sneak into solo second. Cantlay ranks fifth on the Tour this year in SG: Approach, and that strong iron play allowed him to succeed last week in St. Louis and two weeks earlier in Memphis. He's enjoyed previous success at East Lake, having won here in 2021 while finishing T2 last year.
Sam Burns (10.4 ADP)
There was plenty of optimism surrounding Burns heading into last week, which made his T28 performance all the more disappointing. He's still in some of the best form of his PGA Tour career with top-20 finishes in six of his last seven tournaments, including solo second at the U.S. Open and third at both The Open and St. Jude Championship. He ranks fourth in SG: Putting, 27th in SG: Approach and 50th in SG: Tee-to-Green this season, as well as top-20 in total driving and GIR. Burns finished T7 at last year's TOUR Championship
Also consider: Collin Morikawa (9.2 ADP – maneuvered a shaky final round last week to finish T4, finished last week seventh in SG: OTT and in the top-15 in both SG: Approach and Putting), Alex Smalley (11.9 ADP - Finished T16 last week and T24 the week before, ranks 13th in GIR, 25th in SG: Approach and top-50 in total driving, SG: Tee-to-Green and Putting)
Last Two Rounds (13 - 24)
Chris Gotterup (13.6 ADP)
Gotterup lost steam following a six-under 64 opening round last week, but he was still in the mix Sunday at the BMW Championship before settling for a T4 finish. He was fantastic around and on the greens last week in St. Louis, and he has been one of the best drivers on Tour this year, so putting all together at East Lake would put Gotterup firmly in the mix for a fourth win in 2026.
Hideki Matsuyama (17.4 ADP)
Matsuyama finished outside of the top-25 of the leaderboard in St. Louis, but he finished T7 two weeks ago at TPC Southwind and logged finishes of T3-T5-T7 in his three outings prior to the start of the FedExCup Playoffs. His impressive short game will keep him in the mix no matter where he plays; he ranks 12th in SG: Around and 15th in scrambling, as well as 17th in SG: Approach and 19th in Tee-to-Green this season.
Gary Woodland (20.4 ADP)
Woodland punched his ticket to the TOUR Championship with a T4 performance last week. It was another highlight in what has been a remarkable season for Woodland, including an emotional victory at the Texas Children's Houston Open and T7 at the U.S. Open. He's been one of the best ball strikers as of late and ranks sixth in SG: Off-the-Tee and ninth in total driving, as well as 53rd in SG: Putting.
Tom Kim (23.0 ADP)
Even with his T28 last week, Kim as a last pick is my favorite late-round selection. He has demonstrated that he can get on a heater at any moment, such as his round of 63 two weeks ago at the St. Jude and three weeks ago at the Wyndham. The Scottish Open winner ranks fourth in SG: Approach, 29th in both GIR and driving accuracy and 35th in SG: Around.
Other picks to consider: Russell Henley (15.2 ADP - strong first two rounds last week before settling for T12, finished T2 at last year's TOUR Championship), Robert MacIntyre (23.0 ADP - qualified for the TOUR with a T7 last week following his withdraw from the St. Jude Championship, top-25 in SG: Putting and Off-the-Tee this season).
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