Tour Championship Preview

The 2014 FedEx Cup will be decided this week at the Tour Championship by Coca Cola at East Lake in Georgia. Chris Kirk heads the standings, but any of the top five will take the FedEx Cup if they win at East Lake.

Lowdown: The 2014 FedEx Cup will be decided this week at the Tour Championship by Coca Cola at East Lake in Georgia. Chris Kirk heads the standings, but any of the top five will take the FedEx Cup if they win at East Lake.

The five men who will take the cup and the $10 million bonus prize with victory at the Tour Championship are: Chris Kirk, Billy Horschel, Bubba Watson, Rory McIlroy and Hunter Mahan.

But any of the 29 players on the start list have a theoretical chance of victory. Even Gary Woodland who qualified in 29th place could take the FedEx Cup if he wins in East Lake. But, he’d require Chris Kirk to come 27th or worse, and for other players’ results to work in his favour.

There’s no cut to worry about for the 29 men teeing it up this week, and all of those in the field know they will be exempt for the first three Majors in 2015.

In last year’s Tour Championship, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson played some superb golf to win the tournament by three strokes from Jordan Spieth and Steve Stricker. In so doing, he also claimed the 2013 FedEx Cup.

Stenson won’t be able to defend his title this year – he didn’t make the top-30 to qualify for this event.

East Lake Golf Club is one of the oldest in the USA and was the home club of legendary amateur Bobby Jones. The course has hosted the Tour Championship on 12 previous occasions and was the venue for the 1963 Ryder Cup.

In 2008 the course was closed for a few months with a view towards recreating the layout’s original, firm and fast playing characteristics. The overhaul was a success. It’s a challenging track although low scoring is not uncommon. The winning score tends to be around the eight to 10 under-par mark – Henrik Stenson took the title last year on 13-under-par.

There could be delays due to thunderstorms over the first three days of this year’s event.

Venue: East Lake GC, Atlanta, Georgia Date: Sep 11-14 Course stats: par 70, 7,307 yards Purse: $8,000,000 Winner: $1,440,000 Defending Champion: Henrik Stenson (-13)

TV Coverage: Thursday 11 – Sky Sports 4 from 6pm Friday 12 – Sky Sports 4 from 6pm Saturday 13 – Sky Sports 4 from 5.30pm Sunday 14 – Sky Sports 4 from 5.30pm

Player Watch: Rickie Fowler – He was tied fourth last week, it was his seventh top-10 finish in his last eight starts.

Jordan Spieth – Tied second in this event last year, he re-found his form last week with a tied eighth finish.

Bubba Watson – He was tied fifth at East Lake in 2012 and was second last week at Cherry Hills.

Key hole: 18th. A 235-yard par 3 with deep bunkers left and right of a two-tiered green. When the wind’s against, many will need a fairway wood to get up here. A par is a tough ask, particularly if it’s for victory on Sunday afternoon; even more so if it would be worth $10 million.

Skills required: Handling the pressure. With such vast sums of money on the line, the tension tends to be almost unbearable down the stretch in this event. The man who can put that pressure to one side will stand on top at the end this week.