It all starts Thursday at East Lake.
The field is set for the 2021 TOUR Championship with the top 30 players in the FedExCup standings qualifying following the BMW Championship. Patrick Cantlay captured his fifth PGA TOUR title and third of the season in a thrilling six-hole playoff over Bryson DeChambeau. Cantlay will be paired with Tony Finau in Thursday’s opening round. Finau captured the first FedExCup Playoffs event at THE NORTHERN TRUST. DeChambeau enters the TOUR Championship at No. 3 in the FedExCup.
The FedExCup Playoffs conclude this week at the TOUR Championship where the top 30 players will compete for the FedExCup title as the PGA TOUR’s season champion. The first and second rounds will be broadcast live on Golf Channel from historic East Lake Golf Club on Thursday, Sept. 2 and Friday, Sept. 3 from 1-6 p.m. The third round will be broadcast on Golf Channel from 1-2:30 p.m. and on NBC from 2:30-7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4, with the final round slated for Sunday, Sept. 5 from 12-1:30 p.m. on Golf Channel and 1:30-6 p.m. on NBC.
Cantlay is the PGA TOUR season’s only three-time winner and will make his fourth career appearance at the TOUR Championship. In 2019, Cantlay arrived at East Lake ranked No. 2 in the FedExCup before finishing T21.
What to watch:
2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama (No. 22) and Patrick Reed (No. 30) qualify for their eighth consecutive TOUR Championship. Dustin Johnson owns the longest active streak of qualifying for the TOUR Championship with 13 but did not compete in 2014.
Making his first appearance since 2009, Atlanta resident Stewart Cink (No. 23) collected two victories on the season and returns to the TOUR Championship for the first time in 12 years.
University of Georgia product Harris English (No. 7) returns for his second consecutive TOUR Championship and third overall after earning two wins during the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season.
2015 FedExCup champion Jordan Spieth (No. 9) returns to the TOUR Championship for the first time since 2017.
Sungjae Im (No. 12), who recorded one runner-up finish and four other top-10s, is the highest-ranked player in the FedExCup without a victory this season. He’s one of six players to qualify for the TOUR Championship without a victory this season (Conners, Niemann, Oosthuizen, Schauffele, Scheffler)
Sergio Garcia (No. 28), who started the BMW Championship outside the top 30 in the FedExCup, finished T6 to qualify for his first TOUR Championship since 2017.
Sam Burns (No. 10) and Erik van Rooyen (No. 27) are the two TOUR Championship first-timers in the field. Van Rooyen was one of two players (Garcia) who moved inside the top 30 in the FedExCup following the BMW Championship.
Defending FedExCup champion Dustin Johnson (No. 15) qualified for his 13th consecutive TOUR Championship. No player has successfully defended his FedExCup title.
Final Field and Starting Leaderboard
Pos. Player Strokes
1 Patrick Cantlay -10
2 Tony Finau -8
3 Bryson DeChambeau -7
4 Jon Rahm -6
5 Cameron Smith -5
T6 Justin Thomas -4
Harris English -4
Abraham Ancer -4
Jordan Spieth -4
Sam Burns -4
T11 Collin Morikawa -3
Sungjae Im -3
Viktor Hovland -3
Louis Oosthuizen -3
Dustin Johnson -3
T16 Rory McIlroy -2
along with:
Xander Schauffele -2
Jason Kokrak -2
Kevin Na -2
Brooks Koepka -2
T21 Corey Conners -1
Hideki Matsuyama -1
Stewart Cink -1
Joaquin Niemann -1
Scottie Scheffler -1
T26 Daniel Berger E
Erik van Rooyen E
Sergio Garcia E
Billy Horschel E
Patrick Reed E
For more information about the TOUR Championship, please visit TOURChampionship.com