2019 FedEx Cup Playoffs Finale: Tour Championship Preview

It's all come down to this. After many hotly contested regular PGA Tour events and millions of dollars banked, the 2018/19 season has one last hurrah - the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.

This week's event will play through a new, innovative format in the quest to help crown a worthy FedEx Cup champion come this Sunday evening. The season-long points race is now down to the final hurdle with some of the most prominent golfers in the game jockeying for position as they chase down an eye-popping $15M winner's bounty.

Here's what you need to know for this week in Atlanta.

The New Format

The 30 golfers who remain for East Lake's season-ending showpiece face a rather unconventional start to proceedings as they tee off this Thursday. The leader in the FedEx Cup standings (Justin Thomas) will start at -10, second place (Patrick Cantlay) at -8, third (Brooks Koepka) at -7, No. 4 at -6 and No. 5 at -5. Players 6-10 will be -4, 11-15 at -3, 16-20 at -2, 21-25 at -1 and 26-30 will start at even par.

For the first time ever, JT will sleep soundly on Wednesday night with a two-shot lead in the bank!!

Time will tell whether the new format is a positive change, but what is clear is that we will no longer have two champions come Sunday. The Tour champion and the FedEx Cup champion will now be the same guy. That seems to make a little more sense, at least.

The Venue

Course: East Lake Golf Club
Yardage: 7,385 yards, par 70.

Over the years East Lake has provided a stern test rewarding a thoughtful, defensive game, but with every golfer bar Justin Thomas needing to play on the front foot we may see more aggressive golf over the four days.

The tree-lined fairways will still place a premium on accuracy from the tee, while it's imperative to be hitting greens as this golf course presents a real scrambling challenge.

The Field

The post-BMW Championship cut removed some stellar names from proceedings including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry.

After last week's BMW Championship win, Justin Thomas will enjoy a two-shot cushion before hitting a single competitive golf ball this week and, as such, will likely be the bookies favourite.

JT's shot of the week? Undoubtedly this hole-out from 180 yards for eagle...

Hot on the heels of the Kentuckian will be current world number one Brooks Koepka who starts on -7 thanks to his third place in the standings.

Looking further back, Rory McIlroy could yet finish the 2018/19 PGA Tour season on a positive note. Despite a fruitless major season, he could yet finish the season on a lucrative high if he can overturn a five-shot deficit.

Last Year's FedEx Champion

At last year's Tour Championship Justin Rose emerged as FedEx Cup champion, but you'll likely remember it more for Tiger Woods' first Tour win since 2013.

Holing a clutch birdie on the last, Rose was deserving of his FedEx Cup title having been the most consistent golfer throughout the regular PGA Tour season. Brooks Koepka would go on to claim the PGA Tour Player of the Year crown thanks to his two major championship wins.

Catch Rosey's final round highlights below...

Who Wins It?

Back at the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, we took what seemed the safe route of highlighting Brooks Koepka as our guy to prevail. Now with two events down the current world number one finds himself needing a great week to reel in both Patrick Cantlay and FedEx leader Justin Thomas.

Koepka himself has pretty much confirmed that he doesn't take the regular Tour events as seriously as majors. Perhaps the promise of $15M may be enough to get him back playing stellar golf this week.

Let us know who you think will win this week in the comments below.

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