Tour Championship host East Lake flipping nines for FedEx Cup drama
The PGA Tour season will now end on a par 5.
On Tuesday, Tour officials announced it will be flipping the nines at Tour Championship host East Lake Golf Club, bringing the course to a conclusion what was formerly the par-5 ninth hole instead of the erstwhile 230-yard, par-3 18th.
Tour officials said in the fall that they were considering changing the scorecard to flip the nines in the hopes of bringing more drama to the season-ending FedEx Cup finale. While the former 18th is a difficult par, it is not the most exciting hole and limits the number of spectators that can watch the tournament-closing action.
“I think it’s very interesting,” said reigning FedEx Cup champion Jordan Spieth said in a release. “I think it would make for a finish where you see a birdie or eagle more than pars like it has been in the past.”
However, the change doesn’t boil down simply to a new finishing hole. The closing half of the old front nine at East Lake should prove to be a more exciting end to the course.
The old fifth, now the new 14th, is a 500-yard par 4 that is typically the toughest on the course. The sixth, now the 15th, is a 200-yard par 3 with a peninsula green and a water hazard that gobbles up plenty of shots. The new 18th hole is a par 5 that almost half the field has tried to reach in two. It’s likely to see tees moved up slightly in the final round to encourage maximum aggression.
That’s in sharp contrast to the old par-3 18th. Dating back to the first year of the FedEx Cup in 2007, the Tour Championship winner has never finished the event with a birdie — only par or bogey.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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