2015 TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola
(The 4th of 4 events in the FedExCup Playoffs)
Atlanta, GA September 24-27, 2015 FedExCup Points: 2,000 Purse: $8,250,000
East Lake Golf Club Par/Yards: 35-35—70/7,307
Final Leaderboard
Jordan Spieth 68-66-68-69—271 (-9)
Henrik Stenson 63-68-72-72—275 (-5)
Danny Lee 69-72-69-65—275 (-5)
Justin Rose 70-68-71-66—275 (-5)
The TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola is the culmination of the 2014-15 PGA TOUR Season and the final event of the FedExCup Playoffs. The road to the TOUR Championship began with the top 125 players qualifying for The Barclays (won by Jason Day), followed by the top 100 players at the Deutsche Bank Championship (won by Rickie Fowler) and the top 70 players at the BMW Championship (won by Jason Day).
The top 5 on the FedExCup points list entering the week could have won the FedExCup with a win this week. Here’s a look at how they finished this week and their final FedExCup ranking: Jason Day (T10/3rd), Jordan Spieth (Won/1st), Rickie Fowler (T12/4th), Henrik Stenson (T2/2nd), Bubba Watson (T5/5th).
The 2015 TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola had a fantastic turnout and attendants had the time of their lives. Seeing the players in high spirits and children rushing to get autographs is the type of positive imagery that will keep the sport in high demand. Not even the gray weather and extensive rain could keep spirits down at East Lake. In my opinion, there’s no other sporting body that takes care of children the way the PGA does. From supporting the First Tee Foundation to teaming up with Southern Company and allowing free entry (up to 2 kids) per ticketed adult into the tournament. From the selfie mirror along the cart path and the performances from Yacht Rock Revue, the TOUR is truly an experience to be had.
With this recent victory, Jordan Spieth not only won the TOUR Championship but also the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Spieth entered the week No. 2 in the FedExCup standings and walked away with a four shot win in the TOUR. Spieth becomes the youngest winner of the FedExCup and of the TOUR Championship at the age of 22 years, 2 months. He’s also placed himself in the company of some pretty prestigious figures:
- Spieth notches his fifth victory of the season becoming the sixth player since 1980 to win five or more times in a season since 1980: Tom Watson (1980), Nick Price (1994), Vijay Singh (2004), Tiger Woods (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2013) and Jason Day (2014-15).
- Spieth becomes the youngest player since Horton Smith (turned 21 in the middle of the season) in 1929 to win five times in a season.
- Spieth claims his sixth PGA TOUR win in his 83rd PGA TOUR start at the age of 22 years, 2 months.
- Spieth breaks the PGA TOUR record for most money won in a season with $12,030,465. Vijay Singh (2004) held the previous record with $10,905,166. The difference is $1,125,299. (To be fair, Singh achieved such a feat without the help of an $8M tournament i.e. TOUR/FedEx Cup Playoffs)
- Spieth is the first player to win the Masters and TOUR Championship in the same season.
The young Texas native had a record breaking year as noted above. With performances like this, I’m sure the golf world is excited about the next generation in the PGA. With players like Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, and Daniel Berger, the future is looking very bright (all players listed are between 22 and 27 years of age).
Henrik Stenson was close to winning his 2nd TOUR Championship in 3 years and actually led the first 2 rounds. By the time the weekend came his lead was relinquished not by bad play, but by the pure offensive ferocity of Jordan Spieth.
Jason Day was an early favorite and was also in the mix until his notable triple-bogey ended his chances early on. A player you should keep an eye on, Danny Lee, ended up in a 3-way tie for 2nd place with Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose.
Here was a humble Jordan Spieth on his victory:
“This is incredible. This is an event where we approach it like a major championship because we know this is possible at the end of it. We didn’t have a great playoffs but we put a lot of hard work into this week. I was out here early Monday morning. We approached it as if it was a major, and mentally we stayed in it even when I didn’t have my best ball striking. Boy that putter sure paid off.”
Although the 2015 edition of The TOUR has come and gone, you can still live through the incredible imagery from the tournament on our FACEBOOK PAGE.
-Jon J.
Photo: Hakim Wright