Shane Lowry probably picked a good year to make his debut at The Tour Championship, with East Lake undergoing major changes of this season’s FedEx Cup finale.
East Lake has been the home of The Tour Championship since 2004, with Rory McIlroy winning the event on three occasions, while Xander Schauffele has won once and finished second three times. So certain players have very happy memories in Atlanta.
However, much of that history was launched out of the window heading into this year, with Andrew Green overseeing huge changes to the layout. It certainly appears that Scottie Scheffler is a fan of the changes, with the world number one five shots clear and nine ahead of third place ahead of the final round.
It has also been a fantastic week, so far, for Shane Lowry, with the Irishman sat in eighth with 18 holes to play. A third round of 65 moved Lowry into the top 10 on his Tour Championship bow.
Shane Lowry shares what has surprised him about East Lake after making Tour Championship debut
So perhaps it is no surprise that the 37-year-old is enjoying his experience in the season finale on the PGA Tour, with the 2019 Open champion suggesting that he has been really impressed by the setup this week.
“It’s my first time. So no adjustment at all. But the golf course is playing – to be honest, I thought it would play way harder. The fairways are generous enough and when you get the ball in the fairway, there’s a lot of chances,” he said.
“So obviously the top players in the world are here and they’re going to be hitting the fairway a lot of times. There’s going to be a lot of chances out there. The greens are perfect.
“But I love the golf course. I think – I’ve obviously never played the old one, but I think it’s a pretty good course. Pretty happy.”
Why the PGA Tour may not be too happy ahead of final round
Obviously, the PGA Tour may not be entirely pleased with how The Tour Championship has played out so far, with Scottie Scheffler all but extinguishing any hopes of a dramatic end to the season. Certainly, there appears to be little to no chance of the world number one tripping up now – particularly with only one player within eight shots.
It feels like the right conclusion as Scheffler has had such an incredible year, particularly on the PGA Tour. And it almost felt unfair that he was starting the event with just a two shot lead, but that was done to try and create a bit of tension as the tournament went on.
However, Scheffler has done away with that and flown away from the field, leaving Sunday to feel almost like a precession for The Masters champion. So it will be intriguing to see if that factors into any future changes made to The Tour Championship.
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