Shane Lowry probably could have hardly picked a better year to make his Tour Championship debut, with East Lake undergoing drastic changes ahead of the FedEx Cup finale.
Of course, there is a daunting challenge ahead for any player not named Scottie Scheffler or Xander Schauffele in the coming days at The Tour Championship, with the pair set to have an advantage after their amazing seasons this year.
Scheffler will start at 10 under par, while Schauffele will be two shots back. Interestingly, Schauffele has been backed to beat Scheffler to the FedEx Cup title due to his outstanding record at East Lake, where he has won once and finished as runner-up on three occasions.
But perhaps that form book can be thrown out of the window. East Lake has undergone dramatic changes over the last 12 months, and is now set to pose a completely different test to the world’s best players over the coming days.
Shane Lowry shares what players are saying about East Lake behind the scenes
Shane Lowry is actually making his first appearance in the event, with the Irishman starting the tournament at three under par. It may certainly help that none of his rivals have taken on the new layout – and it seems that some of his peers are not best pleased about some of the changes.
Speaking in his press conference ahead of the event, Lowry suggested that there was some discontent behind the scenes.
“Well, everyone keeps saying how different it is, but it’s obviously just a new golf course for me so I don’t really know anything different, which is great,” he said.
“It’s great to hear the lads moaning about it inside the locker room, I’m happy with what I see, it’s going to play quite difficult. If you miss fairways, you’re going to struggle to make pars and it’s going to be hard to get the ball close to the pin, so it will be interesting to see how it plays.
“But a new golf course always plays really firm and fast, and that’s what this is doing, but it’s in great shape, the areas, the chipping areas and the greens and everything about the place, it’s in great shape, it should make for a great tournament.”
Pressure is off for the Irishman
Certainly, Lowry probably feels that a lot of pressure is off him as he is starting seven off the lead in a tournament he has never played in before. And that could potentially help him put himself in the mix for one of the bigger wins in his career.
Many will be expecting a positive reaction from Scheffler after his struggles at the BMW Championship last week, and the world number one will also be well aware that someone is likely to be aggressive from the start and make a move which puts him under serious pressure.
Lowry is a major champion with six top 10s this year, so he is definitely someone to look out for if he gets off to a hot start in Atlanta.
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