The PGA Tour 2018-19 season ends this weekend at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
About the only thing that hasn’t changed in this event since last year is the venue as the PGA Tour playoff finale returns to the legendary Bobby Jones/Rees Jones track for the 15th consecutive season.
Among the changes in 2019:
- A new champion. Tiger Woods, the 2018 winner, failed to make the FedEx Cup Playoffs top-30 cutoff this past weekend at the BMW Championship.
- A new date. This year the PGA Tour schedule will end a month earlier than it did in 2018, thanks to a push to finish before football season.
- A new purse. There is no PGA Tour prize money up for grabs this week. However, there is $60 million in FedEx Cup bonus money that will be awarded at East Lake, a single-event PGA Tour record. Any money won this week will not count toward each player’s PGA Tour season earnings. The season earnings were finalized with the BMW Championship.
- A new first prize. The winner of the Tour Championship gets $15 million, up from the $10 million won by Justin Rose last year.
- A new format. The winner of this tournament will be the winner of the 2019 FedEx Cup. Full stop. No longer will there be a Tour Championship winner and a different FedEx Cup winner, such as what happened last year with Woods and Rose. This means that Jason Kokrak, who is the last player in the 30-man field thanks to a late rush Sunday at the BMW Championship, can be the 2019 FedEx Cup Champion with a victory at East Lake.
- A new scoring set-up. The players in this field have been awarded strokes based on their place in the FedEx Cup Standings after the BMW Championship. Justin Thomas, No. 1 in the standings after his win at the BMW Championship, begins play Thursday at 10-under par. Patrick Cantlay, second in the standings, will begin at 8-under. The scores are weighted accordingly for each of the 30 players in the field.
Given the size of the field, the tee times will be compressed to allow for the most exposure for the event’s cable/network telecast. There is no cut.
TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP: Purse | FedEx Cup Standings | Odds
Each golfer in the field is guaranteed a minimum of $395,000 in FedEx Cup bonus money.
Here are the Round 1 tee times for the Tour Championship at East Lake.
Tour Championship Tee Times
All times are Eastern.
1st Tee – Thursday
| Tee Time | Players |
| 11:45 a.m. | Lucas Glover, Jason Kokrak |
| 11:55 a.m. | Louis Oosthuizen, Charles Howell III |
| 12:05 p.m. | Chez Reavie, Bryson DeChambeau |
| 12:15 p.m. | Corey Conners, Sungjae Im |
| 12:25 p.m. | Marc Leishman, Tommy Fleetwood |
| 12:35 p.m. | Rickie Fowler, Kevin Kisner |
| 12:45 p.m. | Justin Rose, Brandt Snedeker |
| 12:55 p.m. | Hideki Matsuyama, Paul Casey |
| 1:05 p.m. | Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson |
| 1:15 p.m. | Gary Woodland, Tony Finau |
| 1:25 p.m. | Webb Simpson, Abraham Ancer |
| 1:35 p.m. | Matt Kuchar, Xander Schauffele |
| 1:45 p.m. | Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm |
| 1:55 p.m. | Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed |
| 2:05 p.m. | Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay |
BMW Championship – TV, Online Info
Thursday, Aug. 22
Golf Channel: 1 – 6 p.m.
PGA Tour Live: 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Featured Groups)
PGA Tour Radio: 12 – 6 p.m. (XM 92/Sirius 208)
Friday, Aug. 23
Golf Channel: 1 – 6 p.m.
PGA Tour Live: 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. (Featured Groups)
PGA Tour Radio: 12 – 6 p.m. (XM 92/Sirius 208)
Saturday, Aug. 24
Golf Channel: 1 – 2 :30 p.m.
NBC: 2:30 – 7 p.m.
PGA Tour Radio: 2 – 7 p.m. (XM 92/Sirius 208)
Sunday, Aug. 25
Golf Channel: 12 – 1:30 p.m.
NBC: 1:30 – 6 p.m.
PGA Tour Radio: 1 – 6 p.m. (XM 92/Sirius 208)
