Tour Championship’s Future At East Lake In Question

ATLANTA, GEORGIA – AUGUST 27: Viktor Hovland of Norway plays a shot on the 18th hole during the final round of the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club on August 27, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Getty Images

The PGA Tour comes to a conclusion this week at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, GA, and there are rumors the host site could be changing.

East Lake has hosted the Tour Championship since 2004, when its primary sponsor, Coca-Cola, urged the Tour to move away from its previous rotating site, Champions Golf Club in Houston, TX. Since its inception in 1987, the Tour Championship has been held at eight venues, including Pinehurst No. 2, The Olympic Club, Pebble Beach, Oak Hill, Harbour Town, and Southern Hills.

“It’s been discussed,” said Adam Scott, a player director on the PGA Tour Policy Board. “We’ve questioned everything at some point. I couldn’t tell you contractually how long we’re tied there, but East Lake is where it’s at.”

Title sponsors of the PGA Tour Playoff series may have influenced the location decisions. FedEx, headquartered in Memphis, TN and sponsor of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, helped turn what was once a rotating event into a fixed one. Previously, the Westchester Classic (later known as The Barclays) was held at Westchester Country Club in New York from 1967 to 2007 before rotating between venues along the East Coast.

The BMW Championship, formerly the Western Open, also provides a case study. For decades, the event was tied to Chicago: played at Butler National from 1974 to 1990 and then at Cog Hill from 1991 to 2006. Its proximity to the Western Golf Association’s headquarters played a major role. A rebrand and new title sponsor later, the BMW Championship became a rotating event, ironically no longer confined to the “West.”

“I don’t hear fans say it is an exciting golf course to watch golf,” professional golfer Peter Malnati said of East Lake. “I know it does a lot for the community and that’s very important, but I think it would be cool for our biggest trophy to be given away at a course that really excites fans. But there are a lot of things that have to be done in the right way to make that happen. I think East Lake works really hard to be an amazing host. I’d love to see our fans be excited about where we play the Tour Championship in addition to the tournament itself.”

The current contract with East Lake Golf Club ends in 2027. With the BMW Championship already rotating and frequent player feedback about the heat and humidity in Georgia in August, the Tour Championship could be next to move. SSG, with its $1.5 billion investment into the PGA Tour, might consider adding another stop in its headquarters city, Orlando, FL, though that too would be another steamy summer site.

Jason Day has voiced support for rotating playoff venues, starting with the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, where he struggles at TPC Southwind. “I’m like, when can we leave?” Day said. “But I definitely think we should move around a bit, yeah, for sure.”

Several major metropolitan areas in the U.S. currently lack regular PGA Tour stops but could provide fresh tests if the playoff events rotated. Cities like Chicago, Denver, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, and Portland could all offer championship caliber venues. Cooler climates in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest would also give players a more comfortable environment to compete in.

Normal Tour venues must have facilities for fields of around 150 players, but the reduced playoff fields require less dining, practice, and locker space. However, infrastructure for media, grandstands, and broadcast technology will still be critical factors in venue selection.

With East Lake’s contract expiring, a new investor in the mix, and shifting sponsor priorities, both the Tour Championship and the FedEx St. Jude Championship could soon be on the move.