The Tour Championship

Beginning at the Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club and continuing through the BMW Championship in Missouri at Bellerive Country Club, the players are in the midst of an 8-month-long race to make the top 30 in FedEx Cup points to punch their ticket to the Tour Championship. And win. Although the four major championships have the most glory and prestige attached to them, East Lake is where the money is made. The prize purse at the Tour Championship is a staggering 40 million dollars, with the victor taking home 10 million, more than double that of the next highest on the calendar.

The final showdown is held at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia, which became the permanent host for the tournament in 2004. The inaugural tournament was held in 1987 (formerly known as the Nabisco Championship until 1991) at Oak Hills Country Club in Texas, won by Tom Watson. Other notable courses that have held the tournament prior include Pebble Beach Golf Links (1988), Pinehurst No.2 (1991, 1992), The Olympic Club (1993, 1994), and Southern Hills Country Club (1995, 1996).

2025 gave us one of the most iconic, storybook endings anyone could have asked for. Tommy Fleetwood finally conquered his demons on the PGA Tour and won for the first time after a grueling 44 top-10 finishes before doing so. And what a place to do it. East Lake was the track the infamous Bobby Jones learned to play golf and regarded as his home course throughout his entire life, winning his first tournament at the venue at age six. In more recent memory, the likes of Tiger Woods (2007, 2018), Phil Mickelson (2009), Rory McIlroy (2016, 2019, 2022), and Scottie Scheffler (2024) have left victorious on the hallowed grounds of East Lake Golf Club. The course officially opened in 1908, originally designed by Tom Bendelow, which would later be redesigned in 1915 by arguably the most famous golf course architect who has ever lived, Donald Ross. Now, under the PGA Tour’s upcoming new matchplay model for the Tour Championship, East Lake’s tenure as a permanent venue is coming to an end in 2028. Browse the archive now and get your piece of Tour Championship history.

— Chal Sergent · 11 August 2026