ATLANTA — There is something pretty special about sitting in the media center at East Lake on a Saturday afternoon and watching the TOUR Championship unfold just a few hundred yards away.
You can feel the tournament.
The leaderboard is moving. Players are coming through the closing stretch. Reporters are filing stories, photographers are moving between positions, and somewhere beyond the media tent, another group of the best golfers in the world is trying to win the FedExCup.
And from the perspective of someone actually here covering it, there is one thought that keeps coming back:
East Lake is a damn good place to host a golf tournament.
That shouldn’t be a controversial statement. But sometimes the simplest things are worth saying.
East Lake works.
It Feels Like a Tournament
There are plenty of modern golf venues capable of hosting a PGA TOUR event.
East Lake feels different.
It has history built into the property. Bobby Jones grew up playing here. Donald Ross’ fingerprints are all over the course. The club dates to 1904, and the TOUR Championship has called East Lake home since 2004.
You don’t have to manufacture atmosphere here.
It’s already there.
Walk around the property during tournament week and you are constantly reminded that you’re standing somewhere that has mattered to golf for a very long time.
And then you look up and see Tommy Fleetwood, Patrick Cantlay, Russell Henley or Scottie Scheffler walking toward the next tee.
That’s a pretty good combination.
The Media Experience Matters
This is something that doesn’t always get enough attention when tournaments are discussed.
A great event isn’t only about what happens between the ropes.
It’s also about whether the people covering it can actually cover it well.
East Lake has been very accommodating to the media throughout this tournament.
The media facilities are functional, the course is accessible, the action is close, and there is a genuine sense that the people running the event understand what the media is there to do.
That’s important.
We’re here to tell the story of the tournament.
We need to see the players. We need to get to our positions. We need a place to work. We need access to the information and resources that allow us to turn what we’re watching into something meaningful for the people who aren’t here.
East Lake has made that process relatively seamless.
And when you’re filing from a media tent while a 30-player field is fighting for a $10 million prize, seamless is a compliment.
Fans Get the Good Stuff, Too
The same thing that makes East Lake work for media makes it work for fans.
You’re close.
You can hear the shots.
You can watch a player work through his routine without feeling like you’re looking at him from another zip code.
That’s particularly valuable at an event like the TOUR Championship, where the field is limited to 30 players.
There aren’t 156 golfers spread across 18 holes.
There are 30.
You can actually follow the tournament.
Pick a group. Follow a player. Camp out around a green. Watch the leaderboard.
Then move.
It makes the day feel like an event rather than a television broadcast that happens to be taking place in front of you.
And the Golf Has Been Damn Good
Of course, none of this matters if the golf course can’t produce good golf.
East Lake has done that, too.
Russell Henley opened this year’s tournament with a ridiculous 9-under 61.
Tommy Fleetwood and Henley shared the 36-hole lead at 13-under.
Then Patrick Cantlay shot 64 Saturday to join Fleetwood at 16-under entering Sunday.
Henley is two back.
Keegan Bradley is three back.
Scottie Scheffler is four back.
That’s not a bad leaderboard.
And it doesn’t feel like the course is forcing the drama.
The players are creating it.
That’s the sweet spot.
East Lake gives players opportunities, but it also has enough teeth that a bad decision can change a tournament quickly.
We’ve watched that happen all week.
Should the TOUR Championship Rotate?
Maybe.
Honestly, I understand the argument.
There are a lot of great golf courses in this country, and the TOUR has every right to showcase them.
A rotating TOUR Championship could bring the FedExCup to different markets, introduce fans to new venues and create a fresh setting for the season finale.
That’s a perfectly reasonable idea.
But there is an equally reasonable argument for keeping East Lake in the mix.
Because there is value in a tournament having a home.
The Masters belongs at Augusta National.
The Players belongs at TPC Sawgrass.
The U.S. Open doesn’t have one permanent course, but individual venues become part of its history when it returns.
And the TOUR Championship has developed that relationship with East Lake.
You don’t have to choose between innovation and tradition.
You can have both.
Georgia Can Handle More Golf
There is also a practical point here.
Georgia loves golf.
The Masters isn’t going anywhere. East Lake has proven it can support the TOUR Championship. The state has the golf infrastructure, the fan base and the market to host multiple major events.
There is no reason Georgia has to be an either-or proposition.
Augusta can be Augusta.
Atlanta can be Atlanta.
Those experiences are completely different.
And that’s a good thing.
A golf fan doesn’t want every tournament to feel the same.
Give us the manicured perfection of Augusta in April.
Give us the history and urban character of East Lake in August.
Give us different courses, different atmospheres and different stories.
That’s what makes following professional golf fun.
East Lake Oozes History
That’s ultimately what keeps bringing me back to the same conclusion while sitting here today.
East Lake has a soul.
That sounds like something you would put on a tourism brochure, but spend a tournament week here and it becomes obvious.
The course has seen Bobby Jones.
It has seen generations of Atlanta.
It has seen the PGA TOUR’s best players compete for the FedExCup.
And now we’re sitting here watching another chapter unfold.
That’s pretty cool.
Not every venue needs to be the newest, biggest or most technologically advanced place on the schedule.
Sometimes the best thing a venue can offer is a sense that you’re somewhere important.
East Lake has that.
