Internal OB added to TOUR Championship’s 18th, sixth holes

During a TOUR Championship practice round, FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler toyed with playing from the par-5 18th tee to the par-4 10th fairway at restored East Lake, lessening risk and setting up a more aggressive second shot into the final green.

That will not be a possibility.

The 10th fairway has been designated as internal out-of-bounds when played from the 18th hole, the PGA TOUR Rules Committee announced Wednesday. The two holes run in parallel, with the 585-yard, par-5 18th fairway featuring a grove of trees down the right side; a potential path down the 10th could set up on approach that plays roughly 5 to 10 yards shorter, without the threat of a pond that has been extended in Andrew Green’s East Lake restoration and guards the 18th hole’s layup zone.

Additionally, the seventh fairway has been designated as internal OB while playing from No. 6. The holes also run in parallel, with the 495-yard, par-4 seventh fairway potentially a more appealing angle of attack from the 525-yard, par-5 sixth tee. This angle will not be permitted in TOUR Championship competition.

“This decision was made primarily out of safety concerns, specifically to prevent players from effectively putting people in harm's way by taking an alternate route," said Chief Referee Gary Young. "When it sounds like that is going to be a possibility, it necessitates an internal boundary.”

FedExCup No. 1 Scheffler, who will begin the TOUR Championship with a two-stroke lead over Xander Schauffele in the Starting Strokes format, met the media Tuesday before the internal OB determination was made. He considered the angle down No. 10 a “safer play,” with a difficult layup from the rough off the 18th fairway and an approach shot into a green that is “extraordinarily hard to hold,” he said, with three bunkers guarding the green’s front portion and an expected firm test on the restored East Lake venue.

Before the restoration, the 18th hole’s cross-pond was in play well back in the fairway but required a shorter carry, with ample room between the fairway and green. After the restoration, a second shot from the rough off the 18th fairway might need to be chipped “10 yards down the fairway,” rather than attempting to carry the pond, Scheffler said Tuesday.

On an angle from the 10th fairway to the 18th green, that water hazard wouldn’t be in play.

“If you hit it into the right rough, you're now hitting it over a pond to a fairway that's pretty narrow,” Scheffler said in his Tuesday press conference. “If you hit it in the left rough, you probably can't hold the green from there, and if you don't get it to the fairway, you're going to be in the water. It seems like a safer play to take all that out of play, hit it down 10.”

Scheffler wasn’t alone in attempting an angle down No. 10 on Tuesday. FedExCup No. 2 Schauffele said he hit two balls down the 10th as well. Schauffele also attempted hitting potential layup shots from the rough, across the pond and into the “little sliver of fairway,” as he described it, for a wedge approach. He noted the fairway’s camber that could deflect a ball into the rough, with the green’s firmness making it difficult to hold a green that runs away – even with a high-lofted club.

“If you're going into the rough, I don't think anyone on this property can hold a green hitting a lob wedge or sand wedge out of the rough into the green, unless it's a really long one that I haven't seen or with a backstop,” Schauffele said Tuesday. “But you need to be in the fairway to do some damage out here.”

Last week’s BMW Championship winner Keegan Bradley learned of the internal OB news Wednesday morning, just before meeting the media. The FedExCup No. 4 said he had planned to take a line down the 10th fairway from the 18th tee before hearing the news.

“That’s an interesting wrinkle to everything,” Bradley said.

It’s a fascinating finale at the FedExCup Playoffs finale, with the newly announced internal OB set to further heighten the drama.