The PGA Tour announced that it is reversing the front and back nines at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta in an effort to create more excitement on the final hole of the Tour Championship, which determines the winner of the season-long FedEx Cup Race.
Instead of finishing with a 235-yard par-3, the 18th hole will be a 551-yard par-5 that is very reachable for the best golfers in the world.
“I think it’s very interesting,” said Jordan Spieth, ranked No. 1 in the world and the reigning FedEx Cup champion. “I think it would make for a finish where you see a birdie or eagle more than pars, like it has been in the past.”
In fact, reversing the nine should create some very interesting scenarios on the last five holes.
The new 14th hole is a 500-yard par 4 that has played as the most difficult hole on the course, while the 15th is a 168-yard par-3 with a peninsula green.
The 16th (417 yards) and 17th (355 yards) are par-4s that present good birdie opportunities.
And over the last decade in the Tour Championship, nearly half the field (46 percent) has gone for the green in two on the par-5 ninth, whichyielded the longest average driving distance of any hole on the course.
Since 1998, the par-3 18th, which is now the ninth hole, has produced more than 313 bogeys or worse, and only 153 birdies.
