PGA Tour Makes Great Decision to Flip Front, Back Nines at Tour Championship

The PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup can most certainly be considered a resounding success, if for no other reason than that it is far better than what existed prior to the playoffs, which was nothing at all.

Prior to 2007, most of the top players in the world would pack it in for the year in late August following the PGA Championship, and we wouldn’t see them again until sometime in January.

Sure, you still need a doctorate in mathematics from MIT to understand the FedEx Cup point system, but many fans seemed to have moved on from even attempting to comprehend the point system and are now simply content with watching the top players in the game face off against one another during a four-tournament playoff stretch in September.

While the point system may be a lost cause, there are some lingering issues with the FedEx Cup that the PGA Tour has the ability to correct, one of which is the largely uninteresting finish to the Tour Championship.

This has been more of a golf-course issue than anything else, and the good news is that just this past week the PGA Tour took what some may describe as a long overdue step of switching the front and back nines at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta for the 2016 Tour Championship.

Since 2011, the top three players and ties on the leaderboard during the final round have played the 17th and 18th holes at East Lake Golf Club at five over par, with only two birdies recorded in the past three years.

During the past five years, the top three players and ties have played the par-three 18th at two over par during the final round while recording just two birdies.

The former 17th hole (now the eighth hole) is a somewhat interesting hole in that it contains a lake lining the left side of the fairway, but at its core it is nothing more than a par-and-move-on hole.

The former 18th hole (now the ninth hole) is a 207-yard uphill par three where players simply hold on for dear life and are thrilled with penciling in a par on their scorecards.

Rainier Ehrhardt/Associated Press

Aside from 2011, where a drought happened to provide Bill Haas the opportunity to hit his ball out of a few centimeters of water next to the 17th green during a playoff with Hunter Mahan, the closing stretch at East Lake has provided few memorable moments.

But that is all about to change in 2016.

The new closing stretch at the Tour Championship will now consist of the following four holes:

• 15th: a 168-yard par three where players are forced to hit to an island green. This is arguably the most exciting hole on the entire golf course.
• 16th: a fairly ordinary par four but certainly not a bogey hole.
• 17th: a short 355-yard par four that is very much a birdie hole.
• 18th: a 551-yard par five that is reachable in two and provides players with an excellent chance to finish their round with a birdie or even an eagle.

The top three players and ties on the leaderboard during the final round have played the eighth and ninth holes (now the 17th and 18th holes) at eight under par and have produced 14 birdies over the past five years.

While pressure and standing on the leaderboard can certainly impact the way in which a player attacks the final few holes of any tournament, let’s for argument's sake say that players would have produced the same scores even with the nines reversed since the start of the FedEx Cup.

In 2011, this would have resulted in Haas coming up and tying Mahan with a birdie at the 18th rather than grinding out a par at the last.

Andy Wong/Associated Press

Back in 2009, instead of recording just one birdie on the back nine and holding on for two pars at Nos. 17 and 18, Phil Mickelson would have defeated Tiger Woods by playing the new back nine (which was the front nine at that time) at four under par and closing out his round with birdies on the final two holes.

In 2008 Camilo Villegas defeated Sergio Garcia in a playoff (even though Vijay Singh won the FedEx Cup title). Neither player recorded a birdie at the former 18th, but if the nines were reversed, Villegas would have closed out his round with two consecutive birdies to tie Garcia at seven under par.

The ultimate winners may not have differed in any way even if the nines had been reversed at East Lake since 2007. However, the order in which their scores were posted would have changed everything as it relates to the excitement factor down the stretch.

Hitting birdies at Nos. 8 and 9 and then closing the tournament with grinding pars at Nos. 17 and 18 is significantly less exciting than notching ordinary pars on eight and nine and then finishing the tournament with a torrid two- or even three-under run at the final two holes.

The foundation of the FedEx Cup is in place, and there is not a great deal left that should, or even could, be changed moving forward.

But swapping the front and back nines at East Lake was a simple adjustment that will change the entire complexion of the Tour Championship and provide fans with a considerably more exciting conclusion to the playoffs.

When it comes to the FedEx Cup playoffs, the PGA Tour has often been criticized for poor decisions but rarely commended for good ones.

While some may contend that this should have been done years ago, let’s take a moment and give credit where credit is due, because this decision to swap the nines at a historically significant golf course may well be the best FedEx Cup decision the Tour has made since 2007.