For the first time in FedExCup history, the Tour Championship will feature a staggered start which has Justin Thomas holding the East Lake aces.
But the best way to handle the advantage? Not to think about it.
‘I’m just going to have to try to play another golf tournament and act like everyone’s staring at zero and try to shoot the lowest 72 holes,’ said Thomas, who won his tenth title last week at the BMW Championship.
He started the final 18 holes at Medinah Country Club with a six-shot lead, but Patrick Cantlay had reduced that to just two with eight holes to play.
JT admitted to feeling ‘really nervous’ before steadying himself and going on to win.
Thomas will start five shots ahead of Rory McIlroy, who’s fifth in the FedExCup, and 10 shots ahead of the last five players, including Louis Oosthuizen, to qualify for the TOUR Championship.
When McIlroy won both the FedExCup and TOUR Championship three years ago, he made up three shots in the final three holes before winning in a playoff. The lowest score in relation to par, including the starting strokes, wins both titles this week. McIlroy has a target score, not Thomas, at the front of his mind.
The winning score at East Lake has been between 11 and 13 under par in four of the last five years (it was 9 under in the other year).
‘If I was in JT’s position, it would be, OK, I’m just going to set myself a target for the week. You say, “OK, I’m going to go out and shoot 67 every day.” No one should beat me if I do that,’ McIlroy said.
‘I think you have to just control what you can.’
Cantlay said he’d want some odds if Thomas asked for two shots in a match at home in Jupiter, Florida, even if it was 72 holes. Like Thomas, Cantlay also has a win this season. Cantlay overcame a large deficit in the final round of his victory at the Memorial, while Thomas watched his lead get whittled away.
Cantlay was four shots behind 54-hole leader Martin Kaymer entering the final round at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Cantlay’s 64 was the low final round by a winner in tournament history. He beat Kaymer by eight on that day.
‘I felt like I was always chasing that day,’ Cantlay said.
This week, his pursuit begins Thursday. He will play in the shadow of Thomas in Thursday’s final group.
‘There isn’t a person on the planet that’s experienced this before, for the stakes it’s for,’ Thomas said. ‘I’m just going to try to deal with it the best I can.’
