PGA Tour takes action making 2 holes “out of bounds” after Scottie Scheffler's criticism of East Lake Course
Scottie Scheffler has had the opportunity to scan the course at East Lake Golf Club, home of the TOUR Championship. Scheffler said the new design had created major difficulties on the right side of the 18th fairway, which set off alarm bells on the PGA Tour.
The difficulty mentioned by Scottie Scheffler caused players to explore the possibility of approaching the 18th green from the adjacent 10th fairway. To prevent this, the PGA Tour Rules Committee declared an out of bounds rule for a portion of the course.
This was reported by The Athletic's Gabby Herzig on her personal X account:
"Players were experimenting with playing the renovated 18th hole at East Lake down the 10th fairway because as Scottie Scheffler said, there's "nowhere really to lay up." The PGA Tour just made it Internal Out of Bounds (as well as playing the 6th hole down the 7th fairway)."
The out of bounds rule states that a certain area of the course is not part of the "playable" area. If the ball lands there, the player must take a penalty stroke and play from the original position.
Scottie Scheffler talked about the difficulties of the 18th hole during his pre-tournament press conference. Here is part of what he had to say (via ASAP Sports):
"The way they reshaped the fairway there...it's a very difficult fairway to hit, and if your ball goes into the right rough and you don't get a good lie, you have to chip it 10 yards down the fairway because there's nowhere really to lay up."
At the same point in his testimony, Scottie Scheffler said he was exploring the possibility of using the 10th fairway to return to the 18th if his ball ended up in a bad lie in the right rough. According to Herzig's report, other players were exploring the same possibility.
What else Scottie Scheffler talked about at the press conference
The renovation of the East Lake Golf Club course was a major topic of Scottie Scheffler's press conference. The World No. 1 said the TOUR Championship venue is a "completely new" course compared to last year.
Scheffler also reiterated some of his thoughts on the current FedEx Cup playoff format. He said the playoffs identify the player who is in the best shape at the end of the season, but not the player who has played the best throughout the season.
The World No. 1 also talked about Xander Schauffele, who is expected to compete with Scheffler for PGA Tour Player of the Year honors. Scheffler said he admires his hard work and that he has earned the success he has had.