Scottie Scheffler Revealed His 18th Tee Strategy and the PGA TOUR Just Eliminated It

Scottie Scheffler revealed what his plans were for the 18th hole at East Lake, but the course and the PGA TOUR just eliminated any chance of it being used.

Scheffler said in a press conference before the first round tomorrow that he planned to take his tee shot over to the 10th fairway in an effort to have an easier angle into the 18th green.

East Lake did a massive renovation since last year and now it appears the better strategy, at least to Scheffler, was to hit it into another fairway:

“It seems like a safer play to take all that out of play, hit it down 10. The green is going to be pretty extraordinarily hard to hold anyways with it being a downslope and having a long club in there. It’s more you’re playing for birdies. There is less opportunity I think for eagle than there was before.”

Scheffler added:

“The way they reshaped the fairway there, the fairway crowns like this and 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. Before there used to be some opportunity there, where now there’s not. You’re now hitting it across the lake. If you hit it into the right rough, you’re now hitting it over a pond to a fairway that’s pretty narrow. 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.

However, the PGA TOUR just announced an internal Out-of-Bounds for the 18th hole, and that anyone who goes to the 10th fairway will be assessed a one-stroke penalty:

“For the safety of spectators, players, caddies, and everyone on property at East Lake Golf Club, the PGA TOUR Rules Committee has established two internal boundaries for this week’s TOUR Championship. The fairway on No. 7 is out of bounds during play of No. 6, and the fairway on No. 10 is out of bounds during play of No. 18.”

The internal OB debate…

The @PGATour just announced that the red option here will be out-of-bounds on 18 at East Lake this week.

Easy to see why.

Left drive is 320, leaves 225 to the front.
Right drive is 320, leaves 233.

The right fairway is cambered. The left is not. pic.twitter.com/SVMe25qphC

— Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) August 28, 2024

Chief Referee Gary Young added:

“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. When it sounds like that is going to be a possibility, it necessitates an internal boundary.”

Cover Image via The New York Times