Tour Championship 2014: A preview of this week's FedEx Cup finale at East Lake

The 2014 PGA Tour season reaches a climax this weekend when the end-of-season Tour Championship takes place in Georgia.

For the 14th time in its history, East Lake plays host as the top 29 golfers (Dustin Johnson is absent) battle it out for the FedEx Cup trophy and the monstrous $10m bonus fund. 

Live PGA Tour Golf

All 29 players in the field can strike the jackpot but only the top five in the standings - Chris Kirk, Billy Horschel, Bubba Watson, Rory McIlroy and Hunter Mahan - have their destiny in their own hands.

For sixth-ranked Jimmy Walker, a win would virtually seal the $10m although a solo second from Kirk would deny him. Walker could also finish second and have a mathematical chance of landing the FedEx Cup.

For 29th-ranked Gary Woodland, it's a massive long-shot. He'd have to win and hope Kirk finishes tied 27th or worse. Even then, a high finish for any of the players ranked second to sixth would deny him.

Opened 110 years ago, this famous Atlanta course fell into disrepair not long after staging the 1963 Ryder Cup and was only restored to its former glories in the mid-1990s.

East Lake, the course where legendary American amateur Bobby Jones learned the game, returned to the PGA Tour schedule in 1998 when it staged the Tour Championship for the first time.

The texture of its greens changed ahead of the 2008 tournament when the putting surfaces were switched from Bentgrass to Bermuda as part of a general renovation carried out by Rees Jones.

Lowest rounds at East Lake

60 Zach Johnson (2007)
62 Bart Bryant (2005)
62 Tim Clark (2007)
62 Geoff Ogilvy (2007)

Note: The lowest rounds since the greens were changed from Bentgrass to Bermuda are 63s by Nick Watney in 2010 and Webb Simpson last year.

East Lake: Par 70; 7,307 yards

Winning totals last 5 years

2013 Henrik Stenson (-13)
2012 Brandt Snedeker (-10)
2011 Bill Haas (-8)
2010 Jim Furyk (-8)
2009 Phil Mickelson (-9)

Fatigue

At this time of year, fatigue (mental and physical) must be a huge factor given the long and sustained run of big events over the last few months. Plenty of players have mentioned their lack of a break and it's pretty easy to see the evidence (Rory McIlroy's four-putts last week an obvious example). So, taking into account the 13 weeks of golf that started with the US Open in mid June, here's how many times the field have teed it up during that period. We'll start with the most over-golfed:

11 Patrick Reed
10 Hunter Mahan, Webb Simpson, Bill Haas, Morgan Hoffman
9 Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Martin Kaymer, Zach Johnson, Jimmy Walker, Jason Day, Chris Kirk, Hideki Matsuyama, Gary Woodland, Kevin Na, Russell Henley, Brendon Todd
8 Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Matt Kuchar, Billy Horschel, Ryan Palmer, Geoff Ogilvy, John Senden
7 Adam Scott, Cameron Tringale

Conclusion

It's fair to say Adam Scott enjoys playing in Georgia given that he won the 2013 Masters there and this very tournament in 2006.

As the stats above show, Scott (along with Cameron Tringale) is also the most lightly-raced of the 29 competitors taking part.

That extra freshness must help and given that we can see him go off at 14/1 in majors, the 10/1 to beat just 28 jaded rivals seems a decent price.