Jon Rahm was tired.
For good reason.
The Masters champion took on a lot before and after his major title in Augusta earlier this year.
“Well, it was the first time for me being in contention for so many weeks in a row, and being in contention, every time it’s a little bit more taxing, especially Sundays if you’re on the lead or close to the lead mentally, right?” Rahm said Tuesday before the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. “You think you’re always putting the same output, but the pressure’s a little bit different, right?
“So just leading up to the Masters and what that week was, I mean, with the delays and the weekend I had to play, I was a little bit tired. I went to Hilton Head and still performed good. I never quite did have enough time to be able to, like I would say, fully recover from that. It was like a slow process for that to happen.”
Rahm enters the Tour Championship fourth in the FedEx Cup point standings. He will start at 6 under par, four strokes behind leader Scottie Scheffler.
Rahm is making his seventh consecutive appearance at the Tour Championship. He is tied with Tony Finau and Xander Schauffele for the longest active streak.
There were lessons learned after the busy schedule. There’s always another week.
“It’s a good thing that happened,” Rahm said. “I learned a lot about myself, and hopefully for the next time I’ll be better prepared to handle it.”
Bulldogs at East Lake
Three Georgia golfers made it to East Lake Golf Club for the 30-player field at the Tour Championship. Brian Harman, Russell Henley and Sepp Straka will compete for the $18 million winner’s payday.
Harman enters at No. 8 in the point standings and will start at 4 under par, six strokes behind leader Scheffler. The winner of the British Open is making his second consecutive and third overall appearance at the Tour Championship.
Henley enters at No. 12 and will start at 3 under par. He is making his third appearance at the Tour Championship.
Straka was the last player in the field at No. 30. He will start at even par. He is making his second consecutive appearance at the Tour Championship after finishing seventh last year.
Helping East Lake community
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said the tour is responsible for more than $5 million given to the East Lake community.
Monahan spoke Tuesday in advance of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club and noted the tour’s charitable giving.
“We have played a part in transforming and revitalizing this entire community,” Monahan said. “We will generate over $5 million for East Lake and purpose-built communities. We’re doing that thanks to the support of partners like FedEx, Coke, Southern Company, and Accenture, and we’re doing it because there’s a great man and a great family in the (Tom) Cousins family that saw this. They saw this a long time ago, and we’ve partnered every step of the way to help achieve what you see out here, and again, that comes back to the competitive strength on full display and our impact will be on full display once again.”
Weather forecast
The Atlanta weather forecast calls for it to be hot and sunny the first part of the Tour Championship. There is a chance for rain during the weekend’s final two rounds. High temperatures are expected to be 96 on Thursday, 98 on Friday, 99 on Saturday and 91 on Sunday. There is a 20% chance of an isolated thunderstorm after 2 p.m. Saturday and a 30% chance of an isolated thunderstorm after 2 p.m. Sunday.
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