Million-dollar march to East Lake is set

Each tournament carries an $8 million purse. The Tour Championship winner will receive $1.44 million.

McIlroy’s hot streak of winning his past three tournaments, including the British Open and PGA Championship, is one of the reasons that ticket sales for the Tour Championship are on pace with last year’s, according to Tom Clark, the tournament’s executive director.

“We have noticed that there is an awful lot of excitement for Rory McIlroy,” he said.

The Tour Championship hopes to average 25,000 tickets sold per day from Wednesday-Sunday. Last year’s tournament reached a sell-out with walk-up sales. Tickets are available at www.pgatour.com/ttc. Teens and children less than 18 years old are free when accompanied by an adult who has a ticket.

The field has the potential for fun.

Henrik Stenson, last year’s FedEx Cup champ, enters at No. 70 in the rankings.

There are almost as many players with local ties in the top 125 as there are allowed clubs in a bag.

In addition to Watson, No. 3 in the standings, among the locals are former Georgia Tech standout Matt Kuchar (No. 4), former Georgia and Augusta State standout Patrick Reed (No. 9) along with former Bulldogs Chris Kirk (No. 10). Brendon Todd (No. 12) and Harris English (No. 17).

Augusta native Charles Howell III is at No. 33 with a good chance of making it to East Lake. Another former Bulldog, Russell Henley, is at No. 50 with some work to do to make it to Atlanta. Acworth’s Jason Bohn has had a nice bounce-back year with three top-10 finishes and is No. 59.

Former Georgia Tech standout Cameron Tringale is at No. 61, followed by another Bulldog, Erik Compton, at No. 65. Two Yellow Jackets, Stewart Cink (No. 109) and Bryce Molder (No. 122) squeaked into playoffs.