We're set for some drama at East Lake Golf Club this week at the TOUR Championship on the weekend.
Collin Morikawa, who started nine strokes back of Scottie Scheffler in the starting strokes for the PGA Tour's playoff finale, has gone gangbusters around the famed Atlanta property over the first two rounds to take a share of the lead into the final two rounds. He's not alone, though, as he has hefty competition from BMW Championship winner Viktor Hovland, who is tied atop the TOUR Championship leaderboard with his peer.
Right behind that duo at 16-under is Scheffler in third at 14-under with Keegan Bradley at 14-under and a group of heavy-hitters right behind them all.
But with the starting strokes in play, some golf fans want to know simply what the leaderboard would look like without the staggered start -- commonly referred to as the shadow leaderboard. So let's take a look at that going into the weekend to see which players are dominating the competition this week and which players are resting heavily on their starting strokes at the TOUR Championship.
TOUR Championship leaderboard without starting strokes entering weekend
- 1. Collin Morikawa (-15)
- 2. Keegan Bradley (-10)
- T3. Tyrrell Hatton (-9)
- T3. Xander Schauffele (-9)
- T5. Sam Burns (-8)
- T5. Viktor Hovland (-8)
- 7. Adam Schenk (-7)
- 8. Jon Rahm (-6)
- T9. Matt Fitzpatrick (-5)
- T9. Wyndham Clark (-5)
- T11. Russell Henley (-4)
- T11. Scottie Scheffler (-4)
- T13. Sepp Straka (-3)
- T13. Tom Kim (-3)
- T13. Jason Day (-3)
- T13. Patrick Cantlay (-3)
- T13. Rory McIlroy (-3)
- T13. Max Homa (-3)
- T19. Brian Harman (-2)
- T19. Tony Finau (-2)
- T19. Nick Taylor (-2)
- 22. Lucas Glover (-1)
- 23. Jordan Spieth (E)
- T24. Rickie Fowler (+1)
- T24. Corey Conners (+1)
- T24. Tommy Fleetwood (+1)
- T27. Si Woo Kim (+2)
- T27. Sungjae Im (+2)
- 29. Emiliano Grillo (+5)
- 30. Taylor Moore (+6)
It's no surprise that Morikawa is running away with this thing on the shadow leaderboard at East Lake. As mentioned, he started nine strokes back at 1-under for the TOUR Championship and has climbed up to the top of the leaderboard over the first 36 holes of the tournament. A similar plight is true of Bradley, who started at 3-under and is now in the mix.
Having said that, with how hot those guys have started this week, you have to wonder if that's sustainable over the final 72 holes of the tourament with a monster $18 million payout going to the winner of the FedEx Cup.
We will soon find out, but it's looking like we could be in for a thriller to end the PGA Tour season.