{"id":802126,"date":"2026-08-04T06:04:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T06:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/802126\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T06:04:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T06:04:22","slug":"east-lake-as-a-championship-series-venue-thats-still-tbd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/802126\/","title":{"rendered":"East Lake as a Championship Series venue? That’s still TBD"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the PGA Tour\u2019s new competitive model comes into focus following a series of announcements last week regarding the 2028 schedule, one of the more intriguing questions involves the circuit\u2019s Atlanta tournament.<\/p>\n

The Tour Championship was first played at East Lake Golf Club in 1998, and the iconic venue became the event\u2019s permanent home in 2004. But the Tour\u2019s new competitive model beginning in \u201928 will include a \u201cnew-look\u201d finale played at a rotation of prestigious courses with a match-play format.<\/p>\n

Where that leaves East Lake remains unclear, but according to a source familiar with the discussions, \u201cthe Tour holds East Lake and the Cousins Foundation in extremely high regard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The source went on to say that the Tour Championship format reflects the circuit\u2019s desire to create a more dynamic match-play competition across a rotation of markets and venues, and shouldn\u2019t be viewed as a diminished commitment to East Lake or Atlanta.<\/p>\n

The source added, \u201cAtlanta remains a priority market and a strong fit for the Championship Series,\u201d which is consistent with what CEO Brian Rolapp and the Tour have said in wanting to bring premier events to major markets.<\/p>\n

Four Championship Series events were announced last week, including the Arnold Palmer Invitational; Travelers Championship; The Sentry at Torrey Pines (Calif.); and a new event that will be sponsored by Sompo, an insurance and financial services company. Adding Atlanta to the growing list of Championship Series events would check multiple boxes for the Tour, including a focus on major markets and iconic venues. Whether the membership at East Lake would embrace a new position on the schedule is unclear.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Arnold<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Like it has done for years, Bay Hill Club and Lodge will continue to host one of the PGA Tour\u2019s marquee events. In 2028, it will be under the Championship Series banner.<\/p>\n

The PGA Tour declined to comment on where East Lake might fit into the new schedule \u2013 which will feature 23-24 events, including the four majors, The Players Championship, the international team competitions and the reimagined postseason \u2013 but the club\u2019s general manager and president, Chad Parker, and chairman, Larry Gellerstedt, informed the membership via a letter in June of the Tour\u2019s interest in hosting a Championship Series event at the club in the spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PGA Tour has asked if we would consider hosting a spring event. For a multitude of reasons, we have expressed to the PGA Tour that it\u2019s not in the club\u2019s or community\u2019s best interest to host a regular season PGA Tour event in the Spring at East Lake Golf Club,\u201d the letter read. \u201cWe will remain open to conversations around potential inclusion in a rotation and anticipate those conversations and further updates from the PGA Tour over the course of the summer. The PGA Tour has shared that the East Lake Foundation is one of their many valued community partners, and they do not expect that to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The East Lake Foundation\u2019s mission of \u201cGolf with a Purpose\u201d has revitalized the area around the golf course with mixed-income housing and \u201ccradle-to-college\u201d education opportunities and it has become the standard for charitable impact on Tour.<\/p>\n

The source familiar with the discussions said the Tour, \u201chas previously explored opportunities for East Lake to host a regular-season Championship Series event as a way to maintain a long-term presence in Atlanta beyond 2027,\u201d and with the finale set to be played at East Lake in 2026 and \u201927, \u201cthere is still time and optimism that a path can be found that works for all parties,\u201d the source added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the PGA Tour\u2019s new competitive model comes into focus following a series of announcements last week regarding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-802126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}