Local Knowledge: East Lake and the Tour Championship

Rick Burton, PGA Director of Golf and General Manager of East Lake Golf Club, took a few moments prior to the start of this week's FedExCup finale -- the Tour Championship presented by Coca-Cola -- to talk about the importance of the tournament and how some familiar faces will be missing this year.

PGA.com: This is going to be an exciting week down at East Lake, Rick. We have several players still in the hunt for the FedExCup. Tell us a little about what the atmosphere is like. Hopefully all the weather you've had lately isn't putting a damper on things.

Tiger Woods goes into this week as the No. 1 player in the FedExCup standings. (Halleran/Getty Images)

Burton: "I think everyone is really excited. Ticket sales are ahead of last year. The rain has hurt us, but the weather gets better after today. It'll be back to our seasonal weather, which usually means just a quick thunder shower in the late afternoon. It's definitely wet here, but I think it's going to be a great tournament. There's a lot of excitement in Atlanta over it, as well as nationally."

PGA.com: Some familiar faces that have done well at East Lake in the past won't be around this year, including defending champion Camilo Villegas and defending FedExCup champion, Vijay Singh. Those are two players you expect to see there every year, aren't they?

Burton: "You would expect them to be here, especially a player like Vijay. But with the way they changed the points system, you need to play your way in. You need to play well. It's a good system, I think. Those guys just weren't playing well enough at the right time. It's too bad that they won't be here, but that's how it goes in the playoffs."

PGA.com: For a while there, East Lake was a place where players could go pretty low. However, you guys made some changes there last year and the winning score was only 7 under -- the highest winning score since Hal Sutton won in 1998 at 6 under. What do you think was the single biggest reason for harnessing the low scores?

Burton: "I think the scores in the past have been 11-, 12-, 13-under, which isn't real low, but last year when we changed to Bermuda greens, the greens are much firmer than we could ever get the old bentgrass greens this time of year. When you change to firmer and faster greens, the players have to keep it in the fairway to be able to stop the ball on the green. Before, players could hit a tee shot in the rough and still hold the green with an approach. That doesn't happen now. When you miss it makes getting up and down more difficult than usual, too. That's the biggest thing. If you asked the players, they would say the wind and firm greens are the reasons why East Lake is a much tougher course now."

PGA.com: With Villegas out this year, is it safe to say that Tiger Woods is a defending champion of sorts, seeing as he wasn't able to defend his title last season?

Burton: "I would think so. Certainly he's favored, which is no surprise."

PGA.com: What's the most exciting aspect of hosting the Tour Championship for you?

Burton: "I think the most exciting thing for me is the fact that we have over 1,000 volunteers that are excited about this tournament. They're so fired up and excited about making the tournament run smooth. That's what's exciting for me. They want to see to it that the event goes off without a hitch. Their enthusiasm is just contagious and it's hard not to get motivated when you see how excited those volunteers are. They do a tremendous job and this tournament couldn't be the great success it is without them.