Chris Kirk agrees with Tour Championship’s controversial decision to invoke internal out-of-bounds

The PGA Tour announced that it would establish internal out-of-bounds during the Tour Championship. Chris Kirk agrees with the decision.

ATLANTA — During his session with the media on Tuesday, Scottie Scheffler revealed a new strategy PGA Tour pros had decided to employ from the 18th tee.

Instead of playing down its intended fairway—a challenging one to find, if I may add—numerous pros hit their tee shots down the par-4 10th, which runs parallel to East Lake’s closing hole. Playing down the 10th provides players with an easier angle while taking the famous lake out of play—a no-brainer for golfers of this caliber. Countless trees also came down between the 10th and 18th fairways as part of Andrew Green’s restoration, thus making it easier to play East Lake’s final hole from the 10th.

When Tour Championship officials learned this, they invoked internal out-of-bounds on the 10th for safety reasons and to protect the integrity of East Lake’s recent restoration. Now, players cannot bomb it down the 10th fairway, unless they want to hit their third shot from the 18th tee.

The PGA Tour also established internal out-of-bounds on the par-4 7th for those playing the uphill, dogleg right par-5 6th for similar reasons.

Nevertheless, Chris Kirk, who returns to East Lake for the first time since 2014, agreed with the tour’s decision.

“I think it’s very necessary. I talked to [PGA Tour Vice President of Rules & Officiating] Steve Rintoul and a few officials yesterday while playing a practice round. I hadn’t played the hole yet, and not that they were looking for advice from me, but I encouraged them to do something just because that’s not how the hole is designed,” Kirk explained on Wednesday.

“For us as players, we’re going to do whatever we feel like is going to give us the best score, and it sounded to me that was a no-brainer to go down No. 10.”

The 18th fairway moves sharply from right to left and plays downhill. Players will face a difficult stance for their second, as the steep grade of the fairway forces a low-ball flight from impact—not the desired trajectory for trying to find a firm, fast green in two. The 10th, meanwhile, plays much flatter, and players could, in theory, have an easier time finding the putting surface from that fairway.

But the tour put that notion to bed, considering player and fan safety more than anything.

“This decision was made primarily out of safety concerns, specifically to prevent players from effectively putting people in harm’s way by taking an alternate route,” said PGA Tour chief referee Gary Young.

“When it sounds like that is going to be a possibility, it necessitates an internal boundary.”

Kirk considered other variables when advocating for this decision.

“It would have been a pretty bad look on television if you’re finishing a golf tournament and everybody is hitting it down the wrong fairway,” Kirk added.

“It would have distracted for sure from the renovation of the golf course, which is fantastic. The green complexes are so fun and unique, and they have such a great variety. I think the course is great, which would have distracted everyone from that if we were all playing a hole down the wrong fairway.”

Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley admitted that he would employ this strategy, playing down the 10th. But now, he will no longer do so. Bradley did applaud the restoration, noting that Green and his team did a “really good job.”

But perhaps next year, East Lake and the tour will soften the terrain of the 18th somewhat, eliminating the thought of playing down the 10th altogether.

“I don’t think that would be a terrible idea,” Kirk said when approached with this idea.

“I don’t think it’s awful the way it is right now. It certainly makes it play very, very narrow. Yeah, they may want to soften that a teeny bit. But like I said, if you do a full-blown renovation like this and there’s only one small little nit-picky thing that people can find, that means you did a pretty damned good job.”

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.