Men’s professional golf is weird, to say the least, when it comes to the postseason, better known as the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs.
They still give out trophies, and there’s still (a buttload of) money at stake for players who technically have earned their way into these limited-field events.
But we all remember Tiger Woods as a 15-time major winner as opposed to a two-time FedEx Cup champion. Similarly, no one is rushing to relive the 2011 and 2012 playoffs when Bill Haaas and Brandt Snedeker took home the respective titles.
So, yeah, it’s not going to ever carry the same excitement and prestige as the Masters or Open Championship, at least not for anyone other than these players’ accountants. Even then, not even the players seem overly excited — just ask Rory McIlroy.
And actually, the courses aren’t that great, either. The more you think about it, the tougher sell it is, unless you can wiggle your way into one of these fields where there’s a total of $100 million up for grabs.
However, this year could have a little more intrigue with players trying to make one last push for a Ryder Cup roster spot.
Here’s what you need to know about the FedEx Cup playoffs:
Recent champions
2024: Scottie Scheffler
2023: Viktor Hovland
2022: Rory McIlroy
2021: Patrick Cantlay
2020: Dustin Johnson
The Tour, to its credit (and with no disrespect intended to the likes of Haas and Snedeker), has done well to ensure the biggest names in the sport are in contention for the championship.
GolfOdds.com has Scheffler as an overwhelming 2-1 favorite to repeat as champion, followed by McIlroy (6-1) and Xander Schauffele (14-1). That Scheffler is such a large favorite is notable given one major change to this year’s playoffs — more on that in a bit.
The tournaments
The playoffs consist of three tournaments played over three consecutive weeks. Here’s how the schedule shakes out for the sprint to the finish.
Aug. 7-10: FedEx St. Jude Championship (TPC Southwind — Memphis, Tenn.)
August 14-17: BMW Championship (Caves Valley Golf Club — Owings Mills, Md.)
August 21-24: Tour Championship (East Lake Golf Club — Atlanta)
The St. Jude and the Tour Championship are played at the same course every year. The BMW, formerly the Western Open, bounces around. Caves Valley last hosted the tournament in 2021. Expect the field to go low. Patrick Cantlay won in 2021 in a playoff after shooting 27-under.
Field size and elimination
This one’s pretty simple. The top 70 players on the Tour’s FedEx Cup points standings make it into the playoffs. Each week, the fields get cut down.
St. Jude: 70 players
BMW: 50 players
Tour Championship: 30 players
There are no cuts. There’s always incentive to win, but there’s even more on the line for players on the bubble entering each week. Winners of the first two events receive 2,000 points, which is quadruple the points for regular-season events.
Among the big names who will have to get on their horse at St. Jude are players like J.T. Poston (No. 51), Tony Finau (No. 60) and Rickie Fowler (No. 64).
Tour championship
Change is in the air for the Tour Championship. The PGA Tour announced earlier this year a major change to how the Tour Championship would be settled. In recent years, the Tour switched to a staggered leaderboard in an attempt to award the players highest on the points list. The leader was awarded “Starting Strokes” and would start the week with a 10-under score and go from there down the board for the top 10.
The Tour announced in May that was no more. Instead, it’s back to normal stroke play. Everyone starts at even, and the lowest score after 72 holes wins the tournament — and $10 million.
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