The top 70 finishers in the FedEx Cup standings qualified for the St. Jude Championship, won by Hideki Matsuyama. The top 50 after that event progressed to the BMW Championship. Keegan Bradley, the last person in the field, vaulted to 4th in the race with his upset.
After all that, the top 30 in points will vie for a FedEx Cup crown this weekend in Atlanta — and with it a $25 million bonus and five-year PGA Tour exemption.
But there’s a catch: Naturally, the PGA Tour’s season-long competition based on (mostly) standard stroke-play events culminates with a uniquely scored event. (Scottie Scheffler definitely approves.)
Here’s what to know about the format for the FedEx Cup finale, the Tour Championship at East Lake — the final star-laden tournament of the 2024 PGA Tour season.
How the Tour Championship works
East Lake utilizes what the PGA Tour has dubbed the “FedEx Cup Starting Stroke” scoring format, intended to reward golfers for their points accumulation (on top of simply making the Tour Championship field).
First place in points — Scheffler, for the third straight year — starts at 10-under par (Scheffler has struggled at East Lake, surrendering the lead both times).
No. 2 (Xander Schauffele) will begin two strokes back, at 8-under par. Hideki Matsuyama (-7), Bradley (-6) and Ludvig Aberg (-5) come next.
“I think it’s a cool format,” Aberg said Tuesday. “Obviously it’s a playoff. It’s like any other sport in America where you have a regular season and you have a playoff. I think it’s great.
“It emphasizes I’m playing well in these three tournaments, and if you play well, you get rewarded. … It’s still a 72-hole golf tournament. …You’ve still got to go play really good golf, aggressive golf if you want a chance to win, which ultimately that’s what we want.”
The next five golfers in the standings — Rory McIlroy (the only three-time FedEx Cup champion), Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, and Patrick Cantlay — will start 4-under par.
Championship has the biggest purse of any golf tournament ever played. The payouts … 1st: $25M 2nd: $12.5M 3rd: $7.5M 4th: $6M 5th: $5M 6th: $3.5M 7th: $2.8M 8th: $2.3M 9th: $2M 10th: $1.8M 11th: $1.1M 12th: $1M 13th-30th: Between $550K-$975K
U.S. Presidents Cup team member Sahith Theegala, Sungjae Im, Shane Lowry and Adam Scott will start at 3-under.
Defending FedEx Cup and Tour champion Viktor Hovland headlines the group at 2-under, also featuring Tony Finau, Byeong Hun Han, Russell Henley, Robert MacIntyre, and Akshay Bhatia.
