When it comes to sports, many often associate the postseason with the NFL playoffs, October baseball, or the College Football Playoff. However, golf has its own postseason, and the PGA Tour playoffs have actually been around since 2007. It’s called the FedEx Cup and consists of three tournaments, with the field reducing with each event.
The first two have already taken place, with the final—the 2024 Tour Championship—beginning on Thursday and ending on Sunday. It takes place at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, and the victor of the Tour Championship will also be the FedEx Cup champion, in addition to walking away with the $25 million winner’s share.
However, the Tour Championship doesn’t use the straightforward scoring system that golf fans are used to. It uses a staggered scoring format in that the higher a golfer is in the FedEx Cup standings entering the event, the better position they will start the tournament.
For example, Scottie Scheffler has accumulated the most FedEx Cup points this season, and thus, he will start the 2024 Tour Championship in “pole position” at 10-under-par. Xander Schauffele has the second-most points, and he’ll start at 8-under-par.
Third place is at 7-under-par, fourth place is at 6-under, and fifth place is at 5-under. Then, players are grouped together so that players 6–10 will start at 4-under, players 11–15 will start at 3-under, 16–20 will start at 2-under, and 21–25 will start at 1-under. The final five players of the 30-man field – those ranked 26–30 – will start at even par. Thus, one could actually shoot the lowest 72-hole score of the tournament but still not win when the starting strokes are applied.
While starting 10-under-par, obviously, gives Scheffler an advantage, it’s no guarantee that the player in the best position will prevail. In the five years that the PGA Tour has used this scoring format, only twice has the golfer who started at 10-under-par won. Scheffler knows this all too well, as this is the third year in a row he’s entered the Tour Championship in the best position at 10-under-par. He was chased down each of the past two years.
Despite that, the top-ranked golfer in the world is the overwhelming favorite due to his historic season. His six PGA wins this season are the most on tour since Tiger Woods in 2009, and then Scheffler added a gold medal to his resume at the Paris Olympics. He will look to finish his season with his first FedEx Cup crown after placing sixth and second over the last two years.
Schauffele also owns a gold medal—from the 2020 Olympic Games—and he’s the only golfer with two major victories this year, making him the first player in six years to accomplish that feat. He enters the Tour Championship with two wins, two runners-up, and eight total top-10 finishes over his past 10 starts.
Xander Schauffele of the United States lines up a putt on the third green during the third round of the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colo., on Aug.t 24, 2024. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
No player can surpass Schauffele’s success at East Lake Golf Club as he’s posted the lowest 72-hole score at this tournament three times over his seven appearances. However, due to the starting strokes format, he’s yet to actually win the FedEx Cup championship.
Hideki Matsuyama (7-under-par) won the first FedEx Cup playoff event two weeks ago in Memphis, but the 2021 Masters winner then had to withdraw last week due to a back injury. He’s slated to be a part of the 2024 Tour Championship field, and few are playing better than Matsuyama at the moment as he also won a bronze medal earlier this month at the Olympics.
Outside of Matsuyama, Keegan Bradley (6-under-par) is the only other player to win a playoff event this season, courtesy of his Sunday win at the BMW Championship. Bradley was actually the last person to qualify for the event as he ranked 50th in points in a 50-golfer tournament. But that didn’t faze him as his victory improved his standing from 50th to fourth for this event. It was his first tournament triumph in over a year, but if momentum exists in golf, then Bradley has it on his side.
Keegan Bradley of the United States plays a shot on the 17th hole during the final round of the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colo., on Aug. 25, 2024. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Ludvig Aberg (5-under-par) is among nine players making their Tour Championship debuts, and the Swede is in the best position amongst those nine. He has three runner-up finishes this season, including at last week’s BMW Championship, but is still looking for his first win of the year.
Like Schauffele, Rory McIlroy (4-under-par) is another three-time Tour Championship winner. But unlike Schauffele, his three victories have all resulted in FedEx Cup titles as well. Woods (two) is the only other golfer who has multiple FedEx Cup championships, and McIlroy won both before the starting strokes scoring was applied (2016) and afterwards (2019, 2022). The Irishman will start six strokes back of Scheffler at 4-under-par, but this is the same exact scenario he faced two years ago. McIlroy made up that gap by shooting 17-under-par at the 2022 Tour Championship to defeat Scheffler by a single stroke.
Patrick Cantlay (4-under-par) will also start six strokes back, and he was the 2021 FedEx Cup champion. He began that year’s Tour Championship atop the leaderboard at 10-under-par and actually posted just the fourth-lowest 72-hole score, but his cushion was enough to get him the win. However, it’s been two years since he’s won a tournament of any kind.
Four-under-par is the worst starting score any golfer has had who went on to win the FedEx Cup, but there are several notable golfers farther back who could make some noise in Atlanta. Viktor Hovland (2-under-par) is the reigning FedEx Cup champion, but he was just two strokes back last year as opposed to having an eight-stroke deficit this year. Matthieu Pavon (1-under-par) is the only rookie amongst the 30-man field but has struggled in the postseason, finishing outside the top 30 in both playoff starts.
Meanwhile, Justin Thomas (even par) is the last man in, ranking 30th in points for the 30-golfer field. The two-time PGA champion has shot par or better in 25 of his 28 rounds at East Lake Golf Club, finishing in the top 10 in all seven of his starts.
