RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Another name will be added to the history books in a few weeks, and the 20th edition of the FedEx Cup Playoffs is setting up to be phenomenal. The 20th edition of the PGA Tour's postseason gets going in early August with a three-pack of events bound to provide drama and fireworks to close out the golf calendar.
For the second consecutive postseason, the finale will look much like those tournaments before it. Changing from a staggered start to a conventional stroke play event without any starting strokes, the Tour Championship will welcome the top 30 finishers from the regular season and the first two tournaments of the postseason to East Lake Golf Club. A staggering $40 million will be on the line.
With changes made to the finale, the PGA Tour will distribute the remaining $100 million bonus pool after the BMW Championship, since every player in the field in Atlanta will start at the same starting point: even par.
Speaking of changes, they are coming to the PGA Tour in 2028, making next season even more important for players and their schedules. Those who finish in the top 50 and qualify for the BMW Championship will be eligible to play in the signature events in 2027, adding importance to the first event of the playoffs, the St. Jude Championship.
Scottie Scheffler aims to join Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as a multiple-time FedEx Cup champion, while McIlroy eyes his fourth PGA Tour crown. Multiple-time winners Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark and Chris Gotterup, meanwhile, hope to put an exclamation point on their fantastic seasons with one more big trophy lifted above their heads.
For the second straight season, only 69 of the top 70 players who earned their right to play in the St. Jude Championship will tee it up at TPC Southwind as Daniel Berger has decided to forgo the event. At No. 60 in the standings, Berger's season will come to an end given the top 50 cutoff for the next event at the BMW Championship.
The changes from the 2025 postseason carry on as all three tournaments will feature 72 holes of stroke play. The fields gradually get smaller, from 70 players in Memphis to 50 in St. Louis and finally to 30 in Atlanta for the postseason finale.
Last year, a total of eight players accumulated north of 2,000 FedEx Cup points in the regular season. Nine reached that mark in 2026. That used to be the amount of FedEx Cup points awarded to winners of the first two playoff events, but the format has since changed. Instead, 750 FedEx Cup points are given to the champions at the St. Jude Championship and the BMW Championship. This matches that of The Players Championship and the four majors.
Another regular season and another instance in which Scheffler enters the postseason as the clear-cut No. 1 player. Scheffler may only have one victory under his belt, but his consistency was more than enough to separate his name from the pack as his lone title was accompanied by five runner-up results, five other top-10 finishes and only one missed cut across 17 tournaments.
It's the fourth time in the last five years that Scheffler has won the season-long race before the postseason officially begins.
On his heels are those who were able to raise more than one trophy in Fitzpatrick, Young, Clark and Gotterup, who grabbed three individual titles. Interestingly, only 11 of the top 30 players have yet to enter the winner's circle, including Nos. 7-11.
McIlroy trails that crop of competitors with his Masters victory and close call at the Genesis Invitational doing most of the heavy lifting, given his light workload up to this point.
Here's a look at the top 30 in the standings entering the postseason. (Check out Nos. 31-70 .)
Players knew at the start of the season that the Tour Championship would be 72 holes of stroke play, without the staggered start previously used at East Lake. As such, if one advances to the Tour Championship, he has a chance to call himself the FedEx Cup champion by week's end.
Every player inside the top 18 in the FedEx Cup standings -- Kristoffer Reitan being the cutoff point -- has a 100% chance of making it to the Tour Championship, according to Data Golf, leaving just 12 spots to shuffle between now and then. Barring a win from someone off the map, most of that shuffling will be contested amongst those players ranked Nos. 25-40 with names like Justin Thomas, Jake Knapp and recent winner Michael Thorbjornsen on the outside looking in entering the St. Jude Championship.
Last year, Fleetwood claimed his first PGA Tour victory at the Tour Championship, bringing home $10 million and, more importantly, the FedEx Cup itself. With the changes to the format, the PGA Tour will distribute a portion of the $100 million bonus pool after the BMW Championship concludes, leaving the Tour Championship with a $40 million purse.
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