The FedEx Cup – Playoff Time is Here
The top 125 on the PGA TOUR this past regular season will tee it up at the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind today. This week starts a three-week stretch that will determine the FedEx Cup champion.
Here is a look at the current top 10…
- Scottie Scheffler (3,556)
- Cam Smith (2,335)
- Sam Burns (2,275)
- Xander Schauffele (2,153)
- Patrick Cantlay (2,108)
- Rory McIlroy (2,104)
- Tony Finau (1,912)
- Justin Thomas (1,783)
- Cameron Young (1,774)
- Sungjae Im (1,488)
Clearly, Scottie Scheffler is in the driver’s seat to win it all, but as in past years, anything can really happen in the playoffs.
Joohyung (Tom) Kim and Max McGreevy played their way in just last week, finishing first and T5, respectively, at last week’s Wyndham Championship. Fan favorite, Rickie Fowler, with a little help from some of the players that went to that other “golf series” is Mr. 125 this week. It’s his first trip to the postseason in two years.
A FedEx Cup Primer
As mentioned previously, this week kicks off the FedEx Cup playoffs. Here is a little breakdown on how the playoffs, and TOUR Championship work…
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| EVENT | DATES | CITY | COURSE | FIELD SIZE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FedEx St. Jude Championship | Aug. 11-14 | Memphis, Tenn | TPC Southwind | 125 |
| BMW Championship | Aug. 18-21 | Wilmington, Del. | Wilmington Country Club | 70 |
| Tour Championship | Aug. 25-28 | Atlanta, Ga. | East Lake Golf Club | 30 |
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The top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings, via points accumulated throughout the year, will play in the FedEx St. Jude Championship this week. From there, the top 70 advance to play in next week’s BMW Championship in Wilmington. After that, the field will be set for the TOUR Championship at East Lake with the top 30 from Wilmington gunning for a shot to win the TOUR Championship and potentially the FedEx Cup.
The point values earned during the playoff events drastically change, as everything is now quadrupled. In the last regular season event, Tom Kim got 500 FedEx Cup points for winning the Wyndham Championship. The winner of the first two FedEx Cup Playoffs events will receive 2,000. That goes for every slot on the leaderboard…300 for second becomes 1,200 and so on and so on. If you notice above, in my first segment, only the top 6 through the regular season accumulated more than 2,000 points, so, in reality, while those guys at the top are in good shape, anything can really happen in the playoffs. Heck, even Rickie could get hot and make a move to East Lake.
FedEx Cup Tour Championship Format
Whoever is first in the standings after the BMW Championship starts the Tour Championship at 10 under, and the event is played under normal scoring conditions from there. Below is a breakdown of the starting point, in relation to par, where each player will start at East Lake based on their position in the top 30…
- 1st: Starts Tour Championship at -10
- 2nd: -8
- 3rd: -7
- 4th: -6
- 5th: -5
- 6th-10th: -4
- 11th-15th: -3
- 16th-20th: -2
- 21st-25th: -1
- 26th-30th: E
My Picks to Win it All
I really like three guys, and with all due respect to Scottie Scheffler, who I love, I am looking squarely at Rory, Finau, and Cam Smith to be the ones to be chasing down the stretch at East Lake. Rory has done it before and is playing very well since June. Finau is the hottest guy of late. And while it’s unfortunate that Cam Smith will likely be going to that other “Golf Series” post playoffs, or Presidents Cup, he is in a great position to win it all as well.
Other Golf News
Big Congrats to Ashleigh Buhai, AIG Women’s Open Champion Golfer of the Year
Ashleigh Buhai 2022 Open Champion
Ashleigh Buhai, with her victory at the AIG Women’s Open, showed us, in many ways that golf is a game of both highs and lows. She came into Sunday’s final round on the heels of two back-to-back incredible rounds and held a five-stroke lead, only to be forced into a playoff after a four over par final round. She has been a Professional for 13 years, and while she has had past success on the Ladies European Tour and the Sunshine Ladies Tour, it has taken a lot of hard work, self-belief, and staying the course to notch her first LPGA Tour win, and a major championship to boot!
Rickie Fowler
Fowler and longtime caddie Joe Skovron split last week. Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis was the first to report the news. Fowler commented…
“It happened Friday afternoon after we finished up in Greensboro,” Fowler told Lewis. “I told Joe I wasn’t really gonna go into details on who brought up the decision or who made the decision or anything like that. We’ve always been a team, we always will be, he’s like a big brother to me. Friendship and all that comes first. No hard feelings or anything like that, I just thought it was maybe the best option for the current time, but by no means does this mean we’re not gonna rekindle the flame in the future or anything like that, but I know it’s been tough on both of us.”
Another Emotional Caddie Break Up
Last week also marked the end for Will Zalatoris and longtime caddie, Ryan Goble. Mid tournament at last week’s Wyndham Championship, Goble was gone and replaced temporarily by Will’s short game and putting coach Josh Gregory. Joel Stock will be on the bag for the FedEx playoffs and beyond.
Will commented on the tough decision…
“Yeah, it was the toughest decision I’ve had to make in my golf career. Ryan’s a brother for life. We’ve kind of had a rough month together, and it was starting to affect our relationship. I know guys say that when they split, but it really was. We were guys that we would love to have dinner together and hang out, and it started — what was going on on the course was starting to bleed off the course, and that’s not what you want.”
Shameless Plug
It’s fundraising season for my youth golf 501c3, the Little Linksters Association for Junior Golf Development. I invite anyone interested to register, fundraise and play in our 100 Hole Marathon which takes place on November 12, 2022, at Orange County National on the Tooth Course.
Participants build out a personal fundraising page on LittleLinksters.org and encourage folks to go there and make a pledge per hole played. $0.25, $0.50, $1.00, $5.00, etc. Top fundraisers can win great prizes.
We historically have played 4 balls per hole, for 27 holes (108 actual holes in total) to complete the task. It is a lot of fun and helps raise funds for Little Linksters Scholarship Program.
If you can’t play, but would like to donate, or even become a corporate sponsor, go to LittleLinksters.org to learn more.
