Golf

2024 FedExCup Playoffs: What We Know About the PGA Tour’s Highly Lucrative Event

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Aug 19, 2024 / 1489 Views

The PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs is upon us, and less than three weeks from now the 2024 champion will be included in the roll of honour.

The stakes can’t get any higher than at the 18th edition, where a bouquet of three events awaits, offering a total bonus pool of USD 100 million to the players, with the champion earning USD 25 million.

Defending champion Viktor Hovland set the bar high last season by winning back-to-back in the marquee no-cut events.

Since the unprecedented success last season, which saw Hovland win the Memorial Tournament before heading into the Playoffs and winning the BMW Championship and finale Tour Championship, the Norwegian has been searching for form.

The sole third at the PGA Championship is his lone high in the 2024 Regular Season, but as they say in Golf, all it takes is a week for course correction, and there can be no better stretch for the World No 7 to regain form.

First up is the FedEx St Jude Championship, taking place from August 15 to 18 at TPC Southwind. Before the race to the finale commences, here’s what you must know about the 2024 FedExCup Playoffs with an insight into the three events, prize money, field, key players and more.

2024 FedExCup Playoffs: Format, schedule, venue, players and other details

How it works

Started in 2007, the FedExCup Regular Season precedes the Playoffs. Starting with The Sentry in January till the Wyndham Championship in early August, players comPete across 36 official events to make the list of top 70, the cutline for the first Playoffs’ event, FedEx St Jude Championship.

Points accrued during the regular season count in the FedEx St Jude Championship and the following BMW Championship, where the list is pruned to the top-50 players.

The season finale, Tour Championship, has only the best of the best in action with the field comprising just the top 30 from the rankings.

High stakes

The race to figure in the 2024 FedExCup Playoffs has long-term ramifications as those making the grade are ensured a plethora of opportunities like full playing rights for the 2025 season by virtue of being in the top-125, spots in all full-field events and the Players Championship.

Making the next stage, the BMW Championship allows access to all the limited field Signature Events, which offer an enhanced prize purse and FedExCup points.

The Tour Championship, the final leg and finale of the Playoffs, offers a two-year exemption, invitation to the 2025 Masters and exemption to the US Open and Open Championship.

On September 1, when the 2024 FedExCup champion is announced, a five-year exemption on Tour will accompany the other lucrative benefits like the USD 25 million bonus. The runner-up gets USD 12.5 million and the others in the field are assured of a minimum USD 550,000.

Compared to the standard 500 FedExCup points in a regular event, the FedEx St Jude Championship and BMW Championship offer 2000 points each to the winner. Both events have a total purse of USD 20 million with the winner’s share at USD 3.6 million.

2024 FedExCup Playoffs schedule

August 15-18: FedEx St Jude Championship, TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee
August 22-25: BMW Championship, Castle Pines Golf Club; Castle Rock, Colorado
August 29-September 1: Tour Championship, East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta

Know the venues

TPC Southwind

Designed by Ron Prichard in collaboration with Hubert Green and Fuzzy Zoeller on a dairy farm near downtown Memphis, TPC Southwind has the distinction of hosting a PGA Tour event every year since 1989, and has been playing host to the FedEx St Jude Championship since 2022.

The challenging layout that it is with water coming into play in more than half the holes, the par 3 Hole 11 stands out as the signature hole with its peninsula green.

Castle Pines Golf Club

When Jack Vickers engaged Jack Nicklaus in the late 1970s to carve a golf course out of a scenic setting in Colorado, they wouldn’t have imagined the iconic status Castle Pines would take on.

With breathtaking views of the Rocky Mountain Front Range, this facility, which hosts the BMW Championship, has been voted among the top 50 Golf courses in the world many times.

East Lake Golf Club

Established in 1904, the East Lake Golf Club has been the venue for numerous blue-riband events like the US Women’s Amateur, Ryder Cup and US Amateur. It was here that the legendary Bobby Jones learnt his craft, and the Atlanta facility has been the permanent venue of the Tour Championship since 2005.

The contenders

Scottie Scheffler

The World No 1 in golf is the overwhelming favourite to make it as the 2024 FedExCup champion. His six wins in the Regular Season got him No 1 spot in Comcast Business Tour Top-10, which recognises the top players in the FedExCup standings, and the winner gets a USD 8 million bonus.

Scheffler has left no box unticked as he comes into the week of the FedEx St Jude Championship as the Paris Olympics gold medallist to go with the handy lead as the FedExCup Ranking leader.

Xander Schauffele

Ranked No 2 on the FedExCup Ranking, Schauffele has been a standout name of the 2024 PGA Tour season with two wins on the Major stage — Open Championship and PGA Championship — to go with the 12 top-10s. The gap between him and Scheffler is 1936 points, but a consistent show in the Playoffs can change the equation for the Tokyo Olympics gold medallist.

Rory McIlroy

As a three-time champion, the former World No 1 knows what it takes to make a mark in the Playoffs. The season may have been frustrating as the Northern Irishman’s quest for the next Major wasn’t fulfilled, but with two wins in the bag and a T5 at the Paris Olympics, Rory McIlroy, ranked No 3 in the FedExCup Standings, is a threat every time he tees off.

Tommy Fleetwood

Save the three top-10s, the Briton has not contended much this season, and that reflects in his placing in the FedExCup Ranking at No 32. But the Paris Olympics silver medal could be the tonic the World No 11 needs to make the Playoffs his drawing board.

Hideki Matsuyama

2024 FedExCup Playoffs PGA venue schedule players — Hideki Matsuyama withdrew from the 2023 withdrew from the BMW Championship after sustaining a back injury. (Image: PGA Tour)

One of the five Asian golfers to make the grade, and probably the continent’s best bet in the Playoffs, Matsuyama is back to playing his best golf after a phase of indifferent form and injuries. The win at the Genesis Invitational in February was the impetus he needed to kickstart the season with the string of top-10s leading to the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.

Collin Morikawa

The near misses in the Regular Season would have left Morikawa hungrier. His last win a season old, Morikawa will be itching to add one to the W list, and lift his Playoffs’ ranking from No 4.

Nick Dunlap

The 20-year-old burst on to the scene with the win at the season-opening American Express. The result prompted him to turn pro, and learning along the way, Dunlap notched the season’s second win at the Barracuda Championship. He made the Playoffs at No 68, but every week on the golf course is an opportunity, and Dunlap is aware.

Joohyung Kim

Another of the Asian Golfers to make the grade, the Korean had a relatively quiet run in 2024 as compared to the two triumphs last season. But the sole eighth in Paris could herald the start of another prolific run on the PGA Tour.

Viktor Hovland

Defending champion Hovland, the genial Norwegian, has looked a pale shadow of the player who won thrice last season, two of the wins coming in the BMW Championship and Tour Championship. But the familiar turf of the Playoffs can trigger a turnaround, signs of which were on view with the sole third at the PGA Championship in May.

More details about the 2024 FedExCup Playoffs here.

(Main and featured images: FedEx St. Jude Championship/ Instagram)