Reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm, the season points leader, will be the player to catch when the PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoffs begin tonight (AEST) at the St. Jude Championship.
The top 70 players from the season — including two Australians — will tee off at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, hoping to be among 50 who advance to next week’s BMW Championship, from which the top 30 will reach the Tour Championship in two weeks at East Lake in Atlanta.
Rahm has never won the playoff top prize, which this year is $US18 million ($A27m) from a prize money pool of $US75 million ($A115m).
If he can keep the points lead through the next two events, Rahm will get a two-stroke edge to start the Tour Championship over the number two points holder, who at this point is American Scottie Scheffler, just ahead of three-time playoff winner and defending champion Rory McIlroy.
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Adam Scott misses out on FedEx Playoffs | 01:20
“You want to win every time we tee it up, but yeah, the goal is to try to get to East Lake as number one and enjoy that two-shot lead,” Rahm said Tuesday.
Rahm knows how much the extra strokes can matter. In 2021, he lost the Tour Championship by a stroke to Patrick Cantlay even though he played the four rounds in three fewer shots than the American.
“It has always made a difference,” Rahm said. “It made a difference when I finished second place. It’s the reason why they give it to you, so if we can take advantage of it, it would be nice.” Top-ranked Scheffler, second-ranked McIlroy and world number three Rahm will play together in the first two rounds.
Rahm has enjoyed an epic year with four titles, taking the Tournament of Champions and American Express titles in January, the Genesis at Riviera in February and his second major title in April at Augusta National. He also shared second last month at the British Open.
“It has been a really good season,” Rahm said. “Accomplished a lot of things I set myself out to do this year, and one of them was to be sitting right here as number one.
“Really proud of what I’ve done so far. I’m looking forward to keeping it going in the playoffs.”
Jason Day and Cameron Davis are the two Australians to have qualified, with Day in great position to go deep sitting 11th in the standings and Davis having to perform strong early with his ranking of 62nd.
FED-EX CUP PLAYOFFS — HOW IT WORKS
Golfers play for FedEx Cup points throughout the season and there’s a big change this season — with only the top 70 golfers qualifying for the end-of-season playoff, down from 125.
The tough changes resulted in some big-name casualties this year with Aussie Adam Scott and US superstar Justin Thomas among those to narrowly miss out.
This week’s St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tennessee, is the first event of the playoffs.
From there, the top 50 in the updated FedEx Cup standings will get a start at the BMW Championship Olympia Fields Country Club outside Chicago.
Only the top 30 in the standings after that event will qualify for the final event of the season, the Tour Championship — where the winner takes the $US18 million ($A27m) FedEx Cup first prize.
The tournament uses a handicap system with FedEx Cup points standings determining what score golfers start on — with those towards the top getting a huge headstart on those who only just qualify.
Tour Championship handicap system based on FedEx Cup points
1-seed: (10 under)
2-seed: (8 under)
3-seed: (7 under)
4-seed: (6 under)
5-seed: (5 under)
Seeds 6-10: (4 under)
Seeds 11-15: (3 under)
Seeds 16-20: (2 under)
Seeds 21-25: (1 under)
Seeds 26-30: (par)
THE STANDINGS (top 10)
1: Jon Rahm (3,320 points)
2: Scottie Scheffler (3,146)
3: Rory McIlroy (2,304)
4: Max Homa (2,128)
5: Wyndham Clark (1944)
6: Brian Harman (1,827)
7: Viktor Hovland (1,795)
8: Keegan Bradley (1,774)
9: Rickie Fowler (1,732)
10: Tony Finau (1,655)
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
Cash, lot’s of it, but also a lot more when it comes to next season.
The 70 players who make the Wyndham Championship are guaranteed of retaining top-125 status for the following season. That status makes them exempt for all Full-Field Events and gives them a spot the prestigious Players Championship next year.
Making the 50-man field at the BMW gives players guaranteed access to all of the newly-announced ‘signature’ events for 2024. Each ‘Signature Event’ will feature approximately 70-80 of the tour’s top players competing for elevated purses and increased FedExCup points.
Qualifying for the Tour Championship carries a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour, plus a shot at some whopping bonus prizemoney — even finishing last gets you more than $A700,000. See the full breakdown of the format and incentives here.
Approximate Tour Championship prizemoney in $AUS
1. $26,180,000
2. $9,450,000
3. $7,270,000
4. $5,820,000
5. $4,360,000
6. $3,640,000
7. $2,910,000
8. $2,180,000
9. $1,820,000
10. $1,450,000
11. $1,382,000
12. $1,309,000
13. $1,236,333
14. $1,163,600
15. $1,105,430
16. $1,047,250
17. $1,018,160
18. $989,070
19. $959,980
20. $930,890
21. $901,800
22. $872,710
23. $843,620
24. $821,800
25. $800,000
26. $785,440
27. $770,900
28. $756,350
29. $741,800
30. $727,250
PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
FedEx St. Jude Championship
Dates: Aug. 10-13
Course: TPC Southwind, Memphis
BMW Championship
Dates: Aug. 17-20
Course: Wilmington, Del.Wilmington Country Club, Olympia Fields, Ill.
Tour Championship
Dates: Aug 24-27
Course: East Lake Golf Course, Atlanta
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