ATLANTA – With his first win in five years, Tony Finau is the new FedExCup standings leader after capturing the FedExCup Playoffs opener on Monday at THE NORTHERN TRUST. Finau outlasted Australia’s Cameron Smith in a playoff to move from No. 23 to the top of the standings with the second of three Playoffs events set to get under way on Thursday at the BMW Championship. World No. 1 Jon Rahm, who led the tournament heading to the back nine, finished solo third and now sits second in the FedExCup standings.
Next week, the TOUR Championship will once again serve as the culminating event of the FedExCup Playoffs and PGA TOUR season, where only the top 30 players in the FedExCup standings will advance to East Lake Golf Club over Labor Day weekend, September 1-5, for a chance to win the PGA TOUR’s Ultimate Prize: the FedExCup.
Finau will make his fifth consecutive appearance at East Lake in 2021 after qualifying among the top 30 without a victory in his last four seasons.
“I’ve never been in this situation. I had a chance in 2018 and played great in the Playoffs and was in the top five going into the TOUR Championship and had a chance to win the FedExCup then,” Finau said. “It’s exciting to be in this position. I’ve played great all season. No win throughout the season, but in the Playoffs, this is what makes the Playoffs, immense pressure, and a lot of things riding on these three events, and I’m happy to win this first one.”
During the 2020-21 season, Finau had earned seven top-10 finishes heading into the Playoffs, which included back-to-back runner-up finishes at the Farmers Insurance Open (T2) and The Genesis Invitational (P2) early in 2021.
The University of Georgia’s Keith Mitchell, who began the Playoffs at No. 101 in the standings, birdied his final three holes at Liberty National Golf Club to jump inside the top-70 cutoff at No. 63. Mitchell is in search of his first TOUR Championship appearance and will need at least a T3 finish at the BMW Championship to qualify for the TOUR Championship.
The top 30 players in the FedExCup standings are included below. The full standings is available here.
FedExCup Standings Top 30 as of 8/23/21:
- Tony Finau
- Jon Rahm
- Cameron Smith
- Patrick Cantlay
- Justin Thomas
- Collin Morikawa
- Jordan Spieth
- Harris English
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Abraham Ancer
- Louis Oosthuizen
- Sam Burns
- Xander Schauffele
- Viktor Hovland
- Brooks Koepka
- Hideki Matsuyama
- Jason Kokrak
- Kevin Na
- Stewart Cink
- Corey Conners
- Joaquin Niemann
- Dustin Johnson
- Daniel Berger
- Scottie Scheffler
- Sungjae Im
- Patrick Reed
- Billy Horschel
- Rory McIlroy
- Charley Hoffman
- Max Homa
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