ATLANTA – The FedExCup Playoffs begin this week, with the PGA TOUR’s top 125 players qualifying for the opening event of the three-week stretch that will conclude at East Lake Golf Club and the TOUR Championship. Scottie Scheffler, who owns a 1,200-point lead over Australia’s Cameron Smith thanks to four victories on the season, will take the No. 1 spot into this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.
From 125 players, the top 70 will advance to the following week’s BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware, with only 30 moving on to the Playoffs finale at the TOUR Championship, August 24-28.
Compared to the 500 points awarded to the winner of tournaments during the PGA TOUR Regular Season, the first two Playoffs events award 2,000 points to the champion. At the TOUR Championship, players are given FedExCup Starting Strokes based on their position in the FedExCup standings, with the No. 1 seed beginning the tournament at 10-under par. The next four players will start at 8-under through 5-under, respectively. The next five will begin at 4-under, regressing by one stroke per five players until those ranked Nos. 26-30 start at even par.
Among the late qualifiers for the FedExCup Playoffs include Joohyung “Tom” Kim, who shot a 61 at the Wyndham Championship on Sunday to collect his first career PGA TOUR title and join the PGA TOUR as a full-time member. He will begin the Playoffs at No. 34 in the standings. At age 20 years, 1 month, 17 days, Kim is the second-youngest winner on the PGA TOUR since World War II (youngest: Jordan Spieth, 2013 John Deere Classic) and the first player born in the 2000s to win on TOUR.
Three former FedExCup champions will begin the Playoffs inside the top 10 in the standings, with defending FedExCup Champion Patrick Cantlay (No. 5) joined by Rory McIlroy (No. 6) and Justin Thomas (No. 8). McIlroy, the 2016 and 2019 champion, looks to become the first-ever three-time FedExCup champion, while Thomas looks to add to his 2017 title.
Fresh off back-to-back victories at the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic in late July,Tony Finau (No. 7) has charged into contention in search of his first FedExCup title.
Others currently inside the top 30 at the start of the FedExCup Playoffs include: Xander Schauffele (No. 4), Will Zalatoris (No. 12), Max Homa (No. 13), Jordan Spieth (No. 15), Jon Rahm (No. 16), Viktor Hovland (No. 19) and Collin Morikawa (No. 23).
The full FedExCup Playoffs Eligibility List is available here.
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