How the Tour Championship FedEx Cup Starting Strokes scoring system works
The PGA Tour’s postseason, the FedEx Cup Playoffs, wrap up with the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.
The top 70 finishers in the FedEx Cup standings qualified for the St. Jude Championship, won by Hideki Matsuyama. The top 50 after that event progressed to the BMW Championship. Keegan Bradley, the last person in the field, vaulted to 4th in the race with his upset.
After all that, the top 30 in points will vie for a FedEx Cup crown this weekend in Atlanta — and with it a $25 million bonus and five-year PGA Tour exemption.
But there’s a catch: Naturally, the PGA Tour’s season-long competition based on (mostly) standard stroke-play events culminates with a uniquely scored event. (Scottie Scheffler definitely approves.)
Here’s what to know about the format for the FedEx Cup finale, the Tour Championship at East Lake — the final star-laden tournament of the 2024 PGA Tour season.
Welcome to the field, @Keegan_Bradley!
East Lake is waiting for you.
pic.twitter.com/prJuaznQF3
— TOUR Championship (@TOURChamp) August 25, 2024
How the Tour Championship works
East Lake utilizes what the PGA Tour has dubbed the “FedEx Cup Starting Stroke” scoring format, intended to reward golfers for their points accumulation (on top of simply making the Tour Championship field).
First place in points — Scheffler, for the third straight year — starts at 10-under par (Scheffler has struggled at East Lake, surrendering the lead both times).
No. 2 (Xander Schauffele) will begin two strokes back, at 8-under par. Hideki Matsuyama (-7), Bradley (-6) and Ludvig Aberg (-5) come next.
“I think it’s a cool format,” Aberg said Tuesday. “Obviously it’s a playoff. It’s like any other sport in America where you have a regular season and you have a playoff. I think it’s great.
“It emphasizes I’m playing well in these three tournaments, and if you play well, you get rewarded. … It’s still a 72-hole golf tournament. …You’ve still got to go play really good golf, aggressive golf if you want a chance to win, which ultimately that’s what we want.”
The next five golfers in the standings — Rory McIlroy (the only three-time FedEx Cup champion), Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, and Patrick Cantlay — will start 4-under par.
This week’s Tour Championship has the biggest purse of any golf tournament ever played.
The payouts …
1st: $25M
2nd: $12.5M
3rd: $7.5M
4th: $6M
5th: $5M
6th: $3.5M
7th: $2.8M
8th: $2.3M
9th: $2M
10th: $1.8M
11th: $1.1M
12th: $1M
13th-30th: Between $550K-$975K
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) August 26, 2024
U.S. Presidents Cup team member Sahith Theegala, Sungjae Im, Shane Lowry and Adam Scott will start at 3-under.
Defending FedEx Cup and Tour champion Viktor Hovland headlines the group at 2-under, also featuring Tony Finau, Byeong Hun Han, Russell Henley, Robert MacIntyre, and Akshay Bhatia.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve been very happy with this year, but I do think I’ve learned a lot,” Hovland said at his pre-tournament press conference in Atlanta. “What’s really cool is that I’ve still made it to this week playing what I felt like is absolute garbage. I think that’s something that’s pretty cool to kind of have in my back pocket is that okay, we can struggle and we can still come out here and have a chance to win tournaments.”
Pairings and starting times for the first round of the TOUR Championship pic.twitter.com/dWbWBQOLi2
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) August 26, 2024
Billy Horschel, Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Matthieu Pavon, and Taylor Pendrith will start 1-under par. Chris Kirk, Tom Hoge, Aaron Rai, Christian Bezuidenhout, and, yes, Justin Thomas, start even par.
“I understand that if I do get into Atlanta I’m going to be beyond a long shot, but in my eyes I have a chance, and that’s all I want,” said Thomas — the last person in the field, thanks to an 72nd hole bogey from Brian Harman at the BMW. “It’s a lot of pressure, but you’ve got to play well at the right time, and that’s what the Playoffs are about.”
The post How the Tour Championship FedEx Cup Starting Strokes scoring system works appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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