By Sadie Smith.
The PGA Tour postseason begins at TPC Southwind with Scottie Scheffler holding a sizable advantage, but the next three weeks will decide far more than the identity of the FedExCup champion. For those around the qualification lines, every round carries consequences.
The regular season is over. Now comes the part of the PGA Tour calendar where one poor week can send a player home.
The FedExCup Playoffs begin with the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis from August 13-16. The top 70 qualified, although only 69 will compete after Daniel Berger withdrew. From there, 50 advance to the BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club before the leading 30 head to East Lake for the Tour Championship.
At the front of the pack is a familiar name.
Scheffler Has Given the Field a Mountain to Climb
Scottie Scheffler begins the postseason with 4,123 FedExCup points, well clear of Matt Fitzpatrick on 3,329 and Cameron Young on 3,161. Wyndham Clark, Chris Gotterup and Collin Morikawa are among the next group trying to close the gap.
Rory McIlroy returns at No. 12 for his first appearance since the Open Championship. Tommy Fleetwood, meanwhile, begins ninth as the defending FedExCup champion. Scheffler has the advantage, but the reduced points available for playoff victories this year add another wrinkle. A win in Memphis is worth 750 rather than the 2,000 offered under the previous system.
That leaves plenty of ground available to those chasing Scheffler, even if the market expects him to be difficult to catch.
If you fancy someone to catch Scheffler over the next three weeks, the outright price is one place to start. Scheffler is currently +330 to win his second FedExCup in three seasons, and you can compare sportsbooks and their current golf betting markets via Covers. Covers has provided sports betting information for more than 30 years and assesses operators on areas including odds, available markets, payout speeds and user experience, giving you a useful reference point before backing a golfer for the FedExCup or individual playoff events.
For Scheffler, Memphis offers the opportunity to strengthen a position he spent an entire regular season building. For everyone else, the chase starts now.
Sunday in Memphis Will End 20 Seasons
The tension may be even greater farther down the standings.
Maverick McNealy occupies the crucial 50th position with 806 points. Harris English starts 51st on 779, followed by Max Homa on 767, Sungjae Im on 764 and Jordan Spieth on 762.
That leaves Spieth only 44 points behind McNealy. No. 54 may look uncomfortable on a standings page, but the numbers show how quickly the order could change.
TPC Southwind will not make that fight particularly comfortable. The Memphis course plays to a par 70 at 7,288 yards, with water in play on 11 holes and plenty of trouble waiting for an aggressive shot that misses its target. That puts an extra premium on controlling the golf ball when the temptation for those below 50th will be to chase birdies. Survival may depend as much on avoiding the damaging mistake as producing a spectacular Sunday charge.
There is also no halfway cut at TPC Southwind, a very different proposition from the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in June, where Wyndham Clark won at four under and only three players finished the week below par. Here, everyone gets 72 holes, so a difficult opening round does not end the fight. Those around the FedExCup cutoff have until Sunday evening to rescue or improve their position.
Two Newcomers Have Crashed the Playoff Party
Michael Brennan could hardly arrive in Tennessee with more momentum. The 24-year-old won the Wyndham Championship by three shots on Sunday, moving from outside the top 100 to No. 47.
There was substance behind the result. Brennan had shortened his driver backswing and worked on his putting tempo before ranking third in the Wyndham field in strokes gained driving and second in putting. It was his second PGA Tour victory and followed finishes of T24 and T15 in his previous two starts.
Jackson Koivun’s route was different. The 21-year-old won the 3M Open at 25-under in only his third professional start, holding off world No. 1 Scheffler by three shots at TPC Twin Cities. He finished the regular season exactly 70th, reaching the playoffs after only five professional starts and matching a record set by Tiger Woods.
Koivun and Brennan therefore arrive without the accumulated points enjoyed by the established contenders, but both have already demonstrated an ability to produce when qualification is on the line.
Three Weeks, Three Very Different Tests
Memphis reduces 70 qualifiers to 50. Bellerive cuts that number to 30 from August 20-23. The survivors then travel to Atlanta for the Tour Championship at East Lake from August 27-30.
The challenge changes with each stop, but there is no opportunity to recover from a bad week. By the time the field reaches Atlanta, 40 of the players who started in Memphis will have seen their seasons end.
For Scheffler, the next three weeks offer a chance to turn another outstanding season into a second FedExCup title. For Spieth, Homa and those around the first elimination line, the immediate calculation is much simpler. They need to make sure Memphis is only the beginning.
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