Another name will be added to the history books this week, as the 20th edition of the FedEx Cup Playoffs comes to a close. The PGA Tour’s postseason started with Scottie Scheffler running away with the St. Jude Championship and has since been followed by Wyndham Clark capturing the BMW Championship, leaving just one tournament to close out the primary PGA Tour season.
For the second consecutive postseason, the finale will look much like those tournaments before it. Changing from a staggered start to a conventional stroke play event without any starting strokes, the Tour Championship will welcome the top 30 finishers from the regular season and the first two tournaments of the postseason to East Lake Golf Club. A staggering $40 million will be on the line.
With changes made to the finale, the PGA Tour distributed the remaining $100 million bonus pool after the BMW Championship, since every player in the field in Atlanta will start at the same starting point: even par.
Speaking of changes, they are coming to the PGA Tour in 2028, too, making next season even more important for players and their schedules. Those who finished in the top 50 and qualified for the BMW Championship will be eligible to play in the signature events in 2027, while those who earn spots in the Tour Championship will earn spots in major championships for next year.
Scheffler aims to join Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as a multiple-time FedEx Cup champion, while McIlroy eyes his fourth PGA Tour crown. Multiple-time winners Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young, Clark and Chris Gotterup, meanwhile, hope to put an exclamation point on their fantastic seasons with one more big trophy lifted above their heads.
2026 FedEx Cup Playoffs schedule
|
St. Jude Championship |
Scottie Scheffler |
Memphis |
TPC Southwind |
70 |
|
BMW Championship |
Wyndham Clark |
St. Louis |
Bellerive Country Club |
50 |
|
Tour Championship |
Aug. 27-30 |
Atlanta |
East Lake Golf Club |
30 |
For the second straight season, Jordan Spieth topped the headliners to play in only one postseason tournament as the three-time major champion fell outside the top 50 following the St. Jude Championship. Others to follow in his fate included Shane Lowry, Keith Mitchell and Max Homa.
Only Sungjae Im was able to move from outside the top 50 to inside the magic number at the St. Jude Championship. He looked as if he would do it again at the BMW Championship, but instead, Gary Woodland, Robert MacIntyre and Patrick Cantlay were those who were able to secure their places inside the top 30, swiping spots held by Rickie Fowler, Kurt Kitayama and Bud Cauley.
The changes from the 2025 postseason have carried on as all three tournaments will feature 72 holes of stroke play. The fields gradually get smaller, from 70 players in Memphis to 50 in St. Louis and finally to 30 in Atlanta for the postseason finale.
Last year, a total of eight players accumulated north of 2,000 FedEx Cup points in the regular season. Nine reached that mark in 2026. That used to be the amount of FedEx Cup points awarded to winners of the first two playoff events, but the format has since changed. Instead, 750 FedEx Cup points are given to the champions at the St. Jude Championship and the BMW Championship. This matches that of The Players Championship and the four majors.
2026 FedEx Cup standings
Another regular season and another instance in which Scheffler entered the postseason as the clear-cut No. 1 player. Scheffler may have had only one victory under his belt during the regular season, but his consistency was more than enough to separate his name from the pack as that one title was accompanied by five runner-up results, five other top-10 finishes and only one missed cut across 17 tournaments.
It’s the fourth time in the last five years that Scheffler won the season-long race before the postseason officially begins, and his victory at the St. Jude Championship pushed his total out that much further.
On his heels are those who were able to raise more than one trophy in the regular season in Fitzpatrick, Young and Clark with Si Woo Kim rounding out the top five thanks to his consistent year. McIlroy trails that crop of competitors with his Masters victory and close call at the Genesis Invitational doing most of the heavy lifting, given his light workload up to this point.
Here’s a look at the top 30 in the standings entering the Tour Championship.
|
1 |
Scottie Scheffler (4,986) |
16 |
Hideki Matsuyama (1,637) |
|
2 |
Matt Fitzpatrick (3,463) |
17 |
Ryan Gerard (1,608) |
|
3 (+2) |
Wyndham Clark (3,292) |
18 (+13) |
Gary Woodland (1,556) |
|
4 (-1) |
Cameron Young (3,206) |
19 (+24) |
Patrick Cantlay (1,529) |
|
5 (-1) |
Si Woo Kim (2,729) |
20 (-1) |
Kristoffer Reitan (1,523) |
|
6 (+1) |
Chris Gotterup (2,588) |
21 (-3) |
Min Woo Lee (1,496) |
|
7 (+2) |
Collin Morikawa (2,542) |
22 (-1) |
J.J. Spaun (1,464) |
|
8 (-2) |
Sam Burns (2,453) |
23 |
Alex Smalley (1,443) |
|
9 (-1) |
Tommy Fleetwood (2,263) |
24 (-4) |
Alex Fitzpatrick (1,434) |
|
10 |
Ludvig Åberg (2,198) |
25 (+10) |
Robert MacIntyre (1,428) |
|
11 (+2) |
Rory McIlroy (2,095) |
26 (-4) |
Viktor Hovland (1,425) |
|
12 (-1) |
Xander Schauffele (2,025) |
27 (-3) |
Justin Rose (1,405) |
|
13 (-1) |
Jacob Bridgeman (1,961) |
28 (-1) |
Adam Scott (1,383) |
|
14 |
Russell Henley (1,853) |
29 (-3) |
Tom Kim (1,378) |
|
15 |
Akshay Bhatia (1,842) |
30 (-5) |
Ryan Fox (1,368) |
Indeed, Woodland, Cantlay and MacIntyre were the three to rocket themselves into the Tour Championship with their efforts at the penultimate tournament pushing all three golfers up between 10 and 24 spots in the standings. Woodland also headlines another group of players to miss the postseason entirely in 2025 and make their way all the way to the Tour Championship in 2026.
That list includes Tom Kim, Adam Scott and Alex Smalley, who will be making his Tour Championship debut this week. PGA Tour rookies Kristoffer Reitan and Alex Fitzpatrick will also see their first action at East Lake, as will Min Woo Lee, Ryan Gerard and Open champion Ryan Fox.
2026 Tour Championship format
Players knew at the start of the season that the Tour Championship would be 72 holes of stroke play, without the staggered start previously used at East Lake. As such, if one is in the field at the Tour Championship, he has a chance to call himself the FedEx Cup champion by week’s end.
Players hoping to follow in Fleetwood’s footsteps — making the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup crown their ONLY win of the season — are Si Woo Kim, Sam Burns, Fleetwood himself, Ludvig Åberg, Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, Gerard, Cantlay, Lee, Smalley, and MacIntyre.
2026 FedEx Cup Playoffs purse, prize money
2026 St. Jude Championship purse, prize money
Purse: $20 million | Complete breakdown
2026 BMW Championship purse, prize money
Purse: $20 million | Complete breakdown
2026 Tour Championship purse, prize money
Purse: $40 million
- 1st: $10 million
- 2nd: $5 million
- 3rd: $3.705 million
- 4th: $3.15 million
- 5th: $2.55 million
- 6th: $2 million
- 7th: $1.45 million
- 8th: $1.07 million
- 9th: $900,000
- 10th $745,000
Last year, Fleetwood claimed his first PGA Tour victory at the Tour Championship, bringing home $10 million and, more importantly, the FedEx Cup itself. With the changes to the format, the PGA Tour will distribute a portion of the $100 million bonus pool after the BMW Championship concludes, leaving the Tour Championship with a $40 million purse.