FedEx Cup playoffs: What to watch over the next three weeks, including Ryder Cup spots

The PGA Tour’s playoffs get underway on Thursday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tennessee, the first of three straight tournaments to determine the FedEx Cup champion.

Nearly all of the top 70 golfers in the seasonlong points standings will be chasing world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler, who will attempt to become the first back-to-back winner of the FedEx Cup at the Tour Championship in Atlanta on Aug. 21-24.

“It’s the time of year that everybody wants to be obviously peaking and playing their best,” Justin Thomas said.

Scheffler dealt with a hand wound early in the season and didn’t finish first as often as he did last year, but his four victories this season include major championship wins at the PGA Championship and The Open.

The FedEx Cup playoffs tournaments

FedEx St. Jude Championship

When: Thursday-Sunday
Where: TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee
Purse: $20 million ($3.6 million to winner)
Defending champion: Hideki Matsuyama

The top 70 golfers in the seasonlong FedEx Cup points standings return to TPC Southwind for the first leg of the playoffs — or at least everyone but Masters champion Rory McIlroy, who is skipping the tournament.

McIlroy is comfortably in the No. 2 spot in the points standings and has all but locked up spots in the BMW Championship and Tour Championship. McIlroy has three top-10s in eight starts at TPC Southwind, but he finished 68th last year at 9 over (26 strokes behind Matsuyama).

McIlroy told The Telegraph of London in November that he would likely opt out of the first playoff event to cut down on his schedule.

“I finished, basically, dead last there [last] year, and only moved down one spot in the playoff standings,” said McIlroy.

There’s more urgency for golfers just inside or outside the top-50 bubble, including two-time major winner Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau, who have reached the Tour Championship in eight straight seasons, the longest streaks on tour.

Schauffele, who battled a rib injury early in the season, is No. 42 in the points standings, while Finau is No. 60. Finau needs at least a two-way tie for 20th to crack the top 50. Rickie Fowler (64th) needs at least a two-way tie for 17th.

Other golfers on the bubble to qualify for the BMW Championship: Harry Hall (No. 44), Akshay Bhatia (No. 45), Si Woo Kim (No. 46), Jake Knapp (No. 47), Jordan Spieth (No. 48), Wyndham Clark (No. 49), Min Woo Lee (No. 50), J.T. Poston (No. 51), Kurt Kitayama (No. 52), Bud Cauley (No. 53), Joe Highsmith (No. 54) and Aaron Rai (No. 55).

Gary Woodland (No. 72), Adam Scott (No. 90), Tom Kim (No. 94), Max Homa (No. 111) and Sahith Theegala (No. 146) were among the most notable names to miss the playoffs.

BMW Championship

When: Aug. 14-17
Where: Caves Valley Golf Club, Owings Mills, Maryland
Purse: $20 million ($3.6 million to winner)
Defending champion: Keegan Bradley

The top 50 golfers in the points standings after the FedEx St. Jude Championship will advance to the second leg of the playoffs and will earn spots in each of the eight signature events in 2026.

The BMW Championship returns to Caves Valley Golf Club for the first time since 2021. The last time, Patrick Cantlay defeated Bryson DeChambeau in a dramatic six-hole, sudden-death playoff. Cantlay made a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole in regulation to finish 27 under and force a playoff; DeChambeau missed a 12-footer that would have given him the win.

On the sixth playoff hole, Cantlay sunk an 18-footer for birdie to win and move to No. 1 in the FedEx Cup points standings. He also secured the sixth and final automatic spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Caves Valley Golf Club, which is located about 20 miles northwest of Baltimore, opened in 1991. It hosted the 2002 U.S. Senior Open and 2007 Palmer Cup. The course installed a SubAir system on its greens in recent years and lengthened the No. 1 hole.

Seven golfers finished 20 under or better four years ago; Sungjae Im finished third at 23 under and McIlroy was fourth at 22 under.

Tour Championship

When: Aug. 21-24
Where: East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta
Purse: $40 million ($10 million to winner)
Defending champion: Scottie Scheffler

For the first time since 2019, the PGA Tour is abandoning its starting-strokes format for the Tour Championship, which will be a 72-hole, traditional stroke-play tournament with the top 30 golfers all starting at even par.

Last year, Scheffler started the first round at 10 under, at least two strokes ahead of the rest of the field. He was 20 under over 72 holes on his own, and his 30-under total was four strokes better than Collin Morikawa to win the FedEx Cup for the first time.

Scheffler has already collected $18 million for finishing first in the points standings during the regular season and the Comcast Business Tour top 10. He’ll earn another $5 million for being No. 1 in the points standings heading into the BMW Championship.

The winner of the Tour Championship will earn $10 million, regardless of the golfer’s position in the points standings. The runner-up wins $5 million, third place gets $3.7 million, fourth takes home $3.2 million and fifth walks away with $2.75 million. The last-place golfer in the Tour Championship collects $355,000.

Renovations at TPC Southwind

TPC Southwind underwent a massive renovation after last year’s tournament with 18 new green complexes and tee boxes being resurfaced. There are also new chipping and putting practice areas.

Scheffler said TPC Southwind did a good job of keeping its DNA and not making too many changes during the renovation.

“The new greens right now are really firm,” Scheffler said. “I think this is a golf course that’s typically been pretty popular on tour, so I appreciated they didn’t come in when they renovated it and just completely changed the golf course. I think they had a really good base for a solid golf course where ball-striking is important. You’ve got to hit it well around this place.”

Harris English found the shaved banks on the Nos. 3 and 9 greens will cause balls to roll back into the water if golfers are short on their approach shots. The new back tee box on No. 5 left English hitting driver and 3-iron on the par-4 hole.

“I feel like the rough is up from years past,” English said. “Even today, hitting some balls in the rough, it’s hard to find them. You get this gnarly Bermuda rough, it’s so hard to figure out if it’s going to jump, if it’s going to come out dead.”

Golfers will again battle steamy temperatures in the 90s over four days in Memphis.

What’s at stake for the Ryder Cup?

U.S. Ryder Cup team captain Keegan Bradley is 10th in the FedEx Cup points standings, so he’ll have a good opportunity to gauge who’s playing well and who isn’t during the three legs of the playoffs.

The top six golfers in the Ryder Cup points standings after the BMW Championship will automatically make the U.S. team. Bradley will make six captain’s picks after the Tour Championship.

Right now, Scheffler, Schauffele, U.S. Open winner J.J. Spaun, Russell Henley, Bryson DeChambeau and English are in the top six. Each of those six seem assured of making the team, regardless of where they finish in the points standings.

Thomas, who is seventh in Ryder Cup points, also seems to be good in shape, although he’s not taking any chances.

“I want to be in that top six,” Thomas said. “Just for me personally, it just would mean a lot to me to get that done because having been picked or having to rely on a pick a couple times, I definitely like the level of low stress and just the sense of calm, knowing that you’re qualified versus waiting for that phone to ring.

“But I have a lot of golf tournaments and a lot of big events between now and then.”

Two-time major winner Collin Morikawa is eighth in points, followed by Ben Griffin, Bradley, Maverick McNealy and Brian Harman.

Cantlay, a Ryder Cup veteran, is 14th in points. Cameron Young, who won for the first time on tour at last week’s Wyndham Championship, is 15th, and Sam Burns is 16th. They might need to make some noise in the playoffs to assure themselves of a spot.

The top six golfers in the European team’s points standings on Aug. 24 will qualify for the team. McIlroy has already qualified on points, and Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka round out the top six.

Rasmus Højgaard, Justin Rose, Ludvig Åberg and Jon Rahm is 21st and will make the team, meaning Matt Wallace, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Thomas Detry and Aaron Rai might be battling for one spot.