After almost twelve months of PGA Tournaments taking place across America and various locations all over the world, the PGA Tour has reached the business end, the FedEx Playoffs.
Worth millions, the FedEx Playoffs can be both career and life altering. Taking place over three weeks, the top 70 players through the year long rankings will compete in the St Jude Classic, from there the top 50 will move onto the BMW Championship before the final 30 will tee it up Eastlake for the season ending Tour Championships.
Some of you may be familiar with how the FedEx Playoffs work, but for some of you it might be an entirely new concept altogether. With the playoffs set to grip the world of golf for the next three weeks, here is everything you need to know.
When Did The FedEx Playoffs Start?
With the four majors always holding a special place in the game, golf lacked a season ending championship which is so prevalent in almost every major sport.
Wanting to have a tournament that offered an exciting conclusion to the PGA season, in 2007 the FedEx playoffs were launched.
The first ever winner of the FedEx was of course Tiger Woods who has gone onto win the FedEx Playoffs on two different occasions.
How Are The Top 70 Decided?
The top 70 in the FedEx Playoffs are decided by their performances from the entire year. The reality is any winner of a PGA Tournament will most likely do enough to cement a place in the top 70.
Each tournament on the PGA Tour calendar, including the games four majors all allow for the FedEx points to be earned, depending on the size of the tournament, the more points that can be earned. For example winning a major contributes a much bigger volume of points than somebody winning a standard PGA Tournament.
The PGA Tour’s new signature events also carry a huge bulk of points.
Earning points for the playoffs starts immediately after the conclusion of the Tour Championship, meaning that the PGA season runs from September to August. They usually conclude at the Wyndham Championship which is the week before the Playoffs.
How are the playoffs structured?
As we mentioned at the top of the article, the Playoffs consist of three tournaments, The St Jude Classic, The BMW Open and Tour Championship.
St Jude Classic
The first stop on the Playoff calendar is the St Jude Classic. The largest of the three events on the Playoff schedule, every member of the top 70 will compete here.
The idea is to earn enough points to qualify for the top 50. Those ranked between 51-70 in the standings after the conclusion of the tournament will be eliminated and won’t proceed to the next stop on the Playoff calendar the BMW Open.
With just 70 players in the field, there is no designated cut line at any Playoff event. The event is usually held at TPC Southwind in Memphis Tennessee
BMW Classic
The second stop on the Playoff calendar is the BMW Classic. Here just 50 players will tee it up, with the ultimate objective of the week being to earn enough ranking points to qualify for the final 30 and compete in the season ending Tour Championships.
Just like the St Jude there is no designated cut line. The tournament this year takes place at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado.
Tour Championship
The final leg of the Playoffs comes in the Tour Championship, held at Eastlake which is located just outside of Georgia, only the top 30 in the playoff standings will compete.
Despite the small field, the tournament is settled over four rounds with no cut line, however the format is slightly different from the rest of the playoffs, we will explain more below.
What Are The Formats of The Playoffs?
The formats for the playoffs are largely the same as the action that takes place across the year. Both the St Jude and BMW Open are standard stroke play events that take place over four rounds. The only major difference is that there is no cut line.
However, things change at the Tour Championship. In order to reward those who qualify for the top 30, especially those at the top of the rankings, how players start the tournament differs.
If you head into the Tour Championship ranked as the number one player in the standings, you will tee off already at a total of -10. Second in the standings tees off at -8, third at -7, fourth at -6 and fifth at -5.
From here the players are grouped. Those finishing 6-10 will start on -4, 11-15 will start on -3, 16-20 will start on -2, 21-25 will be -1 and 26-30 will start the tournament at even par.
With those down the rankings starting up to ten shots behind the leader, the playoffs are meant to reward those who enter the Tour Championship high up the standings. However, it doesn’t always work out like that. There have been occasions where players have been able to win the Tour Championship from coming well off the pace.
Do The Playoffs Offer More Points Than Regular Season Events?
If you are able to win any of the three playoff events, you will be able to win 2,000 FedEx points, this is substantially more than a standard event where 700 points are won.
To put it in comparison, 750 points are won if you win a major.
Due to the huge amount of points on offer, the Playoffs offer the opportunity to make huge gains on the field and if you win any Playoff event you are assured of your spot in the Tour Championship.
The winner of the FedEx, doesn’t always come from the winner of the Tour Championship, it comes from the player who has earned the most points throughout the entire season. There have been instances where a player has won the Tour Championship, but another player wins the FedEx due to them having earned more points. However, in order to win you will need to play well in all three Playoff events.
What is on The Line in The Playoffs?
Simply put money, and a lot of it!
The winner of the FedEx will not only get their hands on prize money from all three Playoff events, but they will also win an additional $18 million as a bonus. Every player that makes the Tour Championship will receive a bonus but it doesn’t come close to what the overall winner wins.
There are further incentives if you finish inside the top 70. Every player inside the Top 70 is guaranteed full playing rights for the following season and those who make the Tour Championship will qualify for the Sentry Tournament of Champions which kicks off the new calendar year every season.
What Are The Dates Again?
The Playoffs start this week and will take place over the following dates.
St Jude Classic - 15th to 18th August
BMW Classic - 22nd to 25th August
Tour Championship- 29th August to 1st September
Jack Hartman
A keen golfer and huge fan of the game, Jack has been covering golf for the last five years. Bringing you all the latest coverage and news from the PGA, LIV, LPGA and DP World Tours, never before has golf been so popular and Jack can’t wait to bring all the excitement to his readers.
