Explaining The PGA Tour Playoffs ⛳️

Golf's regular season has come to an end, and now our focus turns to the FedEx Cup. Rory McIlroy is seeking a historic third title, but he’ll have some tough competition as things get started at the St. Jude Championship in Memphis this week πŸŒοΈβ€β™‚οΈ (4 min read)

Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images

The FedEx Cup Playoffs

The golf regular season has come to an end, and the race for the FedEx Cup begins this week in Memphis. Most casual golf fans only tune in for the four major championships and don't follow much else throughout the season, so let's break it down ⛳️

The three-week playoff can be a great viewing experience, as golf serves as a perfect lead into the upcoming NFL season. These are the three events that make up the PGA Tour playoffs πŸ‘‡

  • Week 1: FedEx St. Jude Championship (Memphis, TN)

  • Week 2: BMW Championship (Wilmington, DE)

  • Week 3: Tour Championship (Atlanta, GA)

After almost 50 events throughout the regular season, below are the top five players in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the playoffs (full standings here)πŸ‘‡

https://www.pgatour.com/fedexcup/official-standings.html

If you're confused, don't worry. I'm here to break down the format, and reveal which players to keep your eye on moving forward. Let's dive in πŸ™

Trivia Question: Other than Rory McIlroy, who is the only golfer to win two FedEx Cups since its creation in 2007?Β (answer below)

Photo by Sam Greenwood / Getty Images

2022 Playoff Format

Throughout the year, golfers are awarded points based on their finishes in the regular season events. As the year comes to a close, the Top-125 golfers head to Memphis to compete in the first round of the playoffs

  • After that week, the Top-70 will head to Delaware and battle it out for the final 30 spots

  • Then, the group of 30 will travel to Atlanta for the PGA Tour's final event. Ultimately, a winner will be crowned at East Lake Golf Club

Last year, Patrick Cantlay went on a hot playoff run to take home the season long title, joining previous FedEx Cup winners like Dustin Johnson (2020) and Rory McIlroy (2019) πŸ†

The final leg of the playoffs is what is known as the Tour Championship, and this event brings a unique format in itself. Golfers will be given "starting strokes" at the beginning of the week based on their current standings πŸ‘€

https://www.pgatour.com/news/2019/08/18/how-it-works-tour-championship-fedexcup-playoffs.html

With the large sums of money up for grabs ($18M for the FedEx Cup Winner πŸ’°), you can see why starting the final event near the top is so important. A two-stroke difference is a fairly easy lead to make up over four days, but coming into the event in 30th with a 10-stroke deficit is almost insurmountable 😬

Photo by Keyur Khamar / Getty Images Contributor

FedEx St. Jude Championship

We get started this week in Memphis with one of the best fields of golfers taking on TPC Southwind. The focus is ultimately Atlanta a few weeks later, but that doesn't take away from the importance of winning this week 🀞

  • Rory McIlroy: +1000 (bet $100, win $1,000)

  • Scottie Scheffler: +1500

  • Cam Smith & Patrick Cantlay: +1600

  • Xander Schauffele & Justin Thomas: +1800

  • Jon Rahm & Matthew Fitzpatrick: +2000

It's difficult to argue with Rory as the favorite, considering he's coming off a third place finish at The Open Championship. Since April, he hasn't finished worse than 19th in the eight events he's played in. Rory will look to add a third FedEx Cup title to his trophy case, which begins by getting off to a good start this week πŸ“ˆ

Don't sleep on Scottie Scheffler though. It might be easy for him to fall under the radar, but he's having a somewhat historic season πŸ‘‡

  • Scheffler currently has a massive lead in the FedEx Cup standings

  • He also leads the PGA Tour in wins this year with four titles, including the Masters

  • Scheffler is still the No. 1 golfer in the world in the Official World Golf Rankings πŸ₯‡

It's easy to focus on the likes of Rory, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele, but let's not forget about the dominant year Scottie has put together. He has the chance to make it even sweeter by claiming the season long title 😎

Photo by Michael Reaves / Stringer

For My Parlay Gurus

TPC Southwind is made for premier ball strikers, so that's what we'll focus on. Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau and Will Zalatoris are all elite iron players ranking 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the field. Look for them to post some solid finishes this week, and cash in some money by riding this weekend's parlay πŸ‘‡

  • Viktor Hovland Top-30: -120

  • Tony Finau Top-30: -160

  • Will Zalatoris Top-30: -170

$100 on this bet would win you $373 β€” if we hit, make sure you email [email protected] for a chance to win up to $100*. Many will enter, only some will win πŸ˜‰

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Trivia Answer: Tiger Woods won the season long title two times, once in 2007 and again in 2009

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