Explained: How Tour Championship format works and FedEx Cup prize money is shared
This weekend’s finale to the PGA Tour promises to answer a host of questions, but the most pressing for casual golf fans may surround the unusual mechanics of the Tour Championship format and the way that $75m of FedEx Cup prize money is carved up.
From a sporting point of view, the most intriguing storylines will revolve around world No1 Scottie Scheffler and a trio of European rivals, in-form Viktor Hovland, three-time winner Rory McIlroy and Masters champion Jon Rahm.
Can Scheffler hold onto top spot after Hovland took a huge bite into his lead with victory at the penultimate FedEx Cup Playoff event last week?
Will McIlroy achieve his goal of the double double – a successful defence of his FedExCup and Race to Dubai crowns? Or could Rahm cap a fine year by adding a first FedEx Cup to his illustrious CV?
Before engaging with any of that, however, it helps to understand how the Tour Championship format differs from regular 72-hole tournaments.
Tour Championship format explained
The Tour Championship uses a system called Starting Strokes, whereby players are given a head start in the scoring depending on their standing in the FedEx Cup rankings.
As the leader going into the tournament, Scheffler benefited from starting the week on 10 under par, two shots ahead of his nearest challenger.
Hovland teed off on eight under par, with McIlroy on seven under, Rahm on six under, Lucas Glover on five under.
Players ranked 5-10, including England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, started out on four under, and so it goes throughout the 30-man field, with the last five players beginning on level par.
As is the norm, the player who finishes on the lowest score is the winner – although in this case that might not be the player who has shot the lowest 72-hole score.
The Tour Championship format is not popular with everyone but is an attempt to reward the most consistent players of the PGA Tour season. And boy are they rewarded.
How much FedEx Cup prize money is there?
LIV Golf may have grabbed the headlines with its eye-watering payouts, but the FedEx Cup prize money is up there with anything on the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit.
The winner gets a handsome $18m (£14m) slice of the $75m (£59m) bonus pool, making it the biggest payday in the professional game – along with LIV Golf’s individual championship.
Second place is worth $6.5m (£5m), third place $5m (£4m) and fourth $4m (£3m), making them more lucrative than winning any of men’s golf’s four majors.
Everyone in the top 10 banks at least $1m (£800,000), while even the player who trails in 30th can mop up their tears with $500,000 (£400,000) in FedEx Cup prize money.