In 2007, a new playing system was introduced on the PGA Tour. The so-called FedExCup consists of two components: The more than 40 regular PGA Tour tournaments and the now three additional playoff tournaments at the end of the season, whose field shrinks from tournament to tournament, ending with the Tour Championship and the crowning of the season’s winner. The individual events and the overall victory bring the champions a lot of money – at the end there is even an extra check for 18 million US dollars. Tiger Woods was the first to win the FedExCup in 2007 and, together with Rory McIlroy, is one of the few professionals to have won the series twice.
Points vary depending on the quality of the tournament
A prerequisite for participation in the FedEx Cup is full eligibility to play on the PGA Tour. Players who meet this criterion can accumulate points from the start of the season, earning between 300 and 600 points for the winner, depending on the quality of the tournament in question.
All majors (Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, The Open Championship and PGA Championship) and the Players Championship earn the winner 600 FedEx Cup points. The four tournaments of the World Golf Championship (WGC) are just behind with 550 points. Except for the parallel tournaments to major events, which earn the winner only 300 FedEx Cup points, all other PGA Tour competitions offer 500 FedEx Cup points.
Things get really exciting again in the final playoff tournaments, as the points allocation changes drastically for the season finale. For a victory in one of the three tournaments, the winner will receive a full 2,000 points, i.e. four times the amount of a normal previous tournament.
Points system creates excitement in the finals
The top 125 players after the conclusion of the final regular PGA Tour tournament not only keep their PGA Tour card, but also qualify for the end-of-season playoff tournaments and get to compete in the FedEx St. Jude Championship. As of 2019, there are only three playoff tournaments instead of four. One less event with the same number of points leads to an increase in difficulty, but also less fluctuation in playoff standings. At the St. Jude Championship, 50 players are already eliminated and only the top 70 players are eligible to compete at the BMW Championship.
There is no longer a cut at the BMW Championship, which means that all players finish the 72 holes. This measure adds to the excitement, as the leader is awarded just 2,000 points and is therefore, in theory, catchable by any player in the field. Nevertheless, to be fair, the professionals in the top spots have the best chance of winning overall.
While in the past the points from the FedEx Cup playoffs were set to zero and thus only a strong performance in the finals accounted for a high ranking, there is a point ranking since 2019. This points ranking is generated according to the results from the playoffs. So if you do well in the playoffs, you create a good starting position for the final. The leader of the ranking starts the final with a lead of ten strokes under par, the second place with eight strokes under par. As a result, the third-place finisher starts with a score of -7, the fourth-place finisher at -6 and the fifth-place finisher at -5. Players ranked sixth through tenth start at 4-under par, while 11th through 15th place start at 3-under par. Places 16 to 20 will start at two strokes under par and 21-25 at -1. For places 26-30, the final round will start at even par.
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What does the new rule change?
For ten years, there was a reset of the points scored in the playoffs before the final, after Vijay Singh was already the winner after winning two tournaments. This meant that the following two playoffs no longer had any meaning. Too boring, the officials thought, and introduced the redistribution of points before the final tournament. With the result that hardly anyone still understood the rules. The golf world was not thrilled. Even Tiger Woods once criticized the rule as unfair. After all, consistency over the entire season is no longer rewarded. If a player wins all the tournaments in the season, except for the last playoff, then in case of doubt, someone else collects the Cup.
With the new points system, the FedEx Cup should feel more attainable for all players, especially those in the top 30. Although even this format would have rarely resulted in a different winner in past years from a purely mathematical standpoint, the principle of the final tournament is changing. While some players play better when they are “in the chase” and have to overtake others, many a player plays better when they have to maintain their lead.
“I would feel better about a ten-stroke lead for four days than having to start from 30th place in the FedExCup like everyone else did before,” said Jordan Spieth, the 2015 FedExCup winner.
“The new system still gives a player a chance to finish really high and start a run in a week, but at the same time rewards those who have earned it at the top. I like that every shot counts, but also that some count a little more than others by rewarding a good season,” said 2010 FedEx Champion Jim Furyk.
However, the best performance in the final playoff pays off twice. In each playoff tournament, the lion’s share of the $15 million in total prize money beckons the winner. The overall FedExCup victory earns the champion an additional 18 million US dollars from a total bonus pot of 75 million dollars, the majority of which is paid directly to the players. A smaller portion goes into a “pension fund” that the players cannot dispose of before their 45th birthday.
