Since 2007, the PGA Tour has ended their season with a playoff system known as the FedEx Cup. Over the course of four tournaments, 125 golfers are whittled down to 30, and those lucky few play in the Tour Championship, with the point leader after that final event receiving a $10 million dollar prize and title of FedEx Cup champion.
To qualify for the FedEx Cup, a PGA golfer must accrue points throughout the regular Tour season.
For a “normal” tournament, a PGA golfer receives 500 points for a victory with a descending scale determining the remainder of the points based on finish.
The point reward is bumped up for an official World Golf event, if the golfer wins any of the several WGC events, such as the Dell Technologies Match Play tournament, he will receive 550 points for a win.
For the majors and the Players Championship, winners receive 600 points for their trouble.
Qualifying for the 2018 FedEx Cup runs through the Aug. 16th-19th Wyndham Championship, a week after the PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis.
When the FedEx Cup playoffs begin, to encourage competition, all points are reset for the four tournament run. First place winners in the FedEx Cup receive 2,000 points for victories, with the sliding scale awarding points based on place.
The purse for all FedEx events is $9 million, with the winners getting around $1.5 million.
Two weeks after the PGA Championship, the first FedEx Cup tournament in 2019, known as The Northern Trust Championship, will be held at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey.
After Ridgewood, the field is cut from 125 to 100 and those golfers move onto the TPC Boston to play in the Dell Technologies Championship.
The 100 hopeful golfers become 70 after Boston and they participate in the BMW Championship in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia.
Once that tourney concludes and the top 30 golfers by points are determined, then there is a two week break that is followed by the final FedEx Cup event played at the famous East Lake Golf Club, the Tour Championship.
In addition to the $10 million that goes to the overall winner, the remainder of the top five finishers in the FedEx Cup receives a healthy paycheck. $3 million goes to second place, $2 million for third, $1.5 million is for the fourth place finisher and a cool $1 million goes to fifth place.
For FedEx Cup lovers, as Bob Dylan once sang, “The times they are a-changin…” With the FedEx Cup having a difficult time attracting viewers due to the beginning of football, there is a hard push amongst some sponsors and PGA Tour officials to move the conclusion of the FedEx Cup to the end of August.
With the PGA Championship officially moving to May and the Players Championship moving to March in 2019, the table has been set for the FedEx Cup to move to the void left in August.
While this decision hasn’t become official, most golf experts feel that this is the next natural step for the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Thanks for reading today’s guide on the FedEx Cup in the PGA to learn how it works, the prizes, the point systems, and schedule.
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