“Scottie Scheffler Poised to Dominate Tour Championship—Will He Claim the FedEx Cup Throne?”

The 2024 Tour Championship, the final event of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, kicks off on Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. While postseason excitement is typically linked to the NFL playoffs, October baseball, or the College Football Playoff, golf also has its version, which has been in place since 2007. This postseason, known as the FedEx Cup, consists of three tournaments with progressively shrinking fields.

The first two tournaments have already concluded, leading up to the 2024 Tour Championship, which will run from Thursday to Sunday. Held at East Lake Golf Club, the winner of this event will also claim the FedEx Cup title and a $25 million prize.

However, the Tour Championship doesn’t follow the traditional scoring method familiar to golf fans. Instead, it uses a staggered start format based on the players’ standings in the FedEx Cup. The higher a golfer’s rank entering the tournament, the better their starting position.

For instance, Scottie Scheffler, who accumulated the most FedEx Cup points this season, will start the 2024 Tour Championship at 10-under-par. Xander Schauffele, second in the standings, will begin at 8-under-par.

The scoring breakdown continues, with the third-ranked player starting at 7-under-par, the fourth at 6-under, and the fifth at 5-under. Players ranked 6–10 start at 4-under, those ranked 11–15 start at 3-under, 16–20 begin at 2-under, and 21–25 start at 1-under. The final five players, ranked 26–30, will start at even par. This format means that a golfer could shoot the lowest 72-hole score during the tournament but still not win if their starting strokes aren’t sufficient.

Although starting at 10-under-par gives Scheffler a clear advantage, history shows that it doesn’t guarantee victory. In the five years since the PGA Tour adopted this format, only twice has the player starting at 10-under-par gone on to win. Scheffler, who begins at 10-under-par for the third consecutive year, knows this well, having been overtaken in each of the past two years.