How does the FedEx Cup Tour Championship playoff format work?

The Tour Championship features a unique starting system

Everything you need to know about the format of the Tour Championship at East Lake where the 2024 FedEx Cup Champion will be crowned.

The best of the PGA Tour’s class of 2024 descend on East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta for the season’s showpiece event – the Tour Championship – where 30 players will compete to become FedExCup Champion.

Unlike the other 36 official FedEx Cup events, however, qualifying players for the Tour Championship will not start from a level playing field; instead, players will be recognized for their respective season performances with varying degrees of staggered start.

The tournament will employ a unique ‘Starting Stroke’ system meaning the FedEx Cup leaders will begin the event with a head start on the competition, with those just sneaking into the field starting close to, or even par. From here, a no-cut 72-hole strokeplay competition will commence.

Seven-time winner in 2024, Scottie Scheffler receives the biggest headstart as No.1 in the standings, beginning round one on 10 under with Xander Schauffele starting two back on eight-under.

Despite going in with a buffer, Scheffler considers the format ‘silly,’ reiterating his comments from 2022 about the contradictory nature of having a season-long race come down to one tournament.

“Hypothetically, we get to East Lake and my neck flares up and it doesn’t heal the way it did at the Players, and I finish 30th in the FedEx Cup because I had to withdraw from the last tournament? Is that really the season-long race? No, it is what it is.”

The two-time Masters Champion is yet to reserve his best golf for the PGA Tour’s finale. Scheffler had the 10-under headstart going into the last two editions but still managed to lose out to Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland with very un-Scheffler-like performances.

Troon runner-up and 2014 FedEx Cup Champion Billy Horschel doesn’t feel the same way mind, likening the risk-reward format to the excitement of an NFL playoff season where peaking at the right time is what it’s all about.

“I won the ’14 FedEx Cup. Rory McIlroy was clearly the best player that year. He had won two majors. He came in on a high note. I was 69th at the start of the FedEx. I missed the first cut. I go second, win, win, and I win the FedEx Cup, said Horschel.

“It’s no different than the New York Giants and beating the New England Patriots and starting the Playoffs 9-7 and the Patriots being undefeated and then winning the Super Bowl.”

But no matter which side of the argument you fall on, it’s hard to ignore the concerns over dwindling TV viewing figures, reported all season, and more recently at the FedEx St. Jude Championship where numbers were down 30% from 2023.

A yellow-jacket-style procession to victory isn’t something golf fans are itching to see, even if Scheffler being crowned champion is the fitting end to 2024 in the eyes of many, perhaps including Xander Schauffele who has a legitimate claim to the FedEx Cup throne after two Major wins.

Sport doesn’t care too much for ‘who deserves it most’ attitudes, however, and with a $25 million bonus awaiting the East Lake winner, there’s plenty of incentive for someone unexpected to catch fire this week.

Here’s how the leaderboard will look when round one action gets underway at East Lake.

About the author

Ross Tugwood – Senior Digital Writer

Ross Tugwood is a Senior Digital Writer for todays-golfer.com, specializing in data, analytics, science, and innovation.

Ross is passionate about optimizing sports performance and has a decade of experience working with professional athletes and coaches for British Athletics, the UK Sports Institute, and Team GB.

He is an NCTJ-accredited journalist with post-graduate degrees in Performance Analysis and Sports Journalism, enabling him to critically analyze and review the latest golf equipment and technology to help you make better-informed buying decisions.