2023 FedEx Cup Playoffs

Like most sports, golf has a playoff system which is known as the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The FedEx Cup Playoffs takes place over the course of the final three events on the PGA Tour schedule. These three events include the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the BMW Championship and finally the TOUR Championship. 

2023 FedEx Cup Playoff Standings

Below is a list of the current FedEx Cup Playoff Standings for the 2023 season. 

• Scottie Scheffler (USA) - 4,218
• Viktor Hovland (NOR) - 4,024
• Rory McIlroy (NIR) - 3,494
• Jon Rahm (ESP) - 3,486
• Lucas Glover (USA) - 3,041
• Max Homa (USA) - 2,871
• Patrick Cantlay (USA) - 2,843
• Brian Harman (USA) - 2,339
• Wyndham Clark (USA) - 2,157
• Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG) - 1,967

How Do the FedEx Cup Playoffs Work?

The top 125 players in the FedEx Cup Standings are eligible for the playoffs when the first event (St. Jude Championship) begins. Following the first event, the field reduces from 125 to 70 for the second event (BMW Championship). The field then shortens from 70 golfers to 30 for the final TOUR Championship event. 

The system is very similar to NASCAR’s playoff, in which the playoffs take place over several events with the field of eligible participants narrowing after each completed event. Although the number of eligible golfers narrows after each tournament, the overall field doesn’t.

So if 150 total golfers make up the field for the BMW Championship, only 70 of the 150 are competing against each other in the playoffs. Let’s use these three golfers as an example: Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm and Jason Day.

Let’s say Rahm and Day are playoff eligible but Fowler isn’t heading into the St. Jude Championship. If Fowler wins the St. Jude Championship, Rahm finishes second and Day finishes 25th - then Rahm would lead all playoff eligible golfers in the event. 

So despite Fowler winning, he is ineligible for the playoffs. This means Rahm actually finished with the best score among playoff-eligible golfers and would earn the most playoff points. 

In layman’s terms, playoff-eligible golfers only care about finishing ahead of other playoff-eligible golfers when playing in a FedEx Cup Playoff event. 

FedEx Cup Playoff Events

As mentioned above, the final three events of the PGA Tour make up the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Let’s quickly break down each of the three events. 

FedEx St. Jude Championship

The FedEx St. Jude Championship is held at the TPC Southwind located in Memphis, Tennessee. Will Zalatoris won last year’s event in a playoff round against Sepp Straka. The 2023 event will be held from Aug. 10 - Aug. 13. 

BMW Championship

This is typically a close event, as the winner of the BMW Championship has won by one stroke or less (playoff) in four of five years. Patrick Cantlay is a back-to-back winner here, defeating Bryson DeChambeau in a 2021 playoff round before inching past Scott Stallings in 2022. The 2023 event is set to take place at the Olympia Fields Country Club located in Olympia Fields, Illinois from Aug. 17 - Aug. 20. 

TOUR Championship

This is typically Rory McIlroy’s event to own, winning three of the last seven times along with a runner-up finish in 2014. Xander Schauffele is also a work horse in this event, winning in 2017 while also seeing back-to-back runner-up results in 2019 and 2020. The 2023 event is set for Aug. 24 - Aug. 27 and held annually at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. 

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