2019 FedEx Cup Playoffs explained

The 2019 FedEx Cup Playoffs, the series of three golf tournaments that will determine the season champion on the U.S.-based PGA Tour, was played from August 8–25. It included the following three events:^[1]

• The Northern Trust – Liberty National Golf Club, Jersey City, New Jersey
• BMW Championship – Medinah Country Club, Medinah, Illinois
• Tour Championship – East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia

They were the 13th FedEx Cup playoffs since their inception in 2007.

The point distributions can be seen here.

Changes for 2019

There were a number of changes in the format compared to previous years.

• The playoffs were moved to an earlier date, finishing by the end of August rather than in late September.
• There were only 3 events rather than 4, with the Dell Technologies Championship being dropped. The leading 70 players after The Northern Trust qualified for the BMW Championship whereas previously the leading 100 qualified for the Dell Technologies Championship, after which the leading 70 qualified for the BMW Championship.
• An additional bonus pool, the Wyndham Rewards Top 10, was distributed among the leading 10 players after the Wyndham Championship which ended the regular season. The pool was $10 million with the leader receiving $2 million.
• The FedEx Cup bonus pool was increased from $35 to $60 million, with the winner's share increasing from $10 to $15 million.
• Major changes were made to the Tour Championship format. In the new system players will receive a stroke advantage based on their position in the FedEx Cup rankings after the BMW Championship. The FedExCup leader will start the Tour Championship at −10, number two at −8, number three at −7, number four at −6 and number five at −5. Players ranked 6 to 10 will start at −4, 11 to 15 at −3, 16 to 20 at −2, 21 to 25 at −1 and 26 to 30 will start from 0. The winner of the Tour Championship will be the FedEx Cup winner.
  (Previously each player's points total was reset after the BMW Championship based on their position in the rankings at that stage. These reset points, added to the points earned in the Tour Championship, determined the final FedEx Cup rankings.)
• For the purposes of the Official World Golf Ranking, the stroke advantages in the Tour Championship were ignored.

Regular season rankings

Place	Player	Points	Events	Wyndham Rewards Top 10 bonus ($)
1		2,887	18	2,000,000
2		2,315	16	1,500,000
3		2,313	19	1,200,000
4		1,858	18	1,100,000
5		1,795	21	1,000,000
6		1,730	18	850,000
7		1,686	16	700,000
8		1,629	20	600,000
9		1,619	18	550,000
10		1,447	17	500,000

Source:^[2]

The Northern Trust

The Northern Trust was played August 8–11. Of the 125 players eligible to play in the event, four did not play: Paul Casey (ranked 8th), Rafa Cabrera-Bello (59), Henrik Stenson (85) and Sam Burns (89), reducing the field to 121. 85 players made the second-round cut at 141 (−1).

Patrick Reed won by a stroke over Abraham Ancer. The top 70 players in the points standings advanced to the BMW Championship.^[3] This included four players who were outside the top 70 prior to The Northern Trust: Troy Merritt (ranked 72nd to 59th), Joaquín Niemann (74 to 70), Wyndham Clark (90 to 68), and Harold Varner III (102 to 29). Four players started the tournament within the top 70 but ended the tournament outside the top 70, ending their playoff chances: Sergio García (ranked 65th to 72nd), Danny Lee (66 to 73), Kevin Streelman (68 to 75), and Matthew Wolff (70 to 74).^[4]

					FedEx Cup rank
Place	Player	Score	To par	Winnings ($)	After	Before
1		66-66-67-69=268	−16	1,665,000	2	50
2		67-65-68-69=269	−15	999,000	8	67
T3		64-68-69-69=270	−14	536,500	5	10
	67-67-68-68=270	29	102
5		68-69-69-65=271	−13	370,000	14	21
T6		65-68-70-69=272	−12	299,469	3	2
	68-65-70-69=272	28	51
	71-67-63-71=272	22	33
	67-64-74-67=272	44	69
T10		68-66-71-68=273	−11	240,500	43	60
	65-68-69-71=273	12	11

• Par 71 course

BMW Championship

The BMW Championship was played August 15–18. Of the 70 players eligible to play in the event, only Kevin Na (ranked 55th) did not play, reducing the field to 69. There was no second-round cut.

Justin Thomas won by 3 strokes from Patrick Cantlay. The top 30 players in the points standings advanced to the Tour Championship. This included three players who were outside the top 30 prior to the BMW Championship: Jason Kokrak (ranked 32nd to 30th), Hideki Matsuyama (33 to 15), and Lucas Glover (41 to 29). Three players started the tournament within the top 30 but ended the tournament outside the top 30, ending their playoff chances: Shane Lowry (25 to 33), Harold Varner III (29 to 38) and Andrew Putnam (30 to 34).^[5]

					FedEx Cup rank
Place	Player	Score	To par	Winnings ($)	After	Before
1		65-69-61-68=263	−25	1,665,000	1	15
2		66-67-68-65=266	−22	999,000	2	6
3		69-63-73-63=268	−20	629,000	15	33
4		67-66-68-69=270	−18	444,000	12	19
align=center rowspan=2	T5		68-69-66-69=272	align=center rowspan=2	−16	align=right rowspan=2	351,500	6	5
	66-71-67-68=272	18	22
align=center rowspan=2	T7		69-66-69-69=273	align=center rowspan=2	−15	align=right rowspan=2	298,312	23	27
	66-69-69-69=273	29	41
align=center rowspan=2	T9		68-68-69-69=274	align=center rowspan=2	−14	align=right rowspan=2	259,000	20	21
	67-71-69-67=274	13	14

• Par 72 course

Points after BMW Championship

Place	Player	Points	Events
1		3,475	19
2		3,157	20
3		3,119	20
4		2,946	24
5		2,842	18
6		2,517	19
7		2,339	21
8		2,030	20
9		1,946	20
10		1,940	26

Tour Championship

The Tour Championship was played August 22–25. 30 golfers qualified for the tournament. There was no second-round cut. Rory McIlroy won the event, finishing four strokes ahead of Xander Schauffele. McIlroy had started the tournament at −5, a one stroke advantage over Schauffele who started at −4.^[6]

Place	Player	Round scores	Starting score	Final score	FedEx Cup rank		Winnings ($)
					After	Before
1		66-67-68-66=267	−5	−18	1	5	15,000,000
2		64-69-67-70=270	−4	−14	2	8	5,000,000
align=center rowspan=2	T3		67-67-68-72=274	−7	align=center rowspan=2	−13	T3	3	align=center rowspan=2	3,500,000
	70-68-71-68=277	−10	1
5		66-67-68-72=273	−2	−9	5	16	2,500,000
6		68-70-71-66=275	−3	−8	6	13	1,900,000
7		70-69-70-67=276	−3	−7	7	12	1,300,000
8		71-64-70-70=275	−1	−6	8	25	1,100,000
align=center rowspan=3	T9		71-70-68-68=277	−2	align=center rowspan=3	−5	T9	20	align=center rowspan=3	843,333
	66-75-66-71=278	−3	15
	70-70-73-68=281	−6	4

• Par 70 course

For the full list see here.

Table of qualified players

Table key:

	Player	Pre-Playoffs		The Northern Trust		BMW Championship		Tour Championship
		Points	Rank	Finish	Rank after	Finish	Rank after	Starting score[7]	Final score	Final rank
		2,887	1		1		3
		2,315	2		3		5
		2,313	3	CUT	4		7
		1,858	4	CUT	7		8
		1,795	5		9		11
		1,730	6		6		2
		1,686	7		10		14
		1,629	8	DNP	13		16
		1,619	9		11		9
		1,447	10		5		6
		1,423	11		12		17
		1,415	12	CUT	16		21
		1,391	13	CUT	17		19		E
		1,309	14		18		25
		1,279	15	CUT	23		28	E
		1,279	16		19		12
		1,247	17		15		1
		1,203	18		20		26	E
		1,193	19		24		22
		1,137	20		25		33	–	–
		1,124	21		14		13
		1,098	22		21		20
		1,097	23		26		24		E
		1,088	24		31		35	–	–
		1,054	25		34		40	–	–
		1,025	26		35		39	–	–
		1,015	27		36		32	–	–
		1,003	28	WD	38		42	–	–
		986	29	CUT	42		45	–	–
		969	30		33		15
		962	31		27		23
		947	32		41		29	E
		934	33		22		18
		903	34		46		47	–	–
		900	35		37		37	–	–
		895	36		45		36	–	–
		884	37		47		50	–	–
		873	38		30		34	–	–
		865	39		48		51	–	–
		865	40	CUT	50		54	–	–
		863	41		40		31	–	–
		854	42		32		30	E
		836	43	CUT	54		57	–	–
		835	44		39		43	–	–
		832	45		53		46	–	–
		818	46		51		52	–	–
		815	47		52		56	–	–
		815	48		55	DNP	61	–	–
		780	49		57		59	–	–
		774	50		2		4
		754	51		28		27	E
		742	52		56		60	–	–
		735	53		60		63	–	–
		729	54	CUT	64		68	–	–
		719	55	CUT	65		69	–	–
		716	56		63		55	–	–
		710	57		61		53	–	–
		700	58		66		66	–	–
		696	59	DNP	67		70	–	–
		690	60		43		41	–	–
		690	61		49		48	–	–
		673	62	CUT	69		65	–	–
		641	63		62		49	–	–
		639	64		58		62	–	–
		637	65	CUT	72	–	–	–	–
		625	66		73	–	–	–	–
		622	67		8		10
		609	68	CUT	75	–	–	–	–
		605	69		44		44	–	–
		602	70		74	–	–	–	–
		572	71	CUT	81	–	–	–	–
		569	72		59		58	–	–
		567	73		78	–	–	–	–
		566	74		70		67	–	–
		561	75	CUT	86	–	–	–	–
		558	76		83	–	–	–	–
		555	77		79	–	–	–	–
		547	78		82	–	–	–	–
		547	79		84	–	–	–	–
		538	80		76	–	–	–	–
		534	81		87	–	–	–	–
		532	82		80	–	–	–	–
		527	83	CUT	89	–	–	–	–
		524	84		71	–	–	–	–
		523	85	DNP	90	–	–	–	–
		509	86		88	–	–	–	–
		497	87		92	–	–	–	–
		495	88		77	–	–	–	–
		493	89	DNP	94	–	–	–	–
		491	90		68		64	–	–
		489	91		93	–	–	–	–
		482	92	WD	95	–	–	–	–
		479	93	CUT	99	–	–	–	–
		473	94	WD	102	–	–	–	–
		466	95	CUT	104	–	–	–	–
		466	96		98	–	–	–	–
		463	97		101	–	–	–	–
		460	98		103	–	–	–	–
		460	99		97	–	–	–	–
		459	100	CUT	105	–	–	–	–
		459	101	CUT	106	–	–	–	–
		458	102		29		38	–	–
		458	103	CUT	107	–	–	–	–
		453	104	CUT	108	–	–	–	–
		452	105	CUT	109	–	–	–	–
		452	106	CUT	110	–	–	–	–
		443	107	CUT	111	–	–	–	–
		434	108		100	–	–	–	–
		433	109		112	–	–	–	–
		432	110		85	–	–	–	–
		432	111	CUT	115	–	–	–	–
		428	112	WD	116	–	–	–	–
		428	113		113	–	–	–	–
		423	114	CUT	118	–	–	–	–
		423	115		91	–	–	–	–
		415	116	CUT	119	–	–	–	–
		408	117	CUT	120	–	–	–	–
		406	118	CUT	122	–	–	–	–
		401	119		121	–	–	–	–
		400	120		114	–	–	–	–
		399	121	CUT	123	–	–	–	–
		392	122	CUT	124	–	–	–	–
		388	123		96	–	–	–	–
		383	124		117	–	–	–	–
		376	125	CUT	125	–	–	–	–

* First-time Playoffs qualifier

External links

• Coverage on the PGA Tour's official site

Notes and References

1. News: FedExCup gets massive overhaul for next season . Golf Channel . Rex . Hoggard . September 18, 2018.
2. Web site: Koepka earns top spot in inaugural Wyndham Rewards Top 10 . PGA Tour . August 5, 2019.
3. Captain America (aka Patrick Reed) once again delivers when he needs it the most. Golf Digest . Christopher . Powers . August 12, 2019 .
4. News: Peaking at the Perfect Time, Patrick Reed Wins The Northern Trust . 11 August 2019 . The New York Times . Karen . Crouse . 27 August 2019.
5. News: Justin Thomas in great position to win FedEx Cup after capturing BMW Championship title . 18 August 2019 . USA Today . Steve . DiMeglio . 27 August 2019.
6. News: Rory McIlroy pockets richest prize of £12m in winning FedEx Cup title . 25 August 2019 . The Guardian . Ewan . Murray . 27 August 2019.
7. Web site: How it works: Tour Championship . PGA Tour . 19 August 2019.