how the tour championship works

How does the FedEx Cup Tour Championship playoff format work?

Published: 24 August 2024 Last updated: 25 August 2024

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.

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Understanding the Tour Championship starting positions and scoring system

The PGA Tour’s season-long race for the FedEx Cup comes to an end this week at the Tour Championship in Atlanta, a tournament where the scoring gets a little twist to keep things interesting. Here’s what you need to know.

All times Eastern.

2024 TOUR Championship Final Field and Starting Leaderboard

Keegan Bradley wins BMW Championship; Scottie Scheffler maintains FedExCup lead entering East Lake for the third year

ATLANTA — The field is set for the 2024 TOUR Championship with the top 30 players in the FedExCup qualifying for the season finale at the newly restored East Lake Golf Club. Keegan Bradley captured the seventh win of his PGA TOUR career and his first of the 2024 season at the BMW Championship, elevating him to No. 4. in the FedExCup entering the TOUR Championship. Scottie Scheffler will become the first player to open the TOUR Championship as the FedExCup leader for a third consecutive season, a position he has held since winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

Xander Schauffele, who won the PGA Championship and Open Championship this year, notched T2 and T5 finishes in the first two Playoffs events and will enter the week at No. 2 in the FedExCup. Hideki Matsuyama, who earned his 10th PGA TOUR title at the FedEx St. Jude Championship before withdrawing from the BMW Championship with lower back discomfort, enters at No. 3.

The FedExCup Playoffs conclude this week at the TOUR Championship, supported by Proud Partners Accenture, Coca-Cola and Southern Company, where the top 30 players will compete for the FedExCup title as the PGA TOUR’s season champion. The first and second rounds will be broadcast live on Golf Channel from historic East Lake Golf Club on Thursday, Aug. 29 and Friday, Aug. 30 from 1-6 p.m. The third round will be broadcast on Golf Channel from 1-2:30 p.m. and on NBC from 2:30-7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 31, with the final round slated for Sunday, Sept. 1 from 12-1:30 p.m. on Golf Channel and 1:30-6 p.m. on NBC.

Other Player Storylines:

• Scottie Scheffler (No. 1) holds the FedExCup lead entering the TOUR Championship for the third consecutive year. Scheffler finished T2 and T6 in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
• With his victory at the BMW Championship, Keegan Bradley moved from No. 50 to No. 4 in the FedExCup. Bradley entered the FedEx St. Jude Championship at No. 39, finished T59, and fell to No. 50 to grab the final spot at the BMW Championship. He will be making his sixth career start at the TOUR Championship.
• Four players began the BMW Championship outside the top 30 in the FedExCup and played their way into the TOUR Championship: Keegan Bradley (No. 50 to No. 4), Adam Scott (No. 41 to No. 14), Tommy Fleetwood (No. 31 to No. 22) and Chris Kirk (No. 32 to No. 26).
• Ludvig Åberg (No. 5)
• Shane Lowry (No. 13)
• Byeong-Hun An (No. 16)
• Akshay Bhatia (No. 19)
• Robert MacIntyre (No. 20)
• Matthieu Pavon (No. 24)
• Taylor Pendrith (No. 25)
• Aaron Rai (No. 28)
• Christiaan Bezuidenhout (No. 29)
• Five former FedExCup Champions qualified for the TOUR Championship: No. 6 Rory McIlroy (2016, 2019, 2022), No. 10 Patrick Cantlay (2021), No. 17 Viktor Hovland (2023), No. 21 Billy Horschel (2014) and No. 30 Justin Thomas (2017). Thomas, who failed to advance to the FedExCup Playoffs in 2023, will make his eighth appearance at the TOUR Championship after securing the 30th and final spot in the field.

Final Field and Starting Leaderboard

FedEx Cup 2022: Everything you need to know ahead of the Tour Championship

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ATLANTA -- The winner of this week's season-ending Tour Championship, which starts Thursday at East Lake Golf Club, will take home an $18 million bonus.

The top 29 players in the FedEx Cup Playoffs points standings will compete for the top prize, after Will Zalatoris , who was third in the standings, had to withdraw on Tuesday because of a back injury.

But the week's biggest news could come Wednesday when PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan addresses the media. Details have started to leak from a players-only meeting that was organized by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy at last week's BMW Championship in Wilmington, Delaware.

The 22 players at the meeting were presented with a proposal that would include converting as many as 15 events to tournaments with smaller fields and bigger purses to entice top players to remain with the PGA Tour. More than two dozen PGA Tour members have left to join the rival LIV Golf series that is being financed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, including past major champions Brooks Koepka , Bryson DeChambeau , Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed .

The players have presented their proposal to Monahan. A player familiar with the discussions told ESPN that the plan is still in its infancy, and he wasn't sure how quickly the tour could implement the changes if it moves forward.

A source told ESPN on Tuesday that Monahan is expected to reveal significant changes during his news conference at East Lake.

"Change for an organization that has such a long history as the PGA Tour does, I think it's slow to change in general, and so if you're making potentially big changes, they can't happen necessarily overnight," defending FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay said on Tuesday.

Cantlay declined to talk about what was discussed in Delaware last week. He did say he would support changes that strengthened the PGA Tour's position in its ongoing battle with LIV Golf.

"I think anything that's better for viewers and trying to attract the most amount of viewers to bring them into the fold of golf and get them excited about golf, I think that would be a good thing," Cantlay said.

Cantlay's FedEx Cup defense

Cantlay, who successfully defended his BMW Championship title last week, is trying to become the first player to win the FedEx Cup in back-to-back seasons. Not even Tiger Woods did it.

Cantlay started the 2021 Tour Championship 2 strokes ahead of Tony Finau . He'll start this week's tournament 2 strokes behind world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler .

"I'm excited, coming back to a golf course that I like and obviously have some recent success on," Cantlay said. "It's nice to come into this tournament with a chance to win, being up near the top of the staggered start, although this year should be a different challenge than last year considering I'm 2 behind as opposed to 2 ahead."

Cantlay, who is ranked third in the world, called this season a "grind." He had 11 top-10 finishes in 19 tour starts, but didn't pick up his first individual victory until last week at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware. He teamed up with good friend Xander Schauffele to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in late April.

"It's the most golf I've probably ever played in a two-month stretch the last couple months," Cantlay said. "I think it's either six of eight or seven of nine [tournaments] for me, which is a lot of golf. I'm excited about the opportunity I have this week, starting this event only two shots back. But I'll be happy when the season is over and I get a couple-week break before the Presidents Cup."

Players not a fan of format

The Tour Championship is the only PGA Tour event that uses a strokes-based system, which is determined by a player's position in the FedEx Cup points standings after the BMW Championship.

Points leader Scheffler will start at 10-under par on Thursday, and the three players behind him, Cantlay, Schauffele and Sam Burns , will start at 8 under, 6 under and 5 under, respectively. The next five players will start the tournament at 4 under, regressing by one stroke every five players until those ranked Nos. 26-30 are at even par.

Zalatoris, who picked up his first win at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first leg of the playoffs, was third in points and would have started at 7 under. Zalatoris pulled out of last week's BMW Championship in the third round and has two herniated discs in his back.

Despite Cantlay's success in the Tour Championship, he still doesn't like the format, which is in its fourth season of existence.

"I've talked before about it," Cantlay said. "I'm not a fan. I think there's got to be a better system, although frankly I don't know what that better system is."

Schauffele, who has carded scores in the 60s in 18 of his 20 career rounds at East Lake, doesn't particularly favor the format, either. He won the Tour Championship as a rookie in 2017 and was runner-up in 2019 and 2020.

"If we had it like it was before, Scottie would have won the FedExCup months ago," Schauffele said. "I'm sure Scottie would like it in the old system, and it would be hard to argue that he doesn't deserve it.

"But from a playoff standpoint and shaking it up and giving the viewers what they need, at the end of the day we play golf and we're entertainers, so we need to create an entertaining space," Schauffele said. "I think having some sort of alternative outcome where someone else has a chance to win is what everyone would want. Like I said, I don't know what that looks like, but I'm sure it could be improved."

So, what's the best way to change it? U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick suggested that a match-play format in the three playoff events might be a better option. That change might give everyone in the field a chance to win.

"Golf is just so different to the other sports," Fitzpatrick said. "That's why I think looking at match play would probably be more of an answer because you've got a team that makes the playoffs in last place or whatever and you don't think they're going to go anywhere, and then they end up going all the way. And then you could have a guy, say in 90th [place], get all the way to the final."

Pass out the name tags

One of the byproducts of more than two dozen players leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf is an abundance of golfers making their Tour Championship debuts. In fact, there are nine first-timers playing this week at East Lake: Fitzpatrick, Sepp Straka , Scott Stallings , Cameron Young , Max Homa , Tom Hoge , K.H. Lee , J.T. Poston and Sahith Theegala .

"Yeah, I was speaking to someone last week about the average age of players now has dropped dramatically and guys are winning younger," Fitzpatrick said. "I think that kind of says it all with like nine first-timers. Obviously, everyone is much younger of those first-timers. I think golf is obviously in a decent place on that front."

Zalatoris would have been the 10th first-timer. He'll finish 30th in the FedEx Cup standings and will receive a $500,000 bonus. Schauffele didn't like the way that worked out for Zalatoris, who finished tied for sixth or better in three of the four majors. He lost to Justin Thomas in a playoff at the PGA Championship and tied for second at the U.S. Open.

"You know, I think unfortunately I saw on the news of Will not being able to play this week, and after a season that he had to sort of just to go to last place, I think it's a bit harsh," Schauffele said. "I think it could be sorted out a little bit better."

East Lake is pure

East Lake, which was the home of golf legend Bobby Jones, has hosted the Tour Championship since 1998. It has thick and long Bermuda rough, which is extra juicy this week because of the recent wet weather in Atlanta. Players might get a reprieve from the typically hot August weather in Georgia; forecasts call for temperatures from 80 to 86 degrees. There's a decent chance for thunderstorms on Thursday and Friday.

"I'd say obviously this course is one of the best-conditioned golf courses we come to all year," Cantlay said. "Seems like every year it's in perfect shape. Seems like it's a lot wetter this year. The fairways are long, and I don't think they've been cut just due to the softness. But if the weather holds off and doesn't rain too much, I'm sure it'll firm up every day."

Tour Championship Purse, Prize Money And Field

The PGA Tour season finale is upon us but who is in with a chance to take home the $18m first prize

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And just like that, the PGA Tour season finale is upon us, with the 30 leading contenders in the FedEx Cup set to tee it up at the oldest course in Atlanta and the home of Bobby Jones, East Lake Golf Club. 

World No.1 Scottie Scheffler returned to the summit of the FedEx Cup standings courtesy of a T3 finish at the BMW Championship. In the unique scoring format, the Masters champion will tee it up at the Tour Championship at 10-under-par and a two stroke lead from his nearest competitor.

Patrick Cantlay is hot on the heels of his American counterpart after a successful title defence at the BMW Championship, where he became the first player in FedEx Cup history to defend a Playoffs title. The 30-year-old will begin the Tour Championship two shots adrift of Scheffler with the chance to make history again and become the first back-to-back winner of the FedEx Cup. 

Will Zalatoris rounds off a trio of American's at the top of the standings and was expected to begin the Tour Championship three off the lead. The 26-year-old claimed his first PGA Tour title in emphatic fashion at the FedEx St. Jude Championship earlier this month but a back injury forced a third round withdrawal last week. The 26-year-old's race to recover has been unsuccessful and he has withdrawn from the tournament.  

Recently-crowned Open champion Cameron Smith , who was ruled out of the BMW Championship as a result of a hip injury, returns at East Lake. The Aussie was the subject of a recent report which claimed this may well be his last PGA Tour event, with the 28-year-old rumoured to have signed a lucrative $100m deal to join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series.

Rory McIlroy is presented with the opportunity to make history this week. The Northern Irishman enters at No.7 in the FedEx Cup standings and although six shots off the lead, can become the first three-time winner of the FedEx Cup. 

Ten players will make their Tour Championship debuts at East Lake, including fan favourite Sahith Theegala. The Californian has had a superb rookie season on the PGA Tour, with five top-10 finishes - including an agonising T2 at the Travellers Championship. 

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The Tour Championship marks the culmination of the FedEx Cup, where the winner will take home as astounding $18 million. There is a whopping $11.5 million between first and second place with each of the top-10 walking away with a seven-figure pay out. Expect drama and tension as the PGA Tour draws the curtain on what has been a turbulent 2022 season. 

2022 TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD & Starting Positions

• -10 Scottie Scheffler 
• -8 Patrick Cantlay
• -7 Will Zalatoris
• -6 Xander Schauffele 
• -5 Sam Burns
• -4 Cameron Smith, Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Sepp Straka, Sungjae Im
• -3 Jon Rahm, Scott Stallings, Justin Thomas, Cameron Young, Matt Fitzpatrick
• -2 Max Homa, Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth, Joaquin Niemann, Viktor Hovland
• -1 Collin Morikawa, Billy Horschel, Tom Hoge, Corey Conners, Brian Harman
• E K.H. Lee, J.T. Poston, Sahith Theegala, Adam Scott, Aaron Wise

TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZE MONEY BREAKDOWN

Where is the tour championship being played.

The Tour Championship is held at the oldest course in Atlanta and the home of Bobby Jones, East Lake Golf Club.

It was initially designed by Tom Bendelow, while both Donald Ross and Rees Jones, son of the famed golf course architect Robert Trent Jones, have each influenced the famed property in the last century. 

WHO WON THE 2021 TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP?

Cantlay enjoyed his best season to date in 2021, with victories at the Memorial Tournament, BMW Championship and Tour Championship. The victory at East Lake culminated his FedEx Cup success and secured the $15m first prize. He was later awarded the PGA Tour Player of the Year. 

HOW MUCH IS THE PURSE FOR THE 2022 TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP?

The season-long FedEx Cup carries a $75 million purse, with $18 million awarded to the winner.

James joined Golf Monthly having previously written for other digital outlets. He is obsessed with all areas of the game – from tournament golf, to history, equipment, technique and travel. He is also an avid collector of memorabilia; with items from the likes of Bobby Jones, Tiger Woods, Francis Ouimet, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Adam Scott and Ernie Els. As well as writing for Golf Monthly, James’ golfing highlight is fist bumping Phil Mickelson on his way to winning the Open Championship at Muirfield in 2013. James grew up on the east coast of England and is the third generation of his golfing family. He now resides in Leeds and is a member of Cobble Hall Golf Club with a handicap index of 1.7. His favourite films are The Legend of Bagger Vance and Tin Cup.

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How the pga tour's fedex cup playoffs work: locations, money, starting strokes, share this article.

The regular season is over. It’s time for the playoffs.

The FedEx Cup Playoffs consist of three events, capped off by the Tour Championship, where someone will walk off with a $15 million prize.

This year marks the 15th season of the playoffs. PGA Tour players battled through 50 events during the 2020-21 “super season” with only the top 125 in FedEx Cup points making the postseason.

Collin Morikawa – with his two wins, eight top-10s and 2,171 total FedEx Cup points – finished the season in the No. 1 spot. Morikawa also leads the PGA Tour’s money list with $7,039,768.

Jordan Spieth is No. 2 in FedEx points, followed by Patrick Cantlay, Harris English and Jon Rahm, who is No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking .

First up: the Northern Trust at Liberty National Golf Club on August 19-22 in Jersey City, New Jersey. The top 125 in the field will duke it out for a spot in the top 70, and those golfers will move on to the BMW Championship on August 26-29 at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland. From there only the top 30 advance to the season-ending Tour Championship on Sept. 2-5 at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. There is no cut at the BMW or the Tour Championship.

The winner of the Tour Championship is declared the FedEx Cup champion and takes home a first-place prize of $15 million in bonus money.

There is a total of $60 million in bonus money up for grabs at East Lake.

The PGA Tour will continue to utilize the FedEx Cup Starting Strokes, which was introduced for the first time in 2019. It’s a staggered system whereby the golfer in the top position will start the Tour Championship at 10 under, the No. 2 golfer will start at 8 under and on from there. This system was established to give players at the top of the points list the reward of a starting advantage in the Tour Championship.

Dustin Johnson won the FedEx Cup  a year ago. Only two golfers have won multiple FedEx Cup titles: Tiger Woods in 2007 and 2009, and Rory McIlroy in 2016 and 2019.

Starting strokes

No. 1: 10 under No. 2: 8 under No. 3: 7 under No. 4: 6 under No. 5: 5 under Nos. 6-10: 4 under Nos. 11-15: 3 under Nos. 16-20: 2 under Nos. 21-25: 1 under Nos. 26-30: Even

Bonus money payout

1. $15,000,000 2. $5,000,000 3. $4,000,000 4. $3,000,000 5. $2,500,000 6. $1,900,000 7. $1,300,000 8. $1,100,000 9. $950,000 10. $830,000 11. $750,000 12. $705,000 13. $660,000 14. $620,000 15. $595,000 16. $570,000 17. $550,000 18. $535,000 19. $520,000 20. $505,000 21. $490,000 22. $478,000 23. $466,000 24. $456,000 25. $445,000 26. $435,000 27. $425,000 28. $415,000 29. $405,000 30. $395,000

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Tour championship: fedexcup payout, starting positions, how to watch.

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The PGA Tour season comes to a close this week at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia, with the Tour Championship.

The finale is unlike any other event on the Tour’s schedule. It allows for only the top 30 players in FedExCup points - following two playoff events - and pays out the full FEC bonus, rather than a normal purse.

The Tour Championship also has a staggered-scoring start, with the points leader (Patrick Cantlay) starting Thursday’s opening round at 10 under par. Click here for the starting positions of everyone in the field.

Golf Channel and NBC Sports will showcase all four rounds. Here’s a look at the broadcast schedule (all times ET):

• Thursday: 1-6 p.m. (GC)
• Friday: 1-6 p.m. (GC)
• Saturday: 1-2:30 p.m. (GC); 2:30-7 p.m. (NBC)

Sunday: noon-1:30 p.m. (GC); 1:30-6 p.m. (NBC)

The FedExCup bonus pool totals $60 million and is paid out to the top 150 players in points (yes, including those who did not make the playoffs). Here’s a look at how the money will be doled out to the finishers at the Tour Championship. Note, the winner of Tour Championship gets the $15 million prize, second place at East Lake $5 million, and so on.

1. $15,000,000

2. $5,000,000

3. $4,000,000

4. $3,000,000

5. $2,500,000

6. $1,900,000

7. $1,300,000

8. $1,100,000

9. $950,000

10. $830,000

11. $750,000

12. $705,000

13. $660,000

14. $620,000

15. $595,000

16. $570,000

17. $550,000

18. $535,000

19. $520,000

20. $505,000

21. $490,000

22. $478,000

23. $466,000

24. $456,000

25. $445,000

26. $435,000

27. $425,000

28. $415,000

29. $405,000

30. $395,000

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FedEx Cup Playoffs: Tour Championship starting positions for all 30 golfers

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The Tour Championship, the finale of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, begins this week in Atlanta. Here are the starting positions for all 30 players.

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The PGA Tour season, at long last, is coming to a close. All that’s left is the FedEx Cup Playoffs finale in the Tour Championship, where (wait for it) $75 million will be up for grabs.

So, how does it all work? We’re glad you asked. We could all use a refresher.

The Tour Championship uses a stroke-based bonus system based on the current FedEx Cup standings , meaning not everyone enters the tournament on the same playing field.

This has been the formula for the past four years, as the Tour changed the format beginning in 2019. The old format crowned a Tour Championship winner and a FedEx Cup Playoffs champion (although sometimes it was the same person), and keeping track of essentially two different tournaments — for players and fans — was, well, confusing.

So now there’s just one champion, who, along with winning the Tour Championship, will also be the FedEx Cup Playoffs champ.

The leader of the FedEx Cup points race starts the Tour Championship, held at East Lake in Atlanta, at 10 under. The top five in the standings is staggered (2nd at eight under, 3rd at seven under, 4th at six under and 5th at five under), and the last 25 players in the field are more bunched (i.e. places 6-10 start at four under, and so on).

Here’s where everyone will start for the playoffs.

Tour Championship starting scores

10 under: Scottie Scheffler Eight under: Viktor Hovland Seven under: Rory McIlroy Six under: Jon Rahm Five under: Lucas Glover Four under: Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay, Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick Three under: Tommy Fleetwood, Russell Henley, Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele Two under: Tom Kim, Sungjae Im, Tony Finau, Corey Conners, Si Woo Kim One under: Taylor Moore, Nick Taylor, Adam Schenk, Collin Morikawa, Jason Day Even: Sam Burns, Emiliano Grillo, Tyrrell Hatton, Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka

Max Homa’s heckler incident illustrated risky future for PGA Tour, gambling

But just because Scheffler has a two-stroke lead over second place — and a much larger lead over others — doesn’t mean he’s bound to run away with this.

Take last year, for example, when Scheffler held the same spot on the leaderboard but was eventually beaten by Rory McIlroy, who started the tournament six shots back and even rebounded from a triple bogey on his first hole of the week to win the whole thing.

You can follow the action from 1-6 p.m. ET on Golf Channel on Thursday and Friday. Saturday’s broadcast is 1-3 p.m. on Golf Channel and 3-7 p.m. on CBS, and Sunday’s final round is 12-1:30 p.m. on Golf Channel and 1:30-6 p.m. on CBS.

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Tour confidential: lydia ko's hot run, mega-purses and keegan bradley…playing-captain, 7 surprising players to miss the tour championship, lydia ko's stirring open win was a reminder: she's not done just yet, keegan bradley wins bmw championship, first title since captaincy nod, josh berhow.

As GOLF.com’s managing editor, Berhow handles the day-to-day and long-term planning of one of the sport’s most-read news and service websites. He spends most of his days writing , editing, planning and wondering if he’ll ever break 80. Before joining GOLF.com in 2015, he worked at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., he resides in the Twin Cities with his wife and two kids. You can reach him at [email protected].

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