This week marks the end of the regular season for the PGA. That means we’ve officially entered the playoff phase of the PGA Tour. It starts this week with the Wyndham Championship at the Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina. At stake are the 70 positions that will advance players toward the Tour Championship, held in Atlanta, where the winner takes home $10 million.
The playoff system—the FedEx Cup—was launched in 2007 to bring more excitement to the PGA Tour after the last major was played, then and now, the Open Championship. But they eventually moved the last major from August to July and extended the FedEx Cup competition to four tournaments, starting with the Wyndham this year.
Popular Confusion
The jury is still out on whether the FedEx Cup has really increased interest in golf. They seem to change the rules every year—this year included. At one point, players were allowed to obtain points toward qualification starting in the autumn, tournaments that were always afterthoughts in golf. That’s been eliminated. But players can add points in every tournament they play beginning in January, depending upon where they finish. Accumulate enough points, and you are guaranteed to be in. The Wyndham is a case in point. Most of the top players will skip this tournament and prepare for the first limited tournament of the 70 players who qualify, the FedEx St. Jude event in Memphis.
The next tournament, the BMW Championship, whittles the contestants down to 50, and by the time we reach the Tour Championship, only 30 golfers remain in competition. Supposedly, anyone in that field of 30 has a chance to win the trophy, but the fact is that the number of points you compile when you win the final tournament means you win the FedEx Cup. Yes, it’s confusing and only part of the reason that even the golfers don’t take it as seriously as they do the majors. Ask any professional golfer if they’d rather win the FedEx Cup or a major, there’s no question. A major for sure.
The format of the Tour Championship is also an issue. Depending upon a player’s standing in the points scale, the best players get “starting strokes.” Last year, for example, Scottie Scheffler started the championship with a 10-under-par score, giving him a two-stroke lead. But that format has been scrapped for 2025, giving all 30 players a better chance to win at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club.
For bettors, however, the FedEx Cup is an opportunity wrapped in an enigma. Who would bet against Scottie Scheffler? He’s won two majors and two other tournaments this year. His lead over second-place Rory McIlroy, another major winner in 2025, is huge, 4,806 to 3,044. McIlroy’s lead over third-place Sepp Straka is almost another 1,000 points; then the lead narrows to only a couple hundred points between the rest of the Top 10. See where all players stand here.
Wyndham Wiles
The drama starts in North Carolina at the Wyndham. The bubble players include such notables as Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau, and Cam Davis. Defending champion Aaron Rai is a little safer, in 58th place, but he’s got to play well. His precision game fits perfectly at Sedgefield Country Club. Matt Fitzpatrick, currently in 43rd place, is the betting favorite at 20-1.
Ben Griffin, currently a surprise in 7th place in the FedEx standings, is the highest-ranking pro in the Wyndham. Griffin is a North Carolina native with a strong course history at Sedgefield (4th in 2022, 7th in 2024). Keegan Bradley is another player in the top 10 of the FedEx Cup rankings. Bradley is also in good form and looking to secure his Ryder Cup spot, where he’s already been named the captain. Lucas Glover is the 2023 Wyndham champion and is in good form with recent top-10 finishes, and sits comfortably in the FedEx Cup standings. Christiaan Bezuidenhout needs a strong week to move into the top 70 for the playoffs, and has shown flashes of good form recently.
Once the Wyndham winds up, we’ll have a clearer picture of how the field for the FedEx Cup will lay out. Scheffler will, of course, have a massive lead, even with skipping this week’s tournament. We will keep an eye on the odds and report our suggestions each week leading up to the East Lake final. But once again, shop around for the odds because golf is a particularly volatile sport when it comes to handicappers setting the odds. See you next week.
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