Its crunch time for the top 70 players on the PGA Tour as the 18th edition of the FedEX Cup playoffs kick off this week with the St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.
Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy and Seamus Power fly the standard in the first of the post season events with the top 50 progressing to next weeks BMW Championship and earning their place in the ’25 season’s Signature Events.
McIlroy comes into the week after a break, having competed with Lowry at the Paris Games and sits in third spot in the rankings. The three-time FedEx Cup Champion has two victories under his belt this season at the Wells Fargo and with team-mate Lowry at the Zurich Classic. Tour leader in shots gained from the tee, McIlroy will look to use this to his advantage on the narrow fairways around TPC Southwind, especially if, as the name suggests, the breeze picks up over the four days.
Despite a missed cut at last weeks storm disrupted Wyndham Championship, Lowry managed to keep his top 10 spot and the two-million-dollar, end of season bonus for his troubles. His 10th spot should, barring something spectacular, see him comfortably into the BMW Championship but, his eyes will be firmly looking upward on the rankings. With 2000 FedEx Cup points on offer this week, charges up the order can be expected as players scramble to secure their top 50 status.
One man with it all to play for this week is Waterford’s Seamus Power. He sits precariously in 66th position heading into the week on 703 points with ground to make up on the 50th ranked player Jake Knapp on 970 points. Power has a tough task ahead of him and will depend on help from those above him as well as putting together four good days to make the lucrative top 50. He comes into the week after a decent showing at the Wyndham Championship, finishing tied for 28th and securing his position in the playoffs.
TPC Southwind sets the challenge for the field this week and with no cuts in the playoffs, they will have plenty of time to familiarise themselves with this tricky Ron Pritchard layout. Noted for it’s small, but forgiving greens and narrow fairways, a 7,244-yard par-70 walk awaits. Among the most notable holes at TPC Southwind are the 165-yard, par-3, 11th hole, considered by some to be a smaller version of the famous 17th Island Green at TPC Sawgrass, forcing a short iron over water to a small island green; the 231-yard, par-3 14th – consistently ranked one of the toughest par-3 holes on the PGA Tour, which requires a long iron or wood to a narrow green protected by water along the entire right side of the undulating green; and the course’s spectacular 461-yard, par-4 finishing hole, requiring a tee shot played alongside a water hazard that protects the entire left side of the fairway.
The newly minted Olympic Gold medalist, Scottie Scheffler comes into the week in red hot form after a victory-laden season with six wins on Tour to add to his Olympic glory. He sits clear at the top, nearly 1,000 points ahead of dual major winner Xander Schauffele who himself has clear daylight to third place McIlroy. The bumper points over the upcoming playoffs mean that Scheffler will be pushed all the way to avoid letting the Tour Championship slip as happened in the previous two years, coming up short to Viktor Hovland and Rory. The defending champion Lucas Glover failed to qualify for the honour of a title defence this week as he finished 77th in the rankings and sits out the playoff rounds this season.
“It’s a hard golf course,” said Schauffele about TPC Southwind. “It’s not the longest of courses, so you really have to be in position often. There’s a sneaky lot more water than you’d think, too. I think it’s one of those courses if you’re slightly off and you feel like you want to press, kind of what happened to me Sunday in Paris, one of those types of courses. Guys can make it look really easy if they’re on.”
Schauffele will begin his week in a marquee pairing with Scottie Scheffler for company over the opening two rounds. A 6.45pm Irish time start for the top two in what will be an unmissable pairing. McIlroy and Colin Morikawa make up another mouthwatering group and they begin their tilt at the week at 3.45pm. Lowry meanwhile will kick things off slightly earlier at 3.25 with Sungjae Im by his side at the first tee, while at 4.05, Power and Brandon Todd will head out to begin their first assault on the golf course.
