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Scottie scheffler wins 2024 tour championship to claim fedex cup, $25 million bonus, share this article.

ATLANTA — Randy Smith was speaking about his star pupil Scottie Scheffler when Scheffler’s mother, Diane, swooped in for a hug. But as he accepted her embrace, Smith answered the question about what he learned seeing Scheffler overcome the dreaded shank at the eighth hole in the final round of the 2024 Tour Championship and bounce back with three straight birdies and go on to win the title and the FedEx Cup for the first time with a winning score of 30 under.

“A lot,” Smith said, his eyes growing wide.

He still remembers when Scheffler was seven or eight years old and he would grow increasingly frustrated when he would do everything in his power correctly but the ball would take a funny bounce or would hit a spike mark and go off line. Scheffler couldn’t understand it. Smith said it took time, but he learned to control what he can control and appreciate that golf is not a game of perfect.

“Golf is hard,” Smith said, “and he’s figured out how to make it easy.”

Scottie Scheffler lines up his putt on the fifth green during the final round of the TOUR Championship. (John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports)

Indeed, Scheffler has, making five birdies and an eagle at East Lake Golf Club to shoot 4-under 67 on Sunday and beat Collin Morikawa by four strokes in the FedEx Cup finale to remove any doubt of who is the PGA Tour Player of the Year. Scheffler became the first player to win seven times in a single season – eight according to Scheffler, who counts the gold medal at the Paris Olympics – since Tiger Woods in 2007. In the last 40 years, Scheffler joins Woods, who did it four times, and Vijay Singh, who won nine times in 2004.

No less than Adam Scott, the 44-year-old veteran who experienced Tiger’s prime and finished T-4 this week, said Scheffler’s season was worthy of comparisons to some of Tiger’s best work.

“I think it is on par with those great years of Tiger’s. I think it’s very hard today for anyone to separate themselves as much as Scottie has. I don’t think we’ve seen that in a long time. I think it’s harder to do it today,” he said.

Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee argued Scheffler’s game from tee to green has been every bit as good as Tiger in his prime. “I never thought I’d be able to say that – Tiger Woods was a much better putter…what we (saw) this week is Tiger Woods-type putting,” he said of Scheffler, who ranked third in Strokes Gained: Putting this week.

Just a few weeks after Rory McIlroy suggested on national TV that Scheffler should consider using a mallet putter, he switched to a TaylorMade Spider in March, and the putts started to drop. When Scheffler, already the game’s most complete player, putts well, it’s not a fair fight.

“I made a lot of putts this year when I really needed to,” he said. “I think of the putt to win Memorial, I think of some of the putts I made over the week at the Players and the putts I made on the back nine Sunday at the Olympics. I made some putts this year when I really needed to, and that’s why I’m sitting here with a lot of wins instead of a few.”

Scheffler entered the Tour Championship at No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings for the third consecutive year and began at 10 under in the staggered start, two strokes clear of Xander Schauffele and as many as 10 ahead of the last man in the 30-man field. With rounds of 65-66-66, he enjoyed a five-stroke lead heading into the final round, and with Morikawa making bogey at the first and Scheffler sinking a birdie at No. 2, his lead grew to seven. But that seemingly commanding advantage began to shrink. Scheffler made three bogeys in a four-hole stretch beginning at the fifth and concluding with the world No. 1 shanking that ball from a greenside bunker at No. 8 .

“You can see it in his body language right now,” NBC’s Jim “Bones” Mackay said. “He is shaken up.”

Tour Championship : Leaderboard | Photos

Very surprising were the words Morikawa used to describe the shot. He pounced, rolling in his birdie putt for a two-stroke swing to cut the deficit to two. All the momentum had shifted. But one of Scheffler’s super powers is his ability to only look forward.

“He went back to work,” Smith said.

“It almost brought his focus back in for a half second, and that’s something you can’t teach. You just either have it or you don’t,” Morikawa said.

It looked as if Scheffler, who blew a six-stroke 54-hole lead in the 2022 Tour Championship to McIlroy, was reeling. A pep talk from caddie Ted Scott helped settle his nerves. Morikawa wasn’t surprised what happened next: “He played Scottie golf.”

Scheffler drilled a 4-iron at the par-3 ninth to 3 feet and made birdie. He birdied the next two holes to stretch the lead to five. That’s what the greats do. Just like he did down the road at Augusta National Golf Club in April, he sucked all the drama out of the closing holes.

Scottie Scheffler celebrates with wife Meredith and their son Bennett after winning the 2024 Tour Championship. (John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports)

In a year in which he welcomed the birth of his first child, a son Bennett, and stretched in a Louisville jail cell before the second round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla, Scheffler collected his 13 th Tour title, tying him with a group that includes Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and David Duval. That included another major championship, his second Masters title, and he also won the Players, becoming the first player to win the Tour’s flagship event in back-to-back years. He also claimed four signature events: the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the RBC Heritage, the Travelers and the Memorial.

He won $25 million in bonus money as the FedEx Cup champion, bringing his grand total to $62,228,357 this season between official and bonus money .

“He’s the guy to beat every single week,” Justin Thomas said. “I don’t think people understand how hard that is to do, when you’re expected to win, when you’re the favorite to win, when every single thing you’re doing is being looked at, good and bad, on the golf course, and how hard it is to get in your own little zone and own little world and truly just quiet the noise. It’s something that is just as much of a skill as being able to hit a driver in the fairway or an iron on line. He’s clearly figured that out very well.”

Scott has tried to figure out Scheffler’s secret sauce, which included ranking first in 40 different statistical categories measured by the Tour – among them first in greens in regulation (73 percent) and putting average (1.69). No player had led both categories in a single season since 1980. (In 2000, Woods was second in putting average.)

“I’m observing all the time everything he does. I switched to his golf ball this year. I did a bunch of stuff just to see what’s going on. But I didn’t find it,” Scott said.

Aaron Rai, who made it to East Lake for the first time this season, has been keeping close tabs on Scheffler’s relentless play and run of dominance and offered a different take on what makes Scheffler special.

“His biggest strength is his outlook and his perspective on life,” Rai said. “To be able to maintain that level of golf under the pressure of being world No. 1 and the attention that surrounds him every week and to be able to play his best golf at No. 1 shows a different dimension to his game.”

Schauffele, who with two majors enjoyed a breakthrough season and finished T-4 at the Tour Championship, has witnessed Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, McIlroy and Jon Rahm take their turn at No. 1, but what Scheffler has done stands alone.

“I think by the definition of dominance, I think that’s literally where he’s sitting,” Schauffele said. “They were kind of punching back and forth between 1, 2 and 3. Scottie has just been at the tip-top of the mountain for, what, two full years now it seems.”

Schauffele, Scott, Morikawa and the best players in men’s golf will get another shot next season to knock Scheffler from his perch, but none of his success surprises CBS analyst Colt Knost, who watched Scheffler blossom into the best in the world from a young age.

“This is what he does,” Knost said. “He’s been a winner his whole life, and I don’t see him slowing down any time soon.”

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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

List of FedEx Cup Champions

The 2024 FedEx Cup Champion cashed $25 million. Here's the list of FedEx Cup Champions.

• DESCRIPTION #FEDEXCUP sign on display
• SOURCE Andrew Redington/Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
• PERMISSION Getty Image License

Since 2007, the PGA Tour has used the FedEx Cup Playoffs to determine the season’s champion. Winning the FedEx Cup not only comes with the title of FedEx Cup Champion, but a 5-year PGA Tour exemption and a nice payout as well.

In 2024, Scottie Scheffer collected a cool $25 million for capturing the title. That $25 million came from a bonus pool of $100 million that was distributed among the 30 players who qualified for the Tour Championship, the final stage of the FedEx Cup playoffs, making it the biggest purse on the PGA Tour .

That bonus pool jumped up to $100 million in 2024 from $75 million in 2023.

From 2007 to 2018, the FedEx Cup playoffs consisted of four playoff events to whittle 125 players down to one champion. However, complications arose throughout the Tour Championship as there were two titles in the balance, one for the tournament and another for the season-long FedEx Cup.

In 2019 the PGA Tour addressed this issue with a staggered start format for the Tour Championship. Under the new format, players begin the tournament anywhere from even par up to 10-under, based on their FedEx Cup standing heading into the championship. The winner of the tournament is then also the FedEx Cup Champion and receives a hefty payday .

The playoff schedule also shifted from four tournaments to three, and now only the top 70 players from the FedEx Cup standings advance to the playoffs.

List of FedEx Cup Winners

Here is the complete breakdown of all-time FedEx Cup winners since the playoffs began in 2007. From 2007-18, the winner of the FedEx Cup cashed a $10 million bonus check, a figure that increased to $15 million from 2019-21, and $18 million in 2022. Beginning in 2024, it jumped to $25 million.

FedEx Cup Staggered Start Breakdown

Since 2019, the PGA Tour has used the following breakdown to stagger the start of the Tour Championship based on point standings, giving the leader heading into the final event a two-stroke lead on his nearest competitor, and a 10-stroke lead over the last five players to qualify for the finals. Here is the complete breakdown.

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Golf Talk Today: A quick look at the FedEx Cup Fall standings after the 1st event

Here are the PGA Tour standings after Patton Kizzire won the first FedEx Cup Fall event as guys play for higher status in 2025.

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Welcome to Playing Through’s daily ritual — Golf Talk Today.

Each day, the crew will discuss various elements of the PGA Tour , LPGA, LIV Golf, and more.

Let’s look at the FedEx Cup Fall standings after Patton Kizzire won the first event at the Procore Championship . That victory was his first in six years and massive for him. It got him into the opening tournament of the season, The Sentry, the first Signature Event.

The win also moved him from No. 132 to No. 70 in the standings, bringing him closer to qualifying for the following two Signature Events.

Let’s discuss the FedEx Cup Fall in more detail:

What is the FedEx Cup Fall?

For those who do not know, the FedEx Cup Fall is a series of tournaments that allow players ranked No. 51 or lower a chance to earn more points and potentially Signature Event starts.

If they are not already qualified, the top 10 (The Next 10) at the end of the Fall series will get into the first two Signature Events of 2025 after The Sentry.

The players ranked Nos. 51-70 at the start of the fall already clinched their spot in the Top 125, but it is all about getting inside those Signature Events. They are the ones that can help elevate a player up the standings in the regular season.

Players ranked No. 71 and lower can earn one of the 10 places in the Signature Events, but they must finish inside the Top 125 at the end of the fall series to keep their full-field event status.

The players ranked 125-150 will have conditional status in 2025.

How many FedEx Cup Fall events are there?

There are eight FedEx Cup Fall events in the series. Here they are:

— Procore Championship: Sept. 9-15 (Winner: Patton Kizzire) — Sanderson Farms Championship: Sept. 30- Oct. 6 — Black Desert Championship: Oct. 7-13 — Shriners Children’s Open: Oct. 14-26 — Zozo Championship: Oct. 21-27 — World Wide Technology Championship: Nov. 4-10 — Butterfield Bermuda Championship: Nov. 11-17 — The RSM Classic: Nov. 18-24

FedEx Cup Fall Next 10 Standings:

(51-60 qualify for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational)

51. Mackenzie Hughes 52. Tom Kim 53. Patrick Rodgers 54. Maverick McNealy 55. Justin Rose 56. Seamus Power 57. Harris English 58. Nick Taylor 59. Jake Knapp 60. Min Woo Lee

--- (Next 10 on the rankings)

61. Ben Griffin 62. Erik van Rooyen 63. Brendon Todd 64. Taylor Moore 65. Peter Malnati 66. Jordan Spieth 67. Emiliano Grillo 68. Jhonattan Vegas 69. Mark Hubbard 70. Patton Kizzire

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Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.

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Procore Championship

Silverado Resort (North Course)

THREE AT HOME GOLF EXERCISES

Who's in, who's out at the 2023 Tour Championship: All 30 qualifiers and where they start at East Lake

Michael Reaves

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. — For all the jockeying for position over 72 holes at Olympia Fields Country Club, for all the drama as players moved in and out of the top 30 in the FedEx Cup points standings, only one player—Matt Fitzpatrick—was able to play his way into the Tour Championship on Sunday.

Fitzpatrick had hoped for more, of course, after beginning the final round of the BMW Championship tied atop the leaderboard with World No 1 Scottie Scheffler. He matched Scheffler with a closing four-under 66, but the Englishman couldn’t counter the magnificent charge of Viktor Hovland , who fired a course-record 61. Fitzpatrick had to settle for joint second place with Scheffler at 15-under 265. Nevertheless, the former U.S. Open winner moved up 30 spots and heads to East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta in 10th place in the standings.

“Yeah, played great. Can't do anything about 61,” the Englishman said. “For me, just really pleased again that I played really well final round in contention with world No. 1, and I didn't lose it. Someone else came from behind and won it. I feel like my game is definitely in better shape than it was, and yeah, looking forward to getting to next week and working on it some more, and hopefully still progressing.”

With a move up, one player had to be pushed out, and that was Atlanta native Chris Kirk, who suffered a miserable finish with bogeys on three of his last six holes, including the 18th. Kirk, winner for the first time in eight years at the Honda Classic in March, dropped from 29th to 33rd after a closing one-over 71.

“I’m not sure how I feel about it. I hit two of the best shots [approaches] of the day the last two holes and went par, bogey,” said Kirk after finishing T-29 at two-under 278. “I’d like to have one more week, but I feel like I’ve had enough golf for the next couple of months.”

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Scheffler’s only consolation on the day was overtaking Jon Rahm for the top spot at East Lake, the first time in FedEx Cup playoff history that a player enters the Tour Championship with the lead in back-to-back years. He’ll start the tournament at 10 under par and with a two-stroke advantage over Hovland.

Rory McIlroy, the defending champion and the only three-time winner of the FedEx Cup, will start third and three shots behind Scheffler at seven under in the staggered-start format. He was seventh a year ago and six shots behind Scheffler before a final-day rally.

“I'm playing great tee to green, the best I've played in a long time,” McIlroy said after finishing fourth with a closing 66 on the North Course while paired with Hovland. “Going to have to drive the ball probably a little straighter, but I felt like I found something on the back nine there today to go into next week. but overall I'm in a really good position going into next week, so excited for it.”

Matt Fitzpatrick was the only golfer to play his way into the Tour Championship this week at the BMW Championship, moving from 40th to 10th place in the FedEx Cup standings with his T-2 finish at Olympia Fields.

Stacy Revere

Rounding out the top five in the FedEx Cup standings are Rahm, who will start at six under par, and Lucas Glover, who begins at five under. Fitzpatrick is in a group with five others who will be staked to a score of four under par.

No fewer than six players were in the hunt for the final few berths in the playoff finale, with Sepp Straka perhaps coming up with the most clutch performance, carding a 66 despite a bogey on the 72nd hole. His two-over 282 left him T-37, but he stayed inside the bubble for the playoff finale in 30th place.

“You watch it, but ultimately it doesn't really matter because most of it's out of your control anyway,” said the 30-year-old Austrian native, who had booked two flights out of Chicago, one to Atlanta and one going on home to Birmingham, Ala. “You've just got to try to play a good round of golf and see where you end up.”

Straka, Jordan Spieth and Emiliano Grillo began the week inside the top 30 but found themselves projected outside the top 30 after 54 holes only to bounce back to the plus side on Sunday.

Grillo carded a 67, enough to finish T-31 at even-par 280 and qualified in 27th position. Despite bogeys on his final two holes, Spieth advanced. He had dropped as far down as 32 in the projections when he signed for a 71 before getting help from 2018 FedEx Cup champion Justin Rose and Denny McCarthy, who were inside the number as the final round began but couldn't keep it. Spieth finished T-34 at one-over 281.

Sahith Theegala also figured in the matrix of things, giving himself hope with three straight birdies starting at the par-5 15th, bit then the second-year tour player bogeyed the last for a 67 and 274 total, tied for 15th, which left him in that agonizing 31st position, nine points behind Straka.

Rose had played his way in from 34th at the outset of the week with middle rounds of 65 and 68 and then fell away with 73-276, placing T-22. McCarthy was projected in at No. 30 when his final round began, but his even-par 70 wasn’t enough to keep it, ending up 33rd with his T-10 finish at 273.

Here's the field for East Lake and where they’ll all start on Thursday.

Scottie Scheffler (-10)

Viktor Hovland (-8)

Rory McIlroy (-7)

Jon Rahm (-6)

Lucas Glover (-5)

Max Homa (-4)

Patrick Cantlay (-4)

Brian Harman (-4)

Wyndham Clark (-4)

Matt Fitzpatrick (-4)

Tommy Fleetwood (-3)

Russell Henley (-3)

Keegan Bradley (-3)

Rickie Fowler (-3)

Xander Schauffele (-3)

Tom Kim (-2)

Sungjae Im (-2)

Tony Finau (-2)

Corey Conners (-2)

Si Woo Kim (-2)

Taylor Moore (-1)

Nick Taylor (-1)

Adam Schenk (-1)

Collin Morikawa (-1)

Jason Day (-1)

Sam Burns (E)

Emiliano Grillo (E)

Tyrrell Hatton (E)

Jordan Spieth (E)

Sepp Straka (E)

FedEx Cup payouts

How much each player will make based on their finish at the Tour Championship:

1. $18,000,000

2. $6,500,000

3. $5,000,000

4. $4,000,000

5. $3,000,000

6. $2,500,000

7. $2,000,000

8. $1,500,000

9. $1,250,000

10. $1,000,000

11. $950,000

12. $900,000

13. $850,000

14. $800,000

15. $760,000

16. $720,000

17. $700,000

18. $680,000

19. $660,000

20. $640,000

21. $620,000

22. $600,000

23. $580,000

24. $565,000

25. $550,000

26. $540,000

27. $530,000

28. $520,000

29. $510,000

30. $500,000

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2024 FedEx Cup standings: 30 PGA Tour players in the final leg at the Tour Championship

The PGA Tour's 2024 FedEx Cup playoffs roll on to the final stage, the Tour Championship, at the conclusion of the 2024 BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club near Denver, Colorado.

The BMW Championship field had the top 50 players in FedEx Cup points through the regular season and the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

However, with the start of the playoffs, points are multiplied by four, with the winner of each playoff event getting 2,000 FedEx Cup points. At the end of the BMW Championship, the top 30 players in total points, adding in the FedEx St. Jude Championship and BMW Championship, qualify for the Tour Championship, played this year at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

Four players played their way into the Tour Championship from outside the top 30 heading into this tournament.

• 4. Keegan Bradley (50)
• 14. Adam Scott (41)
• 22. Tommy Fleetwood (31)
• 26. Chris Kirk (32)

In addition to earning a spot in the Tour Championship and at least $550,000 in earnings next week, players get other benefits, including spots in three of four major championships in 2025 and berths into all eight Signature events next season.

2024 FedEx Cup standings: 30 PGA Tour players who qualified for the 2024 Tour Championship

Players eliminated from the 2024 fedex cup playoffs at bmw championship, about the author.

Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is founder and editor of Golf News Net. He has been writing and broadcasting about golf for nearly 20 years. Ballengee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He is currently a +2.6 USGA handicap, and he has covered dozens of major championships and professional golf tournaments. He likes writing about golf and making it more accessible by answering the complex questions fans have about the pro game or who want to understand how to play golf better.

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PGA Tour Championship: TV channel, live stream, tee times for FedEx Cup tournament

All the excitement of the PGA Tour season concludes this weekend with the Tour Championship.

The top 30 players will battle for the FedExCup in the serenity of Georgia's East Lake Golf Club.

The event's purse is $75 million, with the winner receiving $18 million of that.

Last year, Rory McIlroy won his third championship and FedEx Cup, becoming the first player with that many titles. The Northern Ireland maestro beat out American Scottie Scheffler after making up six strokes in the final round.

McIlroy returns to take on Scheffler, who currently has the lead in the PGA standings. Scheffler is just ahead of Viktor Hovland in second and the defending champion is sitting in third.

The players get a special advantage in the tournament based on their standings.

Here's everything you need to know for the 2023 PGA Tour Championship for the FedEx Cup:

When is the FedEx Cup Tour Championship?

The PGA Tour Championship for the FedEx Cup tees off at 11:30 a.m. ET on Thursday from East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

Play continues through the weekend with coverage of the final round on Sunday.

What TV channel will the Tour Championship be on?

The PGA Tour Championship will be televised on the Golf Channel with late afternoon and evening slots on Saturday and Sunday on CBS.

For full the full broadcast schedule, visit PGATour.com .

How to live stream the Tour Championship?

The PGA Tour Championship for the FedEx Cup will be live streamed on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.

For full the full live stream schedule, visit PGATour.com .

How does the FedEx Cup give players a stroke advantage in the Tour Championship?

The 30 golfers participating in the PGA Tour Championship will have a stroke advantage based on where they were in the standings heading into the tournament. Scottie Scheffler is the top-seeded player, followed by Viktor Hovland, who won the BMW Championship.

Here are the starting scores for the field:

• (-10) Scottie Scheffler
• (-8) Viktor Hovland
• (-7) Rory McIlroy
• (-6) Jon Rahm
• (-5) Lucas Glover
• (-4) Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay, Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick
• (-3) Tommy Fleetwood, Russell Henley, Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele
• (-2) Tom Kim, Sungjae Im, Tony Finau, Corey Conners, Si Woo Kim
• (-1) Taylor Moore, Nick Taylor, Adam Schenk, Collin Morikawa, Jason Day
• (Even) Sam Burns, Emiliano Grillo, Tyrrell Hatton, Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka

What are the tee times and pairings for Round 1 of the Tour Championship?

Jordan Spieth and Sepp Straka are paired to start off the Tour Championship in Round 1 on Thursday. Defending champion Rory McIlroy will play with 2023 Masters winner Jon Rahm and the round concludes with top-seeded Scottie Scheffler taking on Viktor Hovland.

PGA Tour Championship pairings and Round 1 tee times are below:

All times ET.

• 11:26 a.m. — Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka
• 11:37 a.m. — Emiliano Grillo, Tyrrell Hatton
• 11:48 a.m. — Jason Day, Sam Burns
• 11:59 a.m. — Adam Schenk, Collin Morikawa
• 12:10 p.m. — Taylor Moore, Nick Taylor
• 12:21 p.m. — Corey Conners, Si Woo Kim
• 12:32 p.m. — Sungjae Im, Tony Finau
• 12:43 p.m. — Xander Schauffele, Tom Kim
• 12:54 p.m. — Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler
• 1:05 p.m. — Tommy Fleetwood, Russell Henley
• 1:16 p.m. — Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick
• 1:27 p.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Brian Harman
• 1:38 p.m. — Lucas Glover, Max Homa
• 1:49 p.m. — Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm
• 2 p.m. — Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland

2023 Tour Championship betting: PGA golf odds this week

Whether you are new to sports betting or a seasoned sharp, the 2023 Tour Championship to decide the FedEx Cup has plenty of intrigue — and USA TODAY readers can claim exclusive promos and bonus codes with the top sportsbooks and sports betting sites . Understanding the different ways to wager on the event is paramount to learning how to bet on sports .

Scottie Scheffler is a +140 favorite to win the event, according to BetMGM . Despite not registering a win since the 2023 Players Championship in March, Scheffler has consistently finished near the top of the leaderboard this season and enters the Tour Championship with a two-stroke advantage. Three-time FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy (+350) and red-hot Viktor Hovland (+450) round out the top three. Elsewhere, 2023 Masters Champion Jon Rahm is at +800 to win the Tour Championship.

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Here are the top golfers from the opening round of the PGA Tour playoffs

The no. 28 golfer in the fedex cup standings posted the top score in round 1 of the st. jude championship., by eric mullin • published august 15, 2024 • updated on august 15, 2024 at 9:17 pm.

The 2024 FedEx Cup Playoffs are underway.

The PGA Tour postseason began with the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis on Thursday. The FedEx St. Jude Championship is the first of three playoff tournaments.

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Scottie Scheffler , fresh off winning an Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games , entered the postseason with the most FedEx Cup points, but it was the No. 28 golfer in the standings who posted the top first-round score.

Chris Kirk opened with a 6-over 64 at TPC Southwind to take a one-shot lead heading into Friday's second round. His day was highlighted by a hole-in-one from 205 yards on the par-3 14th.

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Chris Kirk HOLE-IN-ONE for an early three-shot lead at TPC Southwind! 🔥🤯 🎥 @PGATOUR , ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/lHjTS1QHV9 — Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) August 15, 2024

Olympic bronze medalist Hideki Matsuyama , who sits eighth in the FedEx Cup standings, is right behind Kirk at 5-under, tied for second with Matthieu Pavon (16th in FedEx Cup standings) and Taylor Pendrith (27th).

Xander Schauffele , who boasts the second-most FedEx Cup points, is tied with Scheffler and several other golfers for fifth at 4-under.

What's the FedEx St. Jude Championship leaderboard?

Here's a full look at the top golfers through 18 holes:

1. Chris Kirk: -6

T-2. Taylor Pendrith: -5

T-2. Matthieu Pavon: -5

T-2. Hideki Matsuyama: -5

T-5. Justin Rose: -4

T-5. Ben Griffin: -4

T-5. Tommy Fleetwood: -4

T-5. Brendon Todd: -4

T-5. Denny McCarthy: -4

T-5. Scottie Scheffler: -4

T-5. Xander Schauffele: -4

T-12. Justin Thomas: -3

T-12. Peter Malnati: -3

T-12. Seamus Power: -3

T-12. Nick Dunlap: -3

T-12. Sam Burns: -3

T-12. Robert MacIntyre: -3

You can check out the full leaderboard here .

Scottie Scheffler leads group of 70 golfers entering FedEx St. Jude Championship

How to watch the St. Jude Championship, the first event of 2024 FedExCup Playoffs

What to know about TPC Southwind ahead of the FedEx St. Jude Championship

Where is the fedex st. jude championship being played.

TPC Southwind in Memphis is the site of the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

What's the FedEx St. Jude Championship format?

The opening playoff tournament features four rounds of stroke play where the golfer with the lowest score after 72 holes wins.

The top 70 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings qualified for the playoffs, but only the top 50 will advance to the second tournament: the BMW Championship.

Are there cuts at the FedEx St. Jude Championship?

There aren't any cuts at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, meaning all 70 golfers will play four rounds.

How many points will the FedEx St. Jude Championship winner get?

Golfers will be looking to add to their FedEx Cup point totals in order to secure a spot in the BMW Championship. The point totals at stake range from 2,000 for the winner to just 12 for the 70th-place finisher.

What's the FedEx St. Jude Championship purse?

There's also money up for grabs in Memphis as the FedEx St. Jude Championship boasts a $20 million purse, with $3.6 million earmarked for the winner.

What are the FedEx Cup standings?

These are currently the top 10 golfers in the FedEx Cup Standings:

1. Scottie Scheffler: 5,993

2. Xander Schauffele: 4,057

3. Rory McIlroy: 2,545

4. Collin Morikawa: 2,456

5. Wyndham Clark: 2,154

6. Ludvig Aberg: 2,092

7. Sahith Theegala: 2,037

8. Hideki Matsuyama: 1,899

9. Sungjae Im: 1,883

10. Shane Lowry: 1,867

You can check out the full standings here .

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2024 Tour Championship purse, prize money: Payout from $100M FedEx Cup pool for Scottie Scheffler, field

The $25 million bonus paid out to the tour championship winner is the largest in pga tour history.

The largest prize fund ever established was  dished out on Sunday at the 2024 Tour Championship as the entire PGA Tour season concluded at East Lake Golf Club. With the top 30 players from the PGA Tour vying for their slice of the $100 million FedEx Cup bonus pool -- up $25 million from last year -- competitors had the chance to see jaw-dropping figures hit their back accounts by week's end.

Signature events and the first two playoff events boasted a total purse of $20 million, which amounted to $5 million less than what this week's eventual winner will take home. Increasing $7 million compared to the last two seasons, the winner's share represents the largest in PGA Tour history and a $10 million increase compared to 2019 -- the first year of the staggered start format.

Scottie Scheffler was the lone man to surpass $25 million in earnings this season as he won the Masters, Players Championship and four signature events -- six of the largest paydays of the year . Xander Schauffele nearly clipped $20 million himself thanks to two major victories, while Hideki Matsuyama, Wyndham Clark and Rory McIlroy round out those to earn more than eight figures in 2024.

Scheffler and Collin Morikawa, who is winless on the season, were engaged in a two-horse race to the finish before Scheffler got to 30 under and took down the two-time major champion for his seventh PGA Tour victory of the season and the biggest payday in golf history. 

Still, a top-five finish guaranteed players at least a $5 million bonus, while those inside the top 12 all saw seven figures next to their names. Everyone in the field earned at least a half million dollars for qualifying for the Tour Championship.

Let's take a look at the payout list for the 30 players who were in attendance at the 2024 Tour Championship. The other 120 players in the FedEx Cup standings will split the remaining $17.05 million.

2024 Tour Championship payout, prize money

FedEx Cup purse: $100 million Tour Championship purse: $82.95 million

1st: $25,000,000 -- Scottie Scheffler  2nd: $12,500,000 -- Collin Morikawa 3rd: $7,500,000 -- Sahith Theegala 4th: $6,000,000 -- Russell Henley, Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele ($4.8 million each) 5th: $5,000,000 6th: $3,500,000  7th: $2,750,000 -- Sungjae Im 8th: $2,250,000 -- Wyndham Clark 9th: $2,000,000 -- Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Shane Lowry ($1.61 million each) 10th: $1,750,000 11th: $1,075,000 12th: $1,025,000 -- Viktor Hovland, Sam Burns ($1 million each) 13th: $975,000  14th: $925,000 -- Taylor Pendrith, Justin Thomas ($905,000 each) 15th: $885,000 16th: $795,000 -- Ludvig Åberg 17th: $775,000 -- Robert MacIntyre, Patrick Cantlay, Matthieu Pavon ($755,000 each) 18th: $755,000 19th: $735,000 20th: $715,000 -- Tommy Fleetwood 21st: $670,000 -- Keegan Bradley, Ben An ($660,000 each) 22nd: $650,000 23rd: $630,000 -- Billy Horschel, Aaron Rai, Tony Finau ($615,000 each) 24th: $615,000 25th: $600,000 26th: $590,000 -- Akshay Bhatia 27th: $580,000 -- Chris Kirk, Sepp Straka ($575,000 each) 28th: $570,000 29th: $560,000 -- Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Tom Hoge ($555,000 each) 30th: $550,000

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FedEx Cup Playoffs: Tour Championship format, how it works, bonus payouts

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Here's the starting positions, format and bonus payout for the season-ending Tour Championship, the final leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

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All that talk you hear about trying to earn a spot in the Tour Championship? Here’s why it’s worth it.

Only 30 players qualified for this week’s season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake it Atlanta, which is the third and final leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. But for getting into the playoffs (top 70), past the FedEx St. Jude (top 50) and through the BMW Championship (top 30), players are handsomely rewarded.

All players in the Tour Championship get a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and invites for the 2024 Masters. (U.S. Open and Open Championship exemptions are likely, too, although those haven’t been announced yet.)

Oh, right, and the money. There’s a lot of that. A total purse of $75 million is up for grabs.

The winner brings home a whopping $18 million, but even the runner-up gets $6.5 million and third place $5 million. In fact, everyone inside the top 10 gets seven figures. As for last place? They get $500,000, which isn’t exactly pocket change, either.

Here’s the entire bonus payout for the FedEx Cup Playoffs and Tour Championship.

FedEx Cup Playoffs, Tour Championship bonus structure

1st — $18 million 2nd — $6.5 million 3rd — $5 million 4th — 4 million 5th — $3 million 6th — $2.5 million 7th — $2 million 8th — $1.5 million 9th — $1.25 million 10th — $1 million 11th — $950,000 12th — $900,000 13th — $850,000 14th — $800,000 15th — $760,000 16th — $720,000 17th — $700,000 18th — $680,000 19th — $660,000 20th — $640,000 21st — $620,000 22nd — $600,000 23rd — $580,000 24th — $565,000 25th — $550,000 26th — $540,000 27th — $530,000 28th — $520,000 29th — $510,000 30th — $500,000

As for how the FedEx Cup Playoffs actually work, that’s another story. It’s evolved over the years, and this year the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings after the Wyndham Championship qualified for the playoffs and were guaranteed their Tour cards for the following season.

Tour Confidential: Ryder Cup locks, Brooks Koepka’s chances, Brandel tells all

The first of three playoff stages was the FedEx St. Jude, and the top 50 in the standings afterward advanced to last week’s BMW Championship . That was a big hurdle that came with an important incentive, too, as those who made it to the BMW field earned guaranteed spots into the Tour’s eight big-money Signature Events for 2024.

Finally, the top 30 after the BMW Championship head to Atlanta for this week’s Tour Championship. The Tour uses staggered starting positions (FedEx Cup points leader Scottie Scheffler is in first, so he has a head start at 10 under, and so on), but we’ve learned anything can happen.

Last year, Rory McIlroy came from nine shots back after he tripled bogeyed the first hole to top Scheffler and win the tournament (and massive first-place payout).

Here are the starting positions for everyone in 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

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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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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."

Five things to know: The Royal Montreal Golf Club

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It was here 17 years earlier that Weir defeated Tiger Woods in a Presidents Cup Singles match that is one of the highlights in Canadian golf history. Before the matches get underway, here are five things to know about Royal Montreal.

1. A long history

The Royal Montreal Golf Club lays claim to being the oldest golf club in North America. The club was founded by eight men in 1873, two years after Montreal made Mount Royal into a park and golfers started playing on its grounds. The club added the "Royal" honorific in 1884 with the permission of Queen Victoria. In 1895, Royal Montreal was one of five clubs involved in the formation of the Royal Canadian Golf Association.

The club has moved locations twice, most recently to its present site on the island of L'Île Bizard in 1959. The 45-hole club occupies the shoreline of the Lake of Two Mountains and has been home to the RBC Canadian Open 10 times, the second-most in the tournament’s history. The tournament has been played five times apiece at Royal Montreal’s Dorval site and its current L'Île Bizard site, where the Dick Wilson-designed championship Blue Course was used.

An overhead view of The Royal Montreal Golf Club. (PGA TOUR)

An overhead view of the clubhouse at The Royal Montreal Golf Club. (PGA TOUR)

World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Weiskopf won the first RBC Canadian Open at Royal Montreal in 1975. Other winners at the Blue Course are Bob Gilder (1980), former U.S. Open winner Steve Jones (1997), Scott Verplank (2001) and former PLAYERS champion Tim Clark (2014).

Royal Montreal was subsequently renovated by Rees Jones in 2004 and then again in the run-up to this year’s President Cup by a team from PGA TOUR Design Services. The resulting course has been lengthened almost 200 yards and now will play 7,319 yards, as a par 70. It offers marginally narrower landing areas off the tee, thanks to a tightening of fairways at the 290- to 320-yard range.

2. Architect hour

Wilson and Robert Trent Jones were the most prolific course architects in the post-World War II years in the middle of the 20th century. Both designed courses that were built for the modern aerial game with deep bunkers guarding elevated greens. Wilson’s most famous courses include Royal Montreal, Bay Hill and Doral’s Blue Course.

“A golf course should look more vicious to the player than it actually is. It should inspire you, keep you alert,” Wilson said in a 1962 Sports Illustrated article. “If you’re playing over a sleepy-looking golf course, you’re naturally going to fall asleep.”

Wilson was born in 1904 in Philadelphia, where his father worked as a dirt contractor at the famed Merion Golf Club. The younger Wilson was a quarterback at the University of Vermont before joining the design firm of Howard Toomey and William Flynn. That experience allowed him to work in the field at famed courses such as Merion, The Country Club at Brookline and Shinnecock Hills.

Wilson was drafted into World War II, where he constructed and camouflaged airfields in Florida. By the 1950s, Wilson and Jones were the most sought-after architects of the era. Wilson often set his greens at angles from the fairway, and he was fond of incorporating false fronts and fall-offs at the rear and side of his greens.

“A golf course should require equal use of every aspect of the game, rather than make a disproportionate demand on one or two phases, such as driving or putting,” he said.

Wilson died in 1965 after a fall at Pine Tree Golf Club in Boynton Beach, Florida, which was considered to be his best design.

3. A walk in the park

Royal Montreal is relatively quiet in terms of terrain, with only 25 feet of elevation change across the entire layout. The front nine offers a classic parkland sensibility with heavily treed playing corridors. By contrast, the back nine presents water intruding upon the line of play on six holes, including the concluding stretch of five holes.

Wilson’s original design featured perched greens and sparse, strategic fairway bunkering. That character remains, with putting surfaces of a modest size. They have an average size of 5,000 square feet and are well protected by greenside bunkers. This is aerial golf all the way, with players who miss greens facing delicate up-and-over pitch shots to save par.

A view of the ninth hole at The Royal Montreal Golf Club. (Matt Garies/PGA TOUR)

A view of the 17th hole at The Royal Montreal Golf Club. (Matt Garies/PGA TOUR)

A view of the 18th hole at The Royal Montreal Golf Club. (Matt Garies/PGA TOUR)

The 30 acres of fairway offer generous landing zones for everyday play, but they have been heavily defended for elite professionals with deep bunkering and rough that pinches in. As is the prerogative of the home captain, Weir has a say in the agronomy and is expected to request especially thick, 4-inch rough that will produce a penalty for missed fairways.

The past winners at Royal Montreal, including Clark and Verplank, point to a course that favors accuracy over distance. Clark ranked second in Driving Accuracy in 2014, the year he won at Royal Montreal, while Verplank ranked 13th. Steve Jones won the 1997 RBC Canadian Open at Royal Montreal a year after winning the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills.

3. Aquaman returns

Be prepared to watch lots of video replay of one of modern professional golf’s most uproarious moments. It occurred on the 14th hole of U.S. Team member Woody Austin’s Four-ball match on the second day of the 2007 Presidents Cup.

Austin tumbled into the lake after unsuccessfully trying to dislodge his ball from the bank that borders the left side of the drivable par-4 14th. It was a light-hearted moment that Austin and his teammates could only laugh at.

“You don’t ever want to concede the hole without really playing the hole,” Austin said. “We just felt if there was any minor miracle that I could get it to the bank, then I might be able to chip it in. What I didn’t know is there were rocks in there, and I hammered a rock with the club so I didn’t even have a chance to get to the ball. Then I stepped on another one when I lost my balance, and I was done.”

He recovered to birdie three of the final four holes to earn an important half point in the final match on a day that the International Team dominated. The U.S. Team won just 1 ½ of 6 points available in that Friday session.

“I hope I proved today that I’m never going to give up,” Austin said.

The hilarity continued when Austin donned a pair of goggles upon returning to the 14th hole for his Sunday Singles match.

Austin’s career was a testament to perseverance. He was 31 years old when he won his first PGA TOUR title en route to being named the PGA TOUR’s Rookie of the Year in 1995. He had to wait nine years for his next PGA TOUR win, though. Three of his four PGA TOUR victories came in his 40s, including the 2007 FedEx St. Jude Classic. That victory, along with a runner-up to Woods in the 2007 PGA Championship, helped Austin make his Presidents Cup debut at age 43. It was his lone appearance in either the Presidents or Ryder Cup. He won his final PGA TOUR title in 2013, claiming the Sanderson Farms Championship at the age of 49.

5. Finishing touch

Even though the International Team lost the 2007 Presidents Cup by five points, the Sunday Singles provided a memorable highlight for that team and the host country. Mike Weir beat Tiger Woods, 1-up, in their match, and most of the day’s 30,000 spectators were gathered around the 18th green when Weir closed it out.

This year, the already demanding 18th hole will play 20 yards longer than it did in 2007. The fairway just past a bunker on the right has been narrowed down to 25 yards across – with water looming the entire left side. The challenge isn’t over after the tee shot. The green is considered the most challenging on the course. The putting surface features a small and relatively flat back plateau, while the front of the green is steeply sloped. It’s sure to provide a theatrical finishing stage to a premier event in the world of golf.

Pitting Weir, the greatest male Canadian golfer of all time, against arguably the best to ever play the game was all but inevitable when the captains sat down Saturday night to set the next day’s Singles matches. The International Team’s leadership, says Trevor Immelman, thought it was “the right thing to do,” and Weir didn’t shy away from taking on Woods, then the No. 1 player in the world.

“It was a pretty short discussion,” said Immelman, who was a member of that 2007 International Team and the 2022 International Team captain. He will be a captain’s assistant this year. “There was a huge buzz around the course … with the Canadian guy taking on the best player in the world.”

Prior to the 2007 matches, Weir had been in a bit of funk. He was the lowest-ranked player picked for the International Team, but with the Presidents Cup being in Canada for the first time, it made all the sense in the world to have him on the roster.

Weir had, of course, won the Masters just four years prior and reached No. 3 in the world. He was named the Canadian Male Athlete of the Year, among many honors he earned in his home country that year. He hadn’t, however, won on the PGA TOUR since The Genesis Invitational in 2004, though.

Weir and Woods went out in Sunday’s fourth match.

Although the International Team would go on to lose, 19.5-14.5, the squad won the Sunday Singles portion of the matches 7-5, highlighted by Weir’s triumph over Woods, which went the distance.

“For all the pressure that he had all week, it was pretty phenomenal how he played,” said Woods that Sunday. “I mean, not a lot of people could actually have dealt with the things he had to deal with all week. And the way he came out and represented all of Canada was impressive.”

Woods, whose seven wins that year included the PGA Championship, struggled early, missing a short putt on the opening hole before hitting his tee ball on No. 6 out of bounds. Weir didn’t cruise to victory, however. Woods was 3-down at one point but rattled off birdies on four of five holes after making the turn and was 1-up late. The Canadian tied the match on No. 17 with a 10-foot birdie. Woods hit his ball in the water on the closing hole and made bogey, conceding Weir’s tap-in par and the match.

Bradley S. Klein is a veteran golf writer and author of 10 books on course design. A former PGA TOUR caddie, he was architecture editor of Golfweek for over two decades and is now a freelance journalist and course design consultant. Follow Bradley S. Klein on Twitter .