Playoffs? Playoffs? Yes, it’s that time, even though we’re still in the dog days of summer. The FedEx St. Jude Championship is first up at TPC Southwind in steamy Memphis, where 69 of the 70 who qualified are in action. Only Daniel Berger opted out, effectively ending his season as he’s outside the top 50 and will not advance to the BMW Championship next week at Bellerive.
Scottie Scheffler tops the list despite only winning once this season. Only. Rory McIlroy is teeing it up after not playing here last year. It’s the first event since the British Open for the two-time Masters champion. He’s outside the top 10 in FedEx Cup points for the first time in five years. All 69 will be playing for the $20 million purse with the winner taking home $3.6 million.
Justin Rose is the defending champion and he’s back again. Tommy Fleetwood, of course, is the defending FedEx Cup champion, winning his first and only PGA Tour title at East Lake last year at the Tour Championship.
Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark and Chris Gotterup round out the top five behind Sheffler. Keith Mitchel and Maverick McNearly are Nos. 49-50, while Harris English and Max Homa are Nos. 51-52. Jordan Spieth is No. 54. That’s significant because, as previously mentioned, the top 50 in points after this week move to St. Louis for the BMW Championship. From there, the top 30 advance to the Tour Championship to crown the champion.
Check back here Sunday after play is complete for updates.