The First Look: FedEx St. Jude Championship

We are talking about the FedExCup Playoffs.

The first leg of the Playoffs kicks off this week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind with the top 70 in the standings ready to ride over the next three weeks to the season-ending TOUR Championship.

The Playoffs start in Memphis, Tennessee, before heading to the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado. Just the top 50 in the FedExCup standings will earn their way into the second Playoffs event. Only the top 30 will qualify for the season finale at the restored East Lake Golf Club near Atlanta.

The 2024 PGA TOUR season has been all Scottie Scheffler, all the time, and now Scheffler – with gold around his neck from the Paris Olympics – will head into the Playoffs trying to win his first FedExCup title. To do it (with 2,000 FedExCup Points on the line for the winner), he’ll have to top the best of the best on the PGA TOUR this season.

Here’s everything else you need to know as the TOUR heads to Memphis.

FIELD NOTES: Scheffler returns to action on the PGA TOUR after his dramatic come-from-behind triumph at the Olympics at Le Golf National. Scheffler’s gold medal in Paris is now paired with his six TOUR titles this season. He leads the FedExCup standings by nearly 2,000 points over Xander Schauffele. With 2,000 points available to the winner of this week and next week’s BMW Championship, anything can happen ... Viktor Hovland’s run at defending his FedExCup title begins now. Hovland enters the first week of the Playoffs at No. 57 in the standings. Surprisingly, Hovland has just one top-10 finish this season, a solo third at the PGA Championship … Three-time FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy is keen to make another run at the PGA TOUR’s biggest prize. McIlroy has two wins this season but called himself “golf’s nearly man” after the close call at the U.S. Open and a fifth at the Olympics … Ludvig Åberg (No. 6) and Shane Lowry (No. 10) are in prime positions to make their first TOUR Championship … Patrick Cantlay starts the FedExCup Playoffs at No. 11 in the standings. He has four top-10 finishes but no wins yet in 2024. He fell to Lucas Glover in a playoff at TPC Southwind a year ago. Glover did not make the FedExCup Playoffs this year and will not have a chance to defend his title in Memphis … American Ryder Cup captain and assistant Presidents Cup captain Keegan Bradley – with two runner-up finishes this season – is firmly in the mix for a long FedExCup Playoffs run. He’s No. 39 in the standings heading into Memphis … Nick Dunlap did not receive any FedExCup Points for winning The American Express as an amateur, but winning the Barracuda Championship zipped him into the top 70 and a FedExCup Playoffs debut for the recently minted pro … One underlying story to watch out for over the next three weeks is the Presidents Cup standings. The six captain’s picks for both Jim Furyk’s American side and Mike Weir’s Internationals will be made at the conclusion of the TOUR Championship. The six automatic qualifiers will be determined after the BMW Championship.

COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 UPDATES: The Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 is complete for 2024, with Scheffler finishing in the No. 1 spot … The rest of the TOUR TOP 10 unfolded as such: Schauffele (No. 2), McIlroy (No. 3), Collin Morikawa (No. 4), Wyndham Clark (No. 5), Åberg (No. 6), Sahith Theegala (No. 7), Hideki Matsuyama (No. 8), Sungjae Im (No. 9) and Lowry (No. 10).

FEDEXCUP BUBBLE UPDATES: The top 50 in the standings at the conclusion of the FedEx St. Jude Championship will compete at the BMW Championship, and then just the top 30 will tee it up at the TOUR Championship … Victor Perez, after a tremendous run at the Olympics in his home country, shot four rounds in the 60s at the Wyndham Championship to hold onto the No. 70 spot and earn the final FedExCup Playoffs spot. For the second time in FedExCup Playoffs history – and first since 2013 – no player moved in from outside the FedExCup cut-off number and went on to qualify at the Wyndham Championship finale ... Only the top 50 in the standings will move on to the BMW Championship … Jake Knapp, who won the Mexico Open at Vidanta, is No. 50 … Harris English is No. 51. English has just two top-10s this season but has a solid record at TPC Southwind, with a victory in 2013 and a fourth-place finish in 2021 … Nick Taylor sits at No. 52. The Canadian won the WM Phoenix Open earlier in the year but has had a cold run since. He’ll need to make some noise to jump into the BMW Championship and catch the attention of International Presidents Cup team captain Weir … Will Zalatoris, who won in Memphis in 2022, is No. 49. His season-best result was a runner-up at The Genesis Invitational.

The top 125 on the FedExCup standings will keep exempt status for 2025, but that will be finalized after the FedExCup Fall which concludes at The RSM Classic in November.

FEDEXCUP THIS WEEK: The winner of the FedEx St. Jude Championship receives 2,000 FedExCup Points.

COURSE: TPC Southwind, par 70, 7,243 yards. The Ron Prichard design was established in 1988, with Hubert Green and Fuzzy Zoeller as player consultants. The course boasts numerous lakes, streams and ponds and features the added charm of two grain silos and a windmill – remnants of a dairy farm formerly on site. Last spring the course made a full conversion to Zeon zoysiagrass while some fairways were re-contoured after new internal drainage was added.

72-HOLE TOURNAMENT RECORD: 254, Dustin Johnson (2020 – TPC Boston)

TPC SOUTHWIND RECORD: 258 John Cook (1996 FedEx St. Jude Classic)

18-HOLE TOURNAMENT RECORD: 59, Scottie Scheffler (Round 2, 2020 – TPC Boston)

TPC SOUTHWIND RECORD: 61, Tom Lewis (Round 3, 2020), Bob Estes (Round 1, 2001), Jay Delsing (Round 4, 1993).

LAST TIME: Glover won in back-to-back weeks – after capturing the Wyndham Championship the week prior – topping Cantlay in a playoff in Memphis. Glover and Cantlay, who shot the round of the day in Sunday’s finale, finished at 15 under for the week. But Cantlay – who was first up in the sudden-death playoff – knocked his tee shot in the water after a nasty kick. Glover knocked his birdie try to a foot but Cantlay couldn’t convert his par – and Glover was a winner, again, on the PGA TOUR. McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood finished tied for third at 14 under, one back of the playoff. Fleetwood had a 19-foot birdie to get to 15 under but it just slid past.

How to follow (all times ET)

Television:

• Thursday-Friday: 2-6 p.m. (Golf Channel)
• Saturday: 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (NBC)
• Sunday: 12-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2-6 p.m. (NBC)

PGA TOUR LIVE ON ESPN+

PGA TOUR LIVE is available exclusively on ESPN+

• Main feed: Primary tournament coverage featuring the best action from across the course
• Marquee group: New “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group
• Featured groups: Traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups
• Featured holes: Combination of par 3s and iconic or pivotal holes

Radio on SiriusXM and free at PGATOUR.com/liveaudio:

• Thursday-Friday: 12-6 p.m.
• Saturday-Sunday: 1-6 p.m.