Many of golf’s top players teed off in Memphis on Thursday as the PGA Tour began its 2025 FedExCup Playoffs with the St. Jude Championship.
The FedExCup Playoffs are the PGA Tour’s postseason, where players earn points throughout the regular season to qualify for this final stretch.
The top 70 players in the standings are competing this weekend at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, a four-day event held at TPC Southwind.
After this tournament, only the top 50 move on to the BMW Championship in Maryland from August 14 to August 17.
From there, the field shrinks again to 30 for the Tour Championship in Atlanta from August 20 to 24, with the winner of the Tour Championship being crowned the FedExCup champion.
This playoff format rewards those who perform well all year but raises the stakes for all four rounds.
Unlike regular PGA tournaments, these playoff events do not have cuts, so all qualified players compete in every round.
Prize money and FedEx Cup points are also quadrupled in comparison to the regular season to allow for dramatic shifts on the leaderboard, according to Golf.com.
For the first time, the Tour Championship will start all 30 players on equal footing, unlike in previous years, where starting scores were staggered based on FedExCup points to provide the leaders with a clear advantage.
This change means every player begins the final tournament with a clean slate, with the lowest score after the four rounds, then winning the FedExCup and the $10 million first-place bonus, the largest single prize in professional golf, per Golf.com.
The overall $100 million playoff purse is divided among the three events, with $20 million being used as the total purse for both the St. Jude and BMW Championship.
The winner of each playoff tournament will collect a $3.6 million prize.
The Tour Championship is considered “bonus” money and does not count toward a golfer’s official earnings for the season, according to ESPN.
Besides the huge paychecks, success in the playoffs secures entry into future premier PGA Tour events and guarantees tour status for the following season.
Among the star players in Memphis are world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, defending FedEx St. Jude champion Hideki Matsuyama, and recent major winners J.J. Spaun and Xander Schauffele.
Fans can watch all four days of the FedEx St. Jude Championship on ESPN, Disney+, and other platforms.