MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) 鈥� , with only a 69-man field, and with a sense of urgency for only about half of the players at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Scottie Scheffler is the No. 1 seed and bracing for three straight postseason tournaments, even though his chances of winning the FedEx Cup for the second time depend solely on how he performs at East Lake for the season-ending Tour Championship.
鈥淚 have three tournaments, three good starts to kind of end the year. Definitely excited to get this week going,鈥� Scheffler said. He has played the TPC Southwind seven times, the most of any course on the PGA Tour without ever having won.
Those outside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup 鈥� and Jackson Koivun at No. 70 despite turning pro only in June 鈥� have great urgency. Their season is over if they don’t move into the top 50 and advance to St. Louis for the BMW Championship.
And then there’s Rory McIlroy at No. 12, already set for the Tour Championship. He skipped the TPC Southwind last year because there was no point in playing. But he’s back this year, perhaps because the Masters champion has played only 11 times on the PGA Tour this season.
鈥淎 few different things went into that decision. I think having four weeks off going into the last two events of the year was probably going to be a little too much for me in terms of wanting to be competitive,鈥� McIlroy said. 鈥淪o this is a good week. Obviously I want to play well, but it鈥檚 also a good week to just see where my game is, do a lot of practice, or as much as I can in the heat.鈥�
McIlroy won’t reach the minimum 15 tournament required for PGA Tour membership, though there are enough exceptions 鈥� his home circuit is the Europe tour and McIlroy is a life member with his 30 wins 鈥� that it probably won’t be an issue.
Membership is required to vote on such items as PGA Tour player of the year, and that might be the most compelling part of this year’s postseason before the tour completes its journey through the sweltering heartland before arriving in sweltering Atlanta.
No one has stood out this year. Cameron Young, who , might have been the front runner until Ryan Fox made that memorable birdie on the 18th hole at Royal Birkdale to .
McIlroy has only one win this year, which he wouldn’t trade 鈥� the Masters. Scheffler has only one win 鈥� his first start of the year in the California desert 鈥� but he has five runner-up finishes and had top-4 finishes in all but one of the majors. He’s still the player to beat, even though he has beaten the field only once this year.
Matt Fitzpatrick and Chris Gotterup have three wins. Wyndham Clark’s two wins include the U.S. Open. Fox and PGA champion Aaron Rai have only one win. Any of them winning the FedEx Cup might go along way toward getting the Jack Nicklaus Award.
鈥淚f you value winning the biggest tournaments, you would say it could be Cameron Young and Wyndham Clark,鈥� McIlroy said. 鈥淢att Fitzpatrick has had a great year. Scottie鈥檚 had an unbelievably consistent year without the wins that he鈥檚 had the last couple years. Again, it all depends on what you value. I guess I value like the bigger tournaments and guys having the bigger moments.鈥�
It all starts to unfold Thursday at a tournament where the heat is expected to be stifling, as usually is the case in August. The end of the season is near, and so is the St. Jude Championship. The PGA Tour already has said it will not be part of the top-tier 鈥淐hampionship Series鈥� in 2028.
For now, it remains as important as any tournament on the PGA Tour. The top 50 after this week are assured of all the $20 million signature events for the following season, and it keeps alive hopes of reaching the Tour Championship, where everyone starts over and the winner gets the FedEx Cup.
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