While most major professional sports have a playoff system, the PGA TOUR did not really have a playoff system prior to 2007. Beginning in the 2007 season, the FedExCup Playoff system was instituted.

Click on the image below for a quick review of how it all works:

Players earn points each week all season based on how they finish. Total points after the conclusion of the Wyndham Championship on August 17^th determine who advances to the first event.

The FedExCup Playoffs take place over four weeks. The tournament sites are:

The Barclays – Ridgewood Country Club, Paramus, New Jersey
The field includes the top 125 FedExCup points leaders through the Wyndham Championship. The field is cut to the low 70 and ties after 36 holes.

Deutsche Bank Championship – TPC of Boston, Norton, Massachusetts
The field includes the top 100 FedExCup points leaders after The Barclays .The field is cut to the low 70 and ties after 36 holes.

BMW Championship – Cherry Hills Country Club, Cherry Hills Village, Colorado
The field includes the top 70 FedExCup points leaders after the Deutsche Bank Championship.There is no cut in the BMW Championship.

Tour Championship by Coca Cola – East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia
The field includes only the top 30 FedExCup points leaders after the BMW Championship.
There is no cut in the Tour Championship by Coca Cola.

There are no alternates in the playoffs. If a player cannot compete the field is reduced.

Each tournament in the FedExCup Playoff series has a payout to those players completing 72 holes.

The total purses of the four playoff events is $ 32,000,000. In addition, there is a bonus pool for the season-long FedExCup points leaders of $35,000,000. The winner of the FedExCup receives $10,000,000 from the bonus pool. The balance of the bonus pool is paid to the top 150 FedExCup point leaders.

The winner of one of the FedExCup Playoff events receives a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR. The winner of the Tour Championship by Coca Cola receives a three-year exemption on the PGA TOUR. The winner of the FedExCup receives a five-year exemption on the PGA TOUR.

The top 5 leading career money winners from the FedExCup Playoffs bonus pool are as follows:

Tiger Woods $25,275,000
Jim Furyk $13,460,000
Brandt Snedeker $11,548,000
Vijay Singh $11,052,000
Bill Haas $10,771,000

Interesting facts about the host clubs:

Ridgewood Country Club

Founded in 1890 in Ridgewood, New Jersey.
The Course was designed by A. W. Tillinghast in 1929
Byron Nelson once worked here as an Assistant Golf Professional
Hosted the 1935 Ryder Cup
Hosted the 1974 US Amateur Championship, won by Jerry Pate
Hosted the 1990 Senior Open, won by Lee Trevino
Hosted the 2001 Senior PGA Championship, won by Tom Watson

TPC of Boston

Course originally designed by Arnold Palmer in 2003
Course was re-designed by Gil Hanse and PGA TOUR player Brad Faxon
Club is located 25 miles south of Boston in Norton, Massachusetts

Cherry Hills Country Club

Founded in 1922
Course designed by William Flynn (designer of Shinnecock and Merion)
Club has hosted 3 US Opens and 2 PGA Championships
Club hosted the 1990 US Amateur, won by Phil Mickelson
Club hosted the 1960 US Open, won by Arnold Palmer
Club hosted the 1993 US Senior Open, won by Jack Nicklaus
Club hosted the 1941 PGA Championship where Vic Ghezzi defeated Byron Nelson 1 Up in the 36 hole final match

East Lake Golf Club

Founded in 1898 as the Atlanta Athletic Club (AAC) in downtown Atlanta
Within 4 years AAC had 700 members
John Heisman, Georgia Tech football coach and namesake of the Heisman Trophy, directed AAC’s athletic programs
The East Lake was AAC’s golf facility in a suburb of Atlanta called East Lake
East Lake Course # 1, designed by Tom Bendelow, opened for play on July 4, 1908
Donald Ross re-designed Course #1 in 1913
Donald Ross designed Course # 2 in 1928. It opened for play on May 30, 1930.
East Lake is the course where Bobby Jones learned to play golf
Bob Jones’ father, “Colonel Robert P. Jones, served on East Lake’s Board of Governors for 38 years
AAC sold Course # 2 in 1966 to developers and moved to Johns Creek, Georgia
East Lake Country Club with Course # 1 began operating on its own in 1968.
In 1970 the developers built East Lake Meadows on the site of old Course # 2. It was public housing project that became a center for poverty, drugs and violence.
In 1993 the East Lake Foundation bought East Lake with a goal of restoring it as a tribute to Bobby Jones and the club’s other amateurs.
The clubhouse was brought back to the original Philip Shutze design.
Rees Jones restored East Lake Course # 1 to its original Donald Ross layout in 1994.
East Lake hosted the 1963 Ryder Cup
East Lake hosted the 2000 US Amateur, won by Bubba Dickerson
In 1925 AAC member Watts Gunn defeated AAC member Bobby Jones in the US Amateur at Oakmont Country Club. This is the only time in history that two players from the same club played a match to decide a National Championship.

Tim Gamso
Member
Salesmanship Club of Dallas