A strong finish from Séamus Power saw him safely make the field for the FedEx St Jude Championship, the first of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoff events.
Power was looking over his shoulder at the Wyndham Championship after starting the week in 69th position with only the top 70 making it to TPC Southwind. A final round of 66 and a tied 28th finish meant he improved his position to 68th and will join fellow Irishmen Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry in the field for this week’s $20 million event in Memphis.
The FedEx Cup playoffs feature what the PGA Tour calls a “progressive cut” with a field of 70 players for the FedEx St Jude Championship, 50 for the BMW Championship and 30 for the season-ending Tour Championship.
The player’s starting position in the playoffs is based on their performance in the regular season, with Scottie Scheffler topping the rankings, McIlroy third and Lowry 10th. McIlroy and Lowry are more or less guaranteed to make the finale, but will want to set up a good starting position for the Tour Championship in two weeks.
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The Tour Championship sees each player given a starting score based on their rankings, so the number one player begins at 10 under, the second player begins at eight under, the third player begins at seven under and so on. With quadruple points on offer in the two FedEx Cup playoffs before the Tour Championship, there is still plenty to play for, not least the $100 million available in prize money over the three weeks.
Starting in 68th place, Power will need a high finish at the FedEx St Jude Championship to make it into the top 50 for the BMW Championship, which also includes the important status of ensuring a place in the Players Championship and all eight Signature Events for next season.
Lowry missed the cut at the Wyndham Championship but still got a $2 million bonus for finishing in the Comcast Top 10 for regular season performance. It was Lowry’s first missed cut since January in what has been the most consistent PGA Tour season of his career so far. Lowry won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event with McIlroy and has been four times in the top six.
At the start of the year when Lowry had his goals written down, he said making the Tour Championship was “at the top of his list”.
“I’ve never made Atlanta, I’ve been very close a couple of times. I’m pretty much guaranteed there now, so it’s nice to being playing in the FedEx Cup with a bit of freedom. I have a goal in my head, if I can be in that six to 10 category going into East Lake, although starting a few shots behind Scottie isn’t great, even starting off level par with him isn’t great this year,” he joked. “I feel I can make a bit of a run at East Lake if I’m there.”
For McIlroy it is a return to competition on American soil for the first time since his US Open disappointment of finishing second to Bryson DeChambeau by one shot. McIlroy’s poor performance at Troon for the Open, where he missed the cut, was an anomaly in his recent form as a tied fifth at the Olympics was one of six top 5s in his last nine events worldwide.
This time of year tends to be a strong one for McIlroy over the course of his career, and he has won three Fed-Ex Cups, in 2016, 2019 and most recently in 2022. That year he came from six shots behind in the final round to overhaul Scheffler. A similar result this year would help put a gloss on a mixed year of some good golf but Major disappointments.
Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow will stay in Europe after the Olympics and take part in a strong field for the Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links before the Women’s Open at St Andrews next week. Olympic Gold medallist Lydia Ko is also in the field, as well as American stars like Rose Zhang and Lilia Vu.
Tom McKibbin, meanwhile, will play in the Czech Masters on the DP World Tour as he looks to move up the Race to Dubai rankings. Waterford’s Gary Hurley is also in the field.
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