During his pre-tournament press conference for the FedEx St. Jude Championship, Rory McIlroy was asked whether the FedEx Cup is the hardest trophy to win in golf. It was a not-so-subtle reference to a statement made by a lawyer for LIV Golf during Tuesday’s hearing for a temporary restraining order to allow three defectors to the Saudi-backed renegade tour to compete in the FedEx Cup Playoffs with its $75-million payout in bonus money. (The motion was denied).
McIlroy replied with an equally tongue-in-cheek response. “Is the Super Bowl the hardest trophy to win in football?” he said.
After 44 regular season events narrowed the playoff qualifiers to the top 125 in the point standings, the three-tournament FedEx Cup Playoffs are set to begin this week in earnest at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee. McIlroy, who is bidding to become the first player to win the season-long race three times, enters the week No. 6 and agreed that claiming the FedEx Cup is no bargain.
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“It’s a weird one,” McIlroy said. “It’s like you have to play consistently good golf over the course of a season and then you have to get hot at the end of it again as well. It is, it’s difficult to win. I mean, no one’s won more than twice.”
McIlroy and the rest of the field are giving chase to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who has won four times this season, including the Masters, and staked himself to a significant lead.
“He’s had one of the best seasons of all time,” Justin Thomas said. “I mean, the most money that’s ever been earned and (leading) the FedEx Cup by a mile.”
Scheffler received a $4 million bonus via the Comcast Business Tour Top 10 for holding the top spot in the FedEx Cup standings at the end of the regular season and a $1 million bonus for winning the Aon Risk Reward Challenge. The bonuses do not count towards his official money total of $13,176,910 million, the largest in a single season in Tour history. His total of 3,556 FedEx Cup points during the regular season was the second-highest since the points format changed in 2009 (most: 4,169 by Jordan Spieth in the 2014-15 season). Scheffler could bank another $18 million in bonus money if he goes on to win the FedEx Cup. But points for a victory are quadrupled in the playoffs (to 2,000 points), which means his lead could be in jeopardy. (The leader heading into the Tour Championship begins with a two-stroke lead over his closest competitor in a staggered start.)
“It feels like I have been leading for a while. I’ve had a big lead and I’m up by maybe 1,200 points or something like that, and I think now a win for some of those guys would help them pass me if I didn’t play so good this week,” Scheffler said. “But I still have a pretty strong lead even with the points being magnified now in the Playoffs, so if I continue to play good golf I should have a lead going into East Lake (site of the Tour Championship), which is definitely a good position to be in.”
Scheffler is making his third appearance in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, advancing to the Tour Championship in each of his first two seasons on Tour (No. 5 in 2019-20, No. 22 in 2020-21).
“Nothing’s really going to change for me,” he said. “I’m just trying to come out here, have a good start and put myself in position to win this tournament.”
Thomas, who won the FedEx Cup in 2017 during a breakout five-win season, brings fond memories to TPC Southwind. He won the 2020 WGC St. Jude Invitational on the par-70 7,243-yard layout. This season he’s added a second PGA Championship title to his resume and enters the week in eighth place in the FedEx Cup point standings.
“I can’t believe how fast it’s gone as always. We’re already here in the Playoffs and three weeks left and it’s another season down,” Thomas said. “Definitely feel like I have a great opportunity these last three weeks to turn it into a great season.”
Win or lose, Scheffler’s season has been a runaway success, and he’s taking an if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it approach to the playoffs.
“It’s fun, I like being No. 1 in the world, I like being at the top of the FedEx Cup,” he said. “Those are things that are fun for me, it’s enjoyable, so I want to just continue to improve on that.”
