FedEx Cup playoffs: What to watch over the next three weeks

Aug 12, 2026, 12:50 PM ET

The PGA Tour's band is back together this week, at least the two most accomplished and popular golfers, as the FedEx Cup playoffs tee off with the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tennessee, on Thursday.

World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler and No. 2 Rory McIlroy are both in the field after the latter skipped the first leg of the playoffs last season.

Scheffler and McIlroy will play together in a featured pairing Thursday and Friday. It will be the first time they've been in the same group since the first round of last year's Tour Championship.

It's also the beginning of a grueling three-week stretch in the FedEx Cup playoffs, as each of the tournaments will be played in what figures to be scorching heat.

"I almost try to view the playoffs as one big, long tournament, like a 12-round event," McIlroy said Wednesday. "You've got to pace yourself. It's three long weeks. We're going from here to St. Louis to Atlanta. Every week is going to feel a bit like this. It's going to be hot and sweaty, so you want to be able to conserve energy as well."

McIlroy hasn't played since he tied for 40th in The Open on July 19. He has played only six times, including three majors, since winning the Masters for the second straight season.

"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," McIlroy said. "Obviously, I want to play well, but it's 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."

Here's a look at what to watch during the FedEx Cup playoffs:

FedEx St. Jude Championship 2026: Where to watch, schedule, more

FedEx St. Jude Championship

When: Thursday-Sunday
Where: TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee
Purse: $20 million ($3.6 million to winner)
Defending champion:Justin Rose

The first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs tees off Thursday at TPC Southwind, and it figures to once again be scorching. The 69-man field (Daniel Berger isn't competing because of injury) will have to play 72 holes in temperatures that are expected to reach as high as 101 degrees on the weekend.

The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory through Sunday, and it might feel like 105 degrees because of the high humidity.

Rose, who defeated J.J. Spaun in a three-hole playoff to win the event last season, said he's considering using an umbrella during tournament play, which he has never done before.

"It's like 20 degrees cooler under the umbrella," Rose said. "I think, especially as the week cranks up towards 100 degrees on the weekend, that might be something I will do. I used it in the practice round [Tuesday], and it definitely made a difference."

A smaller field and faster pace will help, McIlroy said.

"We're playing in two-balls," McIlroy said. "We're going to be out there for probably like four hours. It's not like you're in that heat for five-and-a-half, six hours with a full field, so I guess that's a positive."

Michael Brennan, who climbed from 105th to 47th in the FedEx Cup standings after picking up his second PGA Tour victory in last week's Wyndham Championship, said staying hydrated will be the key.

"I find that I can have as [many] electrolytes as I want," Brennan said. "I mean, I'll go through five a day plus, and it doesn't make me feel bad, and I actually feel better. If I don't, then you feel a little sluggish, muscles in your hands start to cramp up a little bit."

There also will be plenty of figurative heat on golfers who are on the bubble for next week's BMW Championship. Only the top 50 golfers will advance to Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. Those golfers will also be assured of playing in each of the eight signature events in 2027.

Last year, five golfers who started the week outside the top 50 played well enough to advance to the BMW Championship.

Among those on the bubble: Keith Mitchell (49th), Maverick McNealy (50th), Harris English (51st), Max Homa (52nd), Sungjae Im (53rd), Jordan Spieth (54th) and Sam Stevens (55th).

Spieth, who hasn't had a top-10 finish all season, needs to finish at least solo 23rd to advance to the BMW Championship, according to projections by the PGA Tour. He didn't advance past Memphis in either of the past two seasons, though he has reached the playoffs for the 14th straight year.

Two former Open Championship winners, Shane Lowry (62nd) and Brian Harman (65th), also will have to play very well at TPC Southwind to advance. Lowry needs at least a two-way tie for 11th, while Harman needs a two-way tie for eighth.

Rookie Jackson Koivun, who held on to the 70th spot last week to get to Memphis, has to finish in at least a two-way tie for seventh to climb into the top 50.

The former Auburn star, who turned pro in June, has made only six starts this season, including a win in the 3M Open. It's the second-fewest starts needed to make the playoffs, behind only Tiger Woods, who needed five in 2019-20.

The Associated Press reported last week that the St. Jude Championship will not be part of the PGA Tour's top-tier Championship Series in 2028. Memphis has hosted a tour event since 1958, and it might still be considered for a tournament on the Challenger Series, which will serve as a feeder tour into the top series moving forward.

It's also unclear what role longtime sponsor FedEx will have when the tour is revamped in two years.

"I'll always be a huge fan of [the event in Memphis]," Rose said. "Hopefully, it can continue to have the support from the community and continue to do great things for the hospital. That's probably the most important thing that the support for the hospital remains and us players can continue to support that endeavor. "

BMW Championship

When: Aug. 20-23
Where: Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis
Purse: $20 million ($3.6 million to winner)
Defending champion: Scottie Scheffler

The BMW Championship moves from Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, to Bellerive Golf Club in St. Louis. Last season, Scheffler picked up his fifth of six victories on tour with a two-stroke win over Robert MacIntyre.

This year, Scheffler leads the tour in strokes gained: total (2.251), scoring average (68.08) and official earnings ($16.9 million). Scheffler collected another $10 million in unofficial money for finishing first in the regular-season points standings; he has a 794-point lead over Matt Fitzpatrick.

However, Scheffler, the 2024 FedEx Cup champion, hasn't won since his season-opening start in the American Express on Jan. 25. It's his second-longest stretch without a victory on tour; he went 19 straight without a win in 2023-24, according to ESPN Research.

With five runner-up finishes, two thirds and 11 top-25s, it seems well beyond time for the world No. 1 golfer to lift a trophy during the playoffs. He might need to do it to wrap up PGA Tour Player of the Year honors for the fifth straight year.

It's not like Scheffler hasn't been close. His five runner-up finishes is tied for the most in a single season on tour since 1980, per ESPN Research. The last time a player had more than five runner-up finishes in one season was in 1964 -- when Jack Nicklaus had seven and Arnold Palmer had six.

Bellerive Country Club hosted the 2008 BMW Championship and was the site of three majors: the 1965 U.S. Open and PGA Championships in 1992 and 2018.

The course will play at 7,448 yards and par 70. There are a few very long par-4s, including the 514-yard fourth and 510-yard 10th.

Tour Championship

When: Aug. 27-30
Where: East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta
Purse: $40 million ($10 million to winner)
Defending champion:Tommy Fleetwood

The top 30 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings after the BMW Championship will compete for a $40 million purse at East Lake Golf Club.

Last year, the PGA Tour abandoned its starting-strokes format for the Tour Championship and altered it to a 72-hole, traditional stroke-play tournament with the top 30 golfers all starting at even par.

Fleetwood carded a 2-under 689 in the final round in 2025 to finish 18 under, three strokes better than Russell Henley and Patrick Cantlay, to collect his first PGA Tour victory. It came in Fleetwood's 164th career start on tour.

Fleetwood had won seven times on the DP World Tour and three other times around the world, but he hadn't broken through on the PGA Tour. His 30 top-five finishes without a victory was the most on the PGA Tour in the past 100 years, according to ESPN Research. His $33.4 million in career earnings was the most for a golfer who hadn't won on tour.

If Fleetwood wins in Atlanta again, he would become the first back-to-back winner of the FedEx Cup.

Next year, the Tour Championship will return to East Lake Golf Club, which has hosted the event each season since 2004. But the tour is expected to rotate the tournament to other courses starting in 2028, and it's unclear how often East Lake will be part of the rota.

Reporting from ESPN contributed to this story.