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Rory McIlroy was back on his heels.

He had made up six strokes on Scottie Scheffler in the first seven holes to tie for the lead during Sunday’s Tour Championship final round, but had made bogey on 14 after a perfect tee shot. Now, he was standing on the long, par-3, island-green 15th, $18 million on the line.

What does he do?

Hit it to 32 feet and then drill the putt to tie for the lead once again.

“Come on!” McIlroy screamed.

After a clutch par save on the 16th — with a little assist from the flagstick — McIlroy pulled away from Scheffler, the FedEx Cup leader for most of the season, with a final-round 66 to win the Tour Championship by a stroke over Scheffler and Sungjae Im and the $18 million first-place prize of the FedEx Cup.

“I just felt so close all year,” McIlroy said moments after his victory. “I had a couple wins, but I was just waiting for something. Maybe this was it. I got a little lucky with Scottie not playing his best golf today, and I took advantage of that with my good play. But, you know, I went up against the best player in the world today and I took him down, and that’s got to mean something.”

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The final round was a matchup of the tour’s most successful player this season in Scheffler, who led the tour with four wins, including the Masters, and its statistical best in McIlroy, who led in scoring average and Strokes-Gained: Total. However, Sunday afternoon, Scheffler looked far from the player who dominated much of the Spring and had earned a two-stroke advantage to start the tournament in the staggered-start format. His cuts off the tee weren’t cutting, he hit just half of his greens in the final round, leading to his only over-par round of the week. He didn’t look like the player who made four birdies to finish his third round Sunday morning and open up a six-stroke lead over McIlroy and Xander Schauffele.

Meanwhile, McIlroy had a picture-perfect start to his championship Sunday and carried it into the final round.

He first birdied the two holes he had left to play on a marathon Sunday to complete his third round.

“It’s the perfect way to start the day, and hopefully I can continue that into this afternoon,” McIlroy said in the morning.

And he did continue it. Despite a bogey on the first hole at East Lake — the same one he tripled to open the tournament on Thursday — McIlroy made four birdies in the next six holes to pull even with Scheffler at 20-under-par.

Scheffler quickly pulled ahead again with a birdie on 8 to take the lead outright again, but that would be his last birdie of the day.

McIlroy pulled into a tie again on 12. Scheffler seemed indecisive on his second shot from 119 yards, backing off several times and checking the wind in the trees. His approach came up short, coming to rest nestled in the Bermuda rough. Scheffler made a great up-and-down to stay at 21-under, but McIlroy stuck his second to 6-feet and drained the putt.

McIlroy looked poised to take control on the long par-4 14th after a perfect, 346-yard drive, one of his many 330-yard bombs for the week, but blocked his second shot and short-sided himself. His third came up just short of the green, and he made bogey to fall out of the lead.

After the birdie on 15, both players in the final pairing drove it left on 16. Scheffler’s ball was nestled down in the rough, and he manufactured a shot into the front greenside bunker. McIlroy seemed to have the advantage in the fairway bunker, just 130 yards from the hole. He seemed to like his approach, even twirling his club, but the ball sailed long into the gallery behind the green, leaving a difficult third shot from the trampled down rough with the green running away from him.

His third was hot, running too fast, before he caught a break. The ball, which looked to be going off the green, hit the center of the pin and came to rest just 7 feet from the hole.

Scheffler failed to get up and down from the bunker while McIlroy drilled his par putt, giving him a one-shot lead, the first time anyone other than Scheffler had led all week.

The pair provided some light drama on the par-5 finishing hole as Scheffler left his second in the greenside bunker short right, but McIlroy snap-hooked his approach left into the grandstand. He caught another break with the ball ricocheting back into to play.

Scheffler hit his third long of the green, all but dooming his chances.

“It’s yours, Rory, take it,” a fan could be heard yelling as McIlroy was playing his third.

Needing just a par, McIlroy played it safe, hitting his third to 20 feet, and two-putting for the win after Scheffler’s birdie chip fell short.

McIlroy’s win puts a bow on a wild PGA Tour season in which the Tour saw a rival, LIV Golf, launch and sign several notable players. Among them were many of McIlroy’s longtime European Ryder Cup teammates. But McIlroy found himself as one of LIV’s most outspoken critics and, along with Tiger Woods, led some of the player effort to make wholesale changes to the PGA Tour. Just this week, McIlroy announced the creation of a complementary league to the PGA Tour, the TGL, started by himself and Woods through their new TMRW Sports Group.

“Everyone on Tour has had to deal with a lot,” McIlroy said as the recent upheaval in the pro game. “Even the guys that have went to LIV have had to deal with a lot. It’s just been a very tumultuous sort of era in our game. I said it in the sort of prize ceremony there, this is the best place in the world to play golf. It’s the most competitive. It’s got the best players. It’s got the deepest fields. I don’t know why you’d want to play anywhere else.”

On Sunday evening, McIlroy surely had nothing to regret about the path he has chosen. He is now the only player to ever win three FedEx Cups, the last one coming with the largest single check of his career: $18 million.

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After three days of play in Memphis, we’ve finally reached the final round of the action at the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship; below, find everything you need to know to tune in on Sunday, including tee times, TV schedule, streaming and more.

FedEx St. Jude Championship final round preview

Your first victory … in a FedEx Cup Playoff event? That’s exactly what Will Zalatoris could be headed for on Sunday in Memphis, as the 25-year-old star looks for his first PGA Tour win in one of the big tour’s biggest stages.

The first event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs has earned a tremendous amount of attention over the last few days for the looming courtroom battle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, which threatened entrance for some of the upstart tour’s players into the PGA Tour’s biggest stage. The Tour won out, as a judge ruled that three LIV players — Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford — were unable to compete in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Instruction

On the course, though, things have been lively as ever. Through three rounds, J.J. Spaun leads the way at 13-under, but he’s trailed closely by a host of names, including Sepp Straka (-12), Trey Mullinax (-11) and potential LIV Golf defection Cameron Smith (-11).

Also trailing closely behind is Will Zalatoris (-11), who enters Sunday’s final round trailing by just two strokes and standing on the precipice of his first PGA Tour victory. Zalatoris, who has finished runner-up three times at majors already in his nascent career, will look to break through and grab a significant chunk of the FedEx St. Jude’s $15 million first prize.

You can stream the final round via PGA Tour Live on ESPN+, or watch the telecast on Golf Channel and NBC.

SIGN UP FOR PGA TOUR LIVE ON ESPN+ TO STREAM THE ENTIRE 2022 FEDEX ST. JUDE CHAMPIONSHIP ONLINE

(GOLF.com may receive a commission when you sign up for ESPN+ through the link above.)

How to watch FedEx St. Jude Championship Round 3 on TV

Golf Channel will carry the early final-round coverage of the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship with a two-hour telecast from 12-2 p.m. ET on Sunday, followed by NBC from 2-6 p.m. ET.

How to stream FedEx St. Jude Championship Round 3 online

You can stream the final round of the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship via PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ from 8:15 a.m.-6 p.m. ET on Sunday, which includes featured group coverage. Fans can also stream Golf Channel’s final-round TV coverage on golfchannel.com.

SIGN UP FOR PGA TOUR LIVE ON ESPN+ TO STREAM THE ENTIRE 2022 FEDEX ST. JUDE CHAMPIONSHIP ONLINE

How to bet on the FedEx St. Jude Championship

Looking to make a (legal!) wager yourself? We teamed with BetMGM, and the online sportsbook is offering a “Risk-Free Bet” up to $1000 promotion. Sign up for an account to get into the action today.

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The post With the LIV lawsuits behind them (for now), how the PGA Tour can look to heal appeared first on Golf.

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Just as the first shots were fired in golf’s biggest courtroom battle in decades Tuesday afternoon, Sam Burns stepped to the podium at the FedEx St. Jude Championship with a decidedly different message.

“For me, I fully support the PGA Tour 100 percent,” he said curtly. “It was a pretty easy decision for me.”

Burns, who has seen his career earnings and his OWGR ranking skyrocket over the last 24 months on the PGA Tour, wasn’t too interested in the developments playing out in a northern California courtroom a few thousand miles away. It didn’t matter to Burns if Judge Beth Labson Freeman allowed Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones to compete in Memphis. It didn’t matter whether the next man on the press conference docket, Cameron Smith, had or hadn’t accepted a $100 million contract from LIV Golf.

Burns didn’t care very much about those things, he said, because they had very little to do with him.

“I mean, everyone that knows me I think knew that I had no intent to ever go anywhere else,” Burns said. “I don’t think people were really surprised.”

Judge Freeman had denied the LIVers’ request to have their suspensions lifted, which would have allowed them to compete in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. However marginally, a slightly larger slice of the Tour’s $75 million FedEx Cup prize belonged to Burns. The decision was good news for the PGA Tour, too, as it successfully defended its suspensions of LIV’s players in its first legal challenge.

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Now it’s Wednesday, and Burns’ press conference has faded into obscurity as the Tour prepares, once again, to host the biggest stretch of its season. The first act of the LIV lawsuit is behind us — and a trial is not scheduled until September 2023 — meaning that for the first time in many months, the Tour can make an earnest effort at stepping beyond the fray.

The coming months are a time of uncertainty for the Tour, which has been rocked by defections and antitrust allegations since the start of summer. But they are also a time of opportunity, says former Tour pro and current NBC analyst Notah Begay. A time in which the Tour can stop weathering the storm, and start trying to find a way out of it.

“There’s been a lot of uncertainty from the players that I talked to with regard to, what’s the next step and where do we go from here?” Begay told GOLF. “With the focal point of golf firmly placed on these next three events, the Tour has a chance to reintroduce a fresh look, a different agenda, that is predicated on improving their relationship with their players. I think over the years that has become a little tenuous. I think it has become fractured.”

The fault lines in the relationship between Tour players and Tour brass haven’t been hard to find over the last few months. After an onslaught of defections, it feels as though golf’s biggest professional tour is divided between those who are deeply committed to it — like Burns, among others — and those who are on their way out the door.

“Everybody knew that it was going to come down to whatever determination the courts were going to make with regard to this entire situation,” Begay said. “I don’t think there’s a whole lot of animosity amongst the players that stay committed to the PGA Tour versus the players that left. I think there’s a lot more certainty with regard to as, as things have clarified, moving forward for the Tour and what they’re going to be able to do.”

As for what changes could be coming, Begay pointed to the group of ascendant stars who have remained fiercely loyal to the Tour over the last several months. It is time, he says, for the Tour to reward that loyalty.

“I think the Tour needs to be very appreciative for the number of players that have been very loyal and supportive of maintaining and keeping the organization as a priority in their career,” he said. “A lot of these players are being faced with decisions that financially, they’ve never even contemplated. It’s different than other sports.”

Some have argued that the PGA Tour’s best players should be rewarded for their loyalty with guaranteed salaries. Others have pushed for more systemic changes, like the Fall Series that is likely to be adopted by the PGA Tour in 2024.

“I think that the [not guaranteed nature of pro golf] is what makes our game hard, but that’s what makes it inherently unique,” Begay said. “That’s what gives a platform to a guy like Tom Kim to come in there, shoot 27 on the front nine and close the golf tournament out with an hour left because he put together such a wonderful round that there was no way he was going to be caught. That’s what makes our game special.”

In either case, Begay says, change is here in the world of professional golf. But over the next few weeks, the PGA Tour has the opportunity to show that some things are just as they’ve always been.

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Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford want to compete in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Beth Labson Freeman will decide if they can.

Freeman is a federal judge in Northern California, and at a hearing scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, she will weigh a request from the three players for a temporary restraining order that would allow their participation in the PGA Tour’s season-ending playoff series, which begins this week in Memphis, Tenn.

Gooch, Jones and Swafford all qualified for the playoffs based on FedEx Cup points, but they have since been suspended by the Tour for signing on with competitor LIV Golf.

With their petition for a temporary restraining order, or TRO, the three are asking to have their suspensions lifted.

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Gooch, Jones and Swafford are also part of a group of 11 LIV pros who filed suit against PGA Tour last week, alleging that the Tour is acting unlawfully in levying suspensions against golfers who have joined the rival Saudi-backed circuit.

That case has the prospect of dragging on for years.

Gooch, Jones and Swafford are seeking government intervention now, through a petition that amounts to a request for “extraordinary action,” according to Craig Seebald, a partner and antitrust specialist with international law firm Vinson & Elkins.

“Asking a judge to step in and stop something while a case is playing out is not an everyday request,” Seebald says. “For them to seek something like this on day six of a lawsuit is pretty extraordinary.”

For their request to be granted, the plaintiffs will have to meet a robust legal standard, Seebald said. For starters, they will need to show that their case has the likelihood of succeeding on its merits. They will also have to demonstrate that they will suffer “immediate” and “irreparable” injury without relief, and that the harm they stand to endure outweighs any injury a TRO would inflict on the Tour. Lastly, they will have to show that a TRO is in the public interest.

Proving immediate and irreparable harm is a high bar to begin with, Seebald said.

“With a TRO, you’re basically saying, ‘the patient is on life support, and if we don’t do something now, something dire is going to happen,’” Seebald said.

Examples of recent federal cases that have triggered TROs have included such front-page headline issues as vaccine mandates in the military and bans on specific immigrant groups.

In general, Seebald said, issues like “immigration, health care and abortion generate TROs. Not rich golfers.”

In the United Kingdom last month, Ian Poulter and two other LIV golfers who’d been suspended by the DP World Tour, had their suspensions lifted by a non-profit appeals board, allowing them to compete in the Genesis Scottish Open. But the legal landscape is different across the pond, and, Seebald said, a judge here “will not care what happened in Scotland.”

Whether the golfers’ larger antitrust suit against the Tour is likely to succeed is another matter, one that the judge would likely rather see resolved over time in the courts, Seebald said.

“I think what’s she likely to say is, ‘It seems like there are reasonable arguments on both sides, so let’s take this to discovery,’” Seebald said. “She’s going to be balancing a number of factors, but I think where she is going to come down is, ‘You’re basically asking me to clear the way for you to play in a couple of more events, and I have a hard time getting involved.’”

Seebald said the judge is also likely to question the timing of the players’ request.

“I can see her saying, you’ve known about these suspensions for a while now, why are you just coming to me now?” Seebald said.

That same point was hammered home by the Tour on Monday in its own court filing responding to last week’s lawsuit. With its request for a TRO, the Tour’s filing read, the plaintiffs “have waited nearly two full months to seek relief from the Court, fabricating an ‘emergency’ they now maintain requires immediate action.”

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Also on Monday, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman issued a statement reiterating LIV’s position that the players, as independent contractors, should have a right to compete where and when they choose.

“I believe all players — whether they choose to play with LIV or the PGA Tour — understand and appreciate the purpose and importance of the players legal actions, across the globe. The PGA Tour is trying to cast this as ‘us’ against ‘them.’ The players know better.”

Norman has said that LIV will support the players in what are almost certain to be protracted court battles. As for the TRO, that matter should be resolved much sooner, according to Josh Davis, a professor at the University of California, Hastings College of Law, and a leading scholar on antitrust procedure. Davis said he expects the judge to issue a decision quickly, either from the bench at the close of the hearing, or shortly after.

Like Seebald, Davis believes the chance of a TRO being granted is slim.

“The general rule is, Any chance? Anything’s possible,” Davis said.

“Realistic chance? Nope.”

Tuesday’s hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT at the U.S. District Court for California’s Northern District, in San Jose. If Gooch, Jones and Swafford hope to be on the course in Memphis this week, they’ll have to beat long odds in the courthouse first.

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The PGA Tour regular season is officially complete and we are on to the post season. In the world of golf, that means the FedEx Cup Playoffs are set to begin. But how exactly do these playoffs work?

Here’s everything you need to know about the 2022 FedEx Cup Playoffs.

2022 FedEx Cup Playoffs schedule

The FedEx Cup Playoffs consist of three tournaments played in the month of August: the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the BMW Championship, and the Tour Championship. The full schedule is listed below.

FedEx St. Jude Championship – Aug. 11-14
BMW Championship – Aug. 18-21
Tour Championship – Aug. 25-28

2022 FedEx Cup Playoffs format

The FedEx Cup Playoffs format has changed over the years, but the system this year is the same as it has been since 2019.

Throughout the regular season, players are awarded points for their performance in each tournament, with 500 points going to the winner in regular-season events, and 600 points going to the winner in majors plus the Players Championship.

At the conclusion of the regular season, the top 125 players in the FedEx Cup standings qualify for the first playoff event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship. The top 70 in the standings after the FedEx St. Jude Championship qualify for next week’s BMW Championship.

FedEx Cup points awarded at the FedEx St. Jude and BMW are far higher than regular-season events, with the winner receiving 2000 points. In this way, performance in the playoffs is weighted more heavily than in regular-season events.

Once the BMW Championship is complete, the top 30 in the standings move on to the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

How the Tour Championship works

The Tour Championship is unlike any other tournament on the PGA Tour. Instead of everyone starting at even par when the tournament begins, players are given “starting strokes” based on their place in the FedEx Cup standings. The Tour Championship “starting strokes” are listed below.

No. 1 – 10 under
No. 2 – 8 under
No. 3 – 7 under
No. 4 – 6 under
No. 5 – 5 under
Nos. 6-10 – 4 under
Nos. 11-15 – 3 under
Nos. 16-20 – 2 under
Nos. 21-25 – 1 under
Nos. 26-30 – Even par

Once play begins under this structure, whoever finishes the Tour Championship with the lowest score to par is crowned the FedEx Cup champion.

2022 FedEx Cup Playoffs money

There’s a whole lot of money up for grabs during the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The total amount the PGA Tour will dole out at the conclusion of the Tour Championship is $75 million, with a whopping $18 million going to the winner.

The entire payout structure is listed below.

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Despite missing the cut at the PGA Tour’s regular season-ending event, Rickie Fowler will play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Fowler entered the Wyndham Championship at 133rd in the FedEx Cup standings with 323.797 points, but because of the 10 players in the top 125 who have defected to LIV Golf and thus ruled ineligible for the playoffs, the PGA Tour bumped Fowler up to 123 to start the week.

With a missed cut in Greensboro, Fowler has a lot of players to thank for the start this week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

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Firstly, on Saturday morning when Austin Smotherman doubled his final hole of the second round to move the cutline, he bumped himself down outside of the top 125. Fowler was still projected 126th as of Saturday night.

Brian Stuard shot a final-round 71 on Sunday, dropping him from a tie for 7th and the projected 120th spot in the FedEx Cup, to a tie for 27th, and outside the top-125 altogether. Justin Lower also three-putted the 18th hole at Sedgefield on Sunday, knocking him out of the top 125 as well.

That would have been good enough to move Fowler into spot 124, with Matt Wallace being the last man in at 125, but Joohyung Kim won with conditional Tour status on Sunday, earning him full status just in time for a spot into the playoffs. That put Fowler as the bubble man, No. 125 and heading to Memphis.

Fowler was exempt through next season thanks to his status as a tournament winner (breaking down as his five-year exemption from winning the Players Championship in 2015, plus another two years from his win at the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open and an extra year from PGA Tour’s extension of status from the pandemic in 2020), but he was in jeopardy of missing out on the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the second year in a row.

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Ed. note: The unsigned email below, by all appearances from the Office of the PGA Tour commissioner, was shared with GOLF.com on an anonymous basis. Its contents could not be independently verified.

Gentlemen:

Congratulations, again, to all of you who finished the 2020-‘21 season among the top 125 players in FedEx points. As you know, that qualified you to play in the first round of our new-for-’21 12-round FedEx Playoff Series (TM), which was decided by players’ aggregate scores for the three Playoff events.

Our new system of eliminating the worst-performing players proved to be popular with our core demographic group, according to an early analysis of a variety of metrics.

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As you know, after each of the first three rounds of the first two events, the players shooting the 10 highest scores (and ties) were eliminated from the Playoffs, with one significant caveat:

All players who finished in the top-30 on the FedEx points list at the end of the regular season qualified to play all 12 rounds of the Playoffs, no matter what they shot on a daily basis. They had our special State Farm Protection (TM) status.

We thank our friends at State Farm for their support of the PGA Tour and this new program.

To give one quick example of its effectiveness, Kevin Kisner shot a first-round 76 at The Northern Trust at Liberty National in northern New Jersey. That was one of the worst 10 scores that day. But because of his Top-30 State Farm Protection (TM) status, he kept on playing, right through the remaining three rounds of The Northern Trust, the four rounds of the BMW at Caves Valley near Baltimore and the four rounds of the TOUR Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.

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Roger Sloan (79), Matt Jones (79), Wyndham Clark (78), Brandon Hagy (78), Brendan Steele (78), J.T. Poston (76), Matt Wolff (76), Richy Werenski (76) and Hank Lebioda (76) were less fortunate.

These are the 30 players who were, to use the phrase made popular by Steve DiMeglio writing in USA Today, made “bulletproof” by our new system:

     1.  Collin Morikawa

     2.  Jordan Spieth

     3.  Patrick Cantlay

     4.  Harris English

     5.  Jon Rahm

     6.  Abraham Ancer

     7.  Bryson DeChambeau

     8.  Louis Oosthuizen

     9.  Justin Thomas

     10. Sam Burns

     11. Viktor Hovland

     12. Jason Kokrak

     13. Xander Schauffele

     14. Hideki Matsuyama

     15. Brooks Koepka

     16. Cameron Smith

     17. Dustin Johnson

     18. Joaquin Niemann

     19. Stewart Cink

     20. Daniel Berger

     21. Scottie Scheffler

     22. Patrick Reed

     23. Tony Finau

     24. Kevin Na

     25. Billy Horschel

     26. Rory McIlroy

     27. Max Homa

     28. Corey Conners

     29. Kevin Kisner

     30. Si Woo Kim

Our ratings for the three events were excellent. For the first time, the three events that comprise the FedEx Playoff Series (TM) were decided in a playoff.

In the first week, Tony Finau and Cameron Smith shot 264 over four rounds at Liberty National, and Finau beat Smith in the first hole of their sudden-death playoff.

In the second week, at the BMW Championship, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay each shot 262 over four rounds at Caves Valley. Cantlay won on the sixth hole of their sudden-death playoff.

In the third week, at the TOUR Championship, Kevin Na and Jon Rahm each shot 266 over the four rounds at East Lake. Na defeated Rahm on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the TOUR Championship title.

As for the mother of all events, our 12-round, 216-hole FedEx Playoff Series, there were at least seven players with a realistic chance of winning the Series and with it the FedEx Cup and the Player of the Year title: Tony Finau, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Kevin Na, Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau. In the end, both Rahm and Cantlay played the 216 holes in 802 shots. Amazing.

They returned to East Lake on Monday morning, per our plan to settle ties, for a nine-hole stroke-play playoff. They played the back nine. Cantlay shot a 33 to Rahm’s 34, with an eagle 3 on the last to Rahm’s birdie 4. It was stunning.

Cantlay won $10 million.

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Rahm won $5 million as the runner-up.

Na won $2 million for his Tour Championship title.

In victory, Cantlay said, “As silly as it sounds, the money is not what’s really important for me,” Cantlay said. “The money is not what drives me to play this game. Winning golf tournaments, playing golf under pressure, and hitting quality golf shots under the gun — that’s why I’ve practiced my whole life, and [this is] the best feeling in the world, winning golf tournaments. The money is just a consequence of that.”

For the 2022 FedEx Playoff Series (TM), we expect to have a  playoff at the end of each day on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the first week, and then do the same again the second week. If there are ties for the 10th-worst score, those players will play in a sudden-death playoff and the winner of that playoff will continue in the tournament, while the loser (or losers) will be cut.

Yes, playoffs can be brutal. As other sports have discovered, they work best when they unfold over a period of weeks, as the tension, excitement and fun build. 

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

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Maybe this was you on Sunday afternoon, the power of the clicker in your hands.

On Golf Channel, there were 24 female pros — 12 Americans, 12 Europeans — playing (or cheerleading) on a classic Donald Ross course, Inverness, in golf’s most primitive form, match play, for nothing more valuable than the right to hoist a crystal cup.

On NBC, there were two male pros — one American, one European — in Atlanta, on a classic Donald Ross course, East Lake, playing a convoluted stroke-play system with so many millions at stake the money seemed practically meaningless by suppertime.

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Yes, you went back and forth. Of course you did. But where did you log more time? Which event meant more to you?

You of course know how Sunday ended.

Europe has a 2-point lead over the Americans at the Solheim Cup, at Inverness. All 24 women will be on the course Monday, Labor Day, with 12 points and that precious hoisting at stake.

Jon Rahm, the bull-like Spaniard, played four days at East Lake in 266 shots. Nobody played better. Patrick Cantlay, a low-key Californian, traversed those same 72 holes in 269 shots. But he started on Thursday, per contest rules, with a two-shot lead on his nearest chaser (and a four-shot lead on Rahm). So he’s your FedEx Cup champion. Which means he’s now $15 million richer. Rahm, as runner-up, earned $5 million.

Whatever.

Those two will meet up again later this month, at the Ryder Cup. It will be must-watch golf.

Professional golf has never had a September exactly like this, with the pro game’s two best team events, the Solheim Cup and the Ryder Cup, both in September, both with Midwestern datelines. The Ryder Cup will be at Whistling Straits, near Kohler, Wisc., in three weeks. But Inverness first. Ladies first.

In victory, Cantlay said that he doesn’t play golf for the money. Money, surely, is a motivator, but not the motivator. The motivator is what it’s always been, at least to the players we are all drawn to: doing a difficult thing well while carrying yourself with a certain dignity.

The greatness of Cantlay’s six-hole playoff last week against Bryson DeChambeau — sudden death; match play, really — was that it wasn’t about money. Not for us, watching. It was about two totally different personalities, going toe-to-toe. It was the S.S. Minnow’s Gilligan versus Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator. And Gilligan won. On Sunday, he beat Rambo. Except he really didn’t. And he won a great big pile of money. Which means nothing to us and, by Cantlay’s own admission, not that much to him.

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“As silly as it sounds, the money is not what’s really important for me,” Cantlay said. “The money is not what drives me to play this game. Winning golf tournaments, playing golf under pressure, and hitting quality golf shots under the gun — that’s why I’ve practiced my whole life, and [this is] the best feeling in the world, winning golf tournaments. The money is just a consequence of that.”

You can’t have professional golf without prize money. Golf without prize money is amateur golf. But the neatest moments in golf are when you’re not thinking about money at all, and for both fan and player the world becomes ball, hole, club in hand.

That’s why, in no particular order, the four men’s Grand Slam events are so enduring, as are the four women’s majors (sorry, Evian), the three senior majors for men, plus the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup and (some years more than others) the Presidents Cup. In Toledo on Sunday, the earth was shaking when Jennifer Kupcho do her thing and then Mel Reid did hers. As pure sport-as-theater, it was hard — you could say impossible — not to be more drawn to that.

Cantlay was asked about this interesting Sunday in golf, with two very different professional events unfolding at the same time.

“It had to be compelling stuff,” he said. Not even an hour after he was done playing at East Lake, he knew that the Americans had cut into the European lead at Inverness and were trailing by two points. “I’ll be rooting for them to hopefully pull it out,” he said. No question to whom he was referring. Rahm will be doing the same, on the other side.

Cantlay made a little nod to his main sponsor, Goldman Sachs, saying the financial firm first would help him find a place to invest his new millions. Well, of course. But nobody playing at Inverness, on either side, had any stray thoughts like that. They were playing for all the reasons Cantlay mentioned, and then some. It was must-watch golf.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

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The post Patrick Cantlay’s winning clubs at the 2021 Tour Championship appeared first on Golf.

The post Patrick Cantlay’s winning clubs at the 2021 Tour Championship appeared first on Golf.

Patrick Cantlay won the 2021 Tour Championship on Sunday at East Lake Golf Club to capture the season long FedEx Cup Playoffs (and a HUGE check). The Titleist staffer used a bag full of 14 Titleist clubs, and a Titleist golf ball to win this week. Check out the full specifications on his winning setup below.

Driver: Titleist TS3 (Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60TX shaft), 9.5 degrees

3-wood: Titleist 915F (Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 70TX shaft), 15 degrees

Hybrid: Titleist TS2 (Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 80TX shaft), 21 degrees

Irons: Titleist 718 AP2 (4-9 iron; True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 Tour Issue X100 shafts)

Wedges: Titleist SM7 (46 and 52 degrees), Titleist SM8 (56 and 61 Proto), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300 shafts

Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Want to overhaul your bag for 2021? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf. For more on the latest gear news and information, check out our latest Fully Equipped podcast below!

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The post How the insanely lucrative FedEx Cup bonus payouts are divvied up, from 1st place to 150th appeared first on Golf.

The post How the insanely lucrative FedEx Cup bonus payouts are divvied up, from 1st place to 150th appeared first on Golf.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in which player is bound for FedEx Cup glory at the Tour Championship — and the cool $15 million check that comes along with it. More commonly overlooked is how all that other cash is distributed, i.e., the remaining $45 million!

The FedEx runner-up banks $5 million, third place is good for $4 million, while the fourth- and fifth-place finishers have to settle for a measly $3 million and $2 million, respectively.

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Some of these winnings will be sorted Sunday evening at East Lake, but a good chunk of FedEx Cup change has already been sorted among the 120 players who didn’t qualify for the Tour Championship — from K.H. Lee, who pocketed $200,000 for his 31st place finish in the playoffs down to the pack of players who finished between 126th and 150th (including the likes of Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler and Tommy Fleetwood) and made $70,000 for their efforts.

Yes, it’s good to be a PGA Tour player in 2021! Here’s the full list of FedEx Cup bonus payouts for the 2020-21 season:

PAYOUTS FOR PLAYERS WHO QUALIFIED FOR THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP:

Win: $15,000,000

2: $5,000,000

3: $4,000,000

4: $3,000,000

5: $2,500,000

6: $1,900,000

7: $1,300,000

8: $1,100,000

9: $950,000

10: $830,000

11: $750,000

12: $705,000

13: $660,000

14: $620,000

15: $595,000

16: $570,000

17: $550,000

18: $535,000

19: $520,000

20: $505,000

21: $490,000

22: $478,000

23: $466,000

24: $456,000

25: $445,000

26: $435,000

27: $425,000

28: $415,000

29: $405,000

30: $395,000

PAYOUTS FOR PLAYERS WHO DIDN’T QUALIFY FOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

31: K.H. Lee, $200,000

32: Charley Hoffman, $195,000

33: Alex Noren, $190,000

34: Si Woo Kim, $186,000

35: Max Homa, $183,000

36: Hudson Swafford, $181,000

37: Cam Davis, $179,000

38: Kevin Kisner, $177,000

39: Keegan Bradley, $175,000

40: Webb Simpson, $173,000

41: Brian Harman, $171,000

42: Marc Leishman, $169,000

43: Cameron Tringale, $168,000

44: Harold Varner III, $167,000

45: Shane Lowry, $166,000

46: Lucas Glover, $165,000

47: Matt Jones, $164,000

48: Carlos Ortiz, $163,000

49: Aaron Wise, $162,000

50: Lee Westwood, $161,000

51: Charl Schwartzel, $160,000

52: Paul Casey, $159,000

53: Sebastián Muñoz, $158,000

54: Tom Hoge, $157,000

55: Branden Grace, $156,000

56: Russell Henley, $155,000

57: Cameron Champ, $154,000

58: Maverick McNealy, $153,000

59: Emiliano Grillo, $152,000

60: Robert Streb, $151,000

61: Jhonattan Vegas, $150,000

62: Chris Kirk, $150,000

63: Patton Kizzire, $150,000

64: Kevin Streelman, $150,000

65: Keith Mitchell, $150,000

66: Harry Higgs, $140,000

67: Mackenzie Hughes, $140,000

68: Talor Gooch, $140,000

69: Ryan Palmer, $140,000

70: Phil Mickelson, $140,000

71: Matthew Wolff, $110,000

72: Seamus Power, $110,000

73: Matt Fitzpatrick, $110,000

74: Tyrrell Hatton, $110,000

75: Martin Laird, $110,000

76: Joel Dahmen, $110,000

77: Ian Poulter, $110,000

78: Troy Merritt, $110,000

79: J:T: Poston, $110,000

80: Pat Perez, $110,000

81: Bubba Watson, $110,000

82: Andrew Putnam, $110,000

83: Doug Ghim, $110,000

84: Brandon Hagy, $110,000

85: Adam Long, $110,000

86: Peter Malnati, $105,000

87: Wyndham Clark, $105,000

88: Adam Schenk, $105,000

89: Lanto Griffin, $105,000

90: Adam Scott, $105,000

91: Kramer Hickok, $105,000

92: Brian Stuard, $105,000

93: Henrik Norlander, $105,000

94: Doc Redman, $105,000

95: Brian Gay, $105,000

96: Roger Sloan, $105,000

97: Brandt Snedeker, $105,000

98: Hank Lebioda, $105,000

99: Tyler McCumber, $105,000

100: Denny McCarthy, $105,000

101: Brendon Todd, $101,000

102: Luke List, $101,000

103: Adam Hadwin, $101,000

104: Chez Reavie, $101,000

105: Brendan Steele, $101,000

106: Sepp Straka, $101,000

107: Garrick Higgo, $101,000

108: James Hahn, $101,000

109: Zach Johnson, $101,000

110: Russell Knox, $101,000

111: Matt Wallace, $101,000

112: Sam Ryder, $101,000

113: Gary Woodland, $101,000

114: Jason Day, $101,000

115: Matthew NeSmith, $101,000

116: Scott Piercy, $101,000

117: Kyle Stanley, $101,000

118: Anirban Lahiri, $101,000

119: Dylan Frittelli, $101,000

120: Richy Werenski, $101,000

121: C:T: Pan, $101,000

122: Matt Kuchar, $101,000

123: Brice Garnett, $101,000

124: Scott Stallings, $101,000

125: Chesson Hadley, $101,000

126: Justin Rose, $70,000

127: Ryan Armour, $70,000

128: Patrick Rodgers, $70,000

129: Bo Hoag, $70,000

130: Camilo Villegas, $70,000

131: Nate Lashley, $70,000

132: Michael Thompson, $70,000

133: Rory Sabbatini, $70,000

134: Rickie Fowler, $70,000

135: Cameron Percy, $70,000

136: Austin Cook, $70,000

137: Tommy Fleetwood, $70,000

138: Chase Seiffert, $70,000

139: Charles Howell III, $70,000

140: Vincent Whaley, $70,000

141: Nick Taylor, $70,000

142: Francesco Molinari, $70,000

143: Mark Hubbard, $70,000

144: Ryan Moore, $70,000

145: Michael Gligic, $70,000

146: Joseph Bramlett, $70,000

147: Bo Van Pelt, $70,000

148: Beau Hossler, $70,000

149: Vaughn Taylor, $70,000

150: Satoshi Kodaira, $70,000

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