Power Rankings: FedEx St. Jude Championship

The FedExCup Playoffs turn 20 this year. That’s two decades' worth of champions, career-defining experiences and memorable moments.

The series has ceased to sit still, but not because it’s not yet fully formed. Rather, it continues to evolve amid an ecosystem that requires it. Its latest iteration lines up dutifully as a field of 69 assembles at TPC Southwind in Memphis for the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

That explanation, its impact on the churn, how the host course sets up, what’s at stake throughout the Playoffs and more is detailed below the ranking of those projected to contend for the first leg of three in the Playoffs.

There are countless ways to frame the lifespan of the FedExCup Playoffs, and something new is added to its lore with every edition. This year’s contributions are twofold before the first tee ball is even struck at TPC Southwind.

First, the last man inside the top 70 of the FedExCup standings to qualify was 21-year-old Jackson Koivun.

The recently turned professional, newest PGA TOUR member via PGA TOUR University Accelerated and winner of the 3M Open, was just 5½ months old when the PGA TOUR announced in early November 2005 the Playoffs were going to launch in 2007. Just as his generation never experienced a world without the Internet, streaming services and social media, the FedExCup Playoffs have been just as much of a fixture for his contemporaries who have become fans of the PGA TOUR. Koivun is one of a dozen making his Playoffs debut, and he’s one of five PGA TOUR rookies to qualify.

The other notable nugget concerns how the entrants will be measured by their performance during the first two tournaments. Gone are the days of the quadrupled FedExCup points. This year’s construct of FedExCup points matches the same for THE PLAYERS Championship and all four majors. Instead of 2,000 points, the winners of the FedEx St. Jude and next week’s BMW Championship will bank 750. None of the Playoffs events will have a cut.

Just for qualifying for the Playoffs, all 70 have earned fully exempt status for the 2027 season. It’s a perk that went with winning a PGA TOUR event during the regular season (and will again throughout the FedExCup Fall), but winning alone doesn’t guarantee entry into the Playoffs. Three of the 35 winners of the regular season landed outside the top 70 in the FedExCup.

The top 50 in the FedExCup at the conclusion of the FedEx St. Jude will advance to the BMW Championship, but movement in the ranks isn’t beholden only to one’s position in it. While the ranking merely reflects the accounting of accumulated points, the differences between each slot are what matter.

For example, J.T. Poston at No. 30 is only 2.659 points ahead of Robert MacIntyre in 31st, while Sepp Straka in 37th is 59.873 points clear of Michael Thorbjornsen in 38th. Considering all 40 outside the opening top 30, there are 11 scenarios in which fewer than five points separate guys adjacent to each other in the ranking. Another 22 are separated by fewer than 25 points, which is the equivalent of a 37th-place finish or just outside the top half. (Daniel Berger at 60th is the only qualifier who didn’t commit.)

Also consider last year’s opening field in which Matti Schmid ranked 70th and sat 547.304 FedExCup points outside the top 30. Had he won the lid-lifter worth 2,000 points, he would have crashed into that range with ease, rising to third overall before points for all others were added. This year, Koivun is 70th and 611.928 points outside the top 30. A win worth 750 points would bump him to 25th until all other points also contribute to individual totals, so he’d need to have another solid week at the BMW Championship to advance to the finale. For the second straight year, the TOUR Championship will be a standard-issue, stroke-play competition across 72 holes. (Starting Strokes were abandoned in 2025.)

This is the fourth edition of the Playoffs with only 70 qualifiers. With the previous construct of FedExCup points applied, two golfers outside the top 50 advanced in both 2023 and 2024. Last year’s Playoffs featured five who muscled their way on, including the first three immediately outside the opening top 50. All three of those guys were within 21 points of the top 50, whereas Harris English, at 51st this year, is 27.051 points outside the top 50. Yes, points are muted by comparison for all, but it still will require a better performance to survive and advance than it did previously.

TPC Southwind has hosted the PGA TOUR for almost 40 years, but this is just the fifth time that it’s staged the opener of the Playoffs, and all since 2022. It’s a stock par 70 that tips at 7,288 yards. Not unlike last week’s experience at Sedgefield Country Club for the Wyndham Championship, TPC Southwind presents as largely unchanged, and that’s just fine.

It was last year when it debuted TifEagle Bermudagrass on the greens. The renovation expanded the targets to what still is a modest 4,500 square feet on average. They will roll to 12½ feet as measured by the Stimpmeter. The primary rough is trimmed to a familiar 3 inches.

The field averaged 69.123 last year. That’s within the cone of expectations, but the new putting surfaces stood tall on approach, limiting the field to only 10½ greens in regulation per round. Compared to their last hurrah in 2024, that translated to three fewer greens in regulation across 72 holes. Although fewer putts were taken on the whole, the field converted more chances for par breakers on average. With exemptions and riches on the line, there’s some solace in TPC Southwind presenting as a green-light special.

Speaking of which, once the dust settles in Memphis, the top 50 in the FedExCup not only will advance to the second leg of the Playoffs, they’ll also be rewarded with exemptions into all Signature Events in 2027. And if the heat of the competition isn’t enough, Mother Nature is promising the same. Daytime temperatures flirt with and could touch 100 degrees every day. Zero rain is expected, and the prevailing breeze will come from a southwesterly direction, doing little to cool the air, much less calm the nerves.

ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE

PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton previews and recaps every tournament. Refer to the timing of his contributions below. He’s also active as @RobBoltonGolf on X, where you can connect with him.

MONDAY: Power Rankings
TUESDAY: Fantasy Insider; Expert Picks; Sleepers*
SUNDAY: Points and Payouts; Qualifiers

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