Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
Let’s look at the PGA Tour’s Top 30 players who made it into the FedEx Cup’s last playoff event, the Tour Championship.
The PGA Tour’s season-long race comes down to this week at East Lake Golf Club, where the FedEx Cup finale, the Tour Championship, will be held.
Last week saw No. 50 Keegan Bradley go from the bottom to the top as he won the BMW Championship to secure his spot inside the Top 30.
It is the final playoff event of the season, and there is so much money on the line. The winner of the Tour Championship will take home $25 million in bonus money, an increase of $7 million from 2023.
For the guy who finishes runner-up, they will take home $12.5 million. Third place gets $7.5 million; the wildest thing is that the Top 12 finishers will get a seven-figure check.
There was activity among the Top 30 players as four fell out, and four new ones moved inside.
Let’s examine the new Top 30 who will play in Atlanta this week. After a look at the official list, we will discuss who dropped out and who took their place.
The Top 30 in the FedEx Cup advancing to the Tour Championship
(marks their previous standing)
30. Justin Thomas (22; Dropped 8spots)
29. Christiaan Bezuidenhout (23; Dropped 6 spots)
28. Aaron Rai (21; Dropped 7 spots)
27. Tom Hoge (28; Jumped up 1 spot)
26. Chris Kirk (32; Jumped up 6 spots)
25. Taylor Pendrith (27; Jumped up 2 spot)
24. Matthieu Pavon (20; Dropped 4 spots)
23. Sepp Straka (24; Jumped up 1 spot)
22. Tommy Fleetwood (32; Jumped up 10 spots)
21. Billy Horschel (19; Dropped 2 spots)
20. Robert MacIntyre (12; Dropped 8 spots)
19. Akshay Bhatia (13; Dropped 6 spots)
18. Russell Henley (17; Dropped 1 spot)
17. Viktor Hovland (16; Dropped 1 spot)
16. Byeong Hun An (15; Dropped 1 spot)
15. Tony Finau (14; Dropped 1 spot)
14. Adam Scott (41; Jumped up 27 spots)
13. Shane Lowry (11; Dropped 2 spots)
12. Sahith Theegala (8; Dropped 4 spots)
11. Sungjae Im (10; Dropped 1 spot)
10. Patrick Cantlay (9; Dropped 1 spot)
9. Sam Burns (18; Jumped up 9 spots)
8. Wyndham Clark (7; Dropped 2 spots)
7. Collin Morikawa (4; Dropped 3 spot)
6. Rory McIlroy (5; Dropped 1 spot)
5. Ludvig Åberg (7; Jumped up 2 spots)
4. Keegan Bradley (50; Jumped up 46 spots)
3. Hideki Matsuyama (3; No movement)
2. Xander Schauffele (2; No movement)
Scottie Scheffler (1; No movement)
The top three showed no movement, but three guys made massive moves.
Bradley jumped 46 spots up the leaderboard to sit No. 4 in the standings. He also caused many to drop to make room for himself.
Adam Scott finished runner-up with Sam Burns and Ludvig Åberg at the BMW Championship. Scott jumped 27 spots inside the Top 30 and Burns jumped nine spots up the leaderboard.
Åberg went from No. 7 to No. 5.
Who dropped from the Top 30 FedEx Cup standings?
Four players dropped out of the Top 30 to make room for Chris Kirk, Tommy Fleetwood, Bradley, and Scott.
The four players who will not compete in Atlanta are Brian Harman at No. 31, Jason Day at No. 33, Davis Thompson at No. 34 and Denny McCarthy at No. 35.
Harman was 25th at the BMW Championship. Day finished T-33, Thompson was T-41 and McCarthy was T-26. Those placings did not produce enough points to keep those guys inside the line.
This year marks the second in a row that McCarthy narrowly missed out on being a part of the Top 30.
The 2024 Tour Championship’s Top 30 is full of young and veteran talent, and they are competing for big money. Not to mention, they all want to be the guy who calls himself the FedEx Cup champion.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.
