BMW Championship Format

LEMONT, IL - SEPTEMBER 09: Aaron Baddeley of Australia hits from out of the bunker on the 12th hole during the fourth round of the BMW Championship, the third event of the new PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club on September 9, 2007 in Lemont, Illinois. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) The FedExCup is the championship trophy for the PGA Tour season. It was first awarded in 2007, to Tiger Woods.

Qualifying For The Playoffs

To qualify for the FedExCup playoffs, official members of the PGA Tour earn FedExCup points for each event they play, starting with the Mercedes-Benz Championship in January and ending with the Wyndham Championship in August. After the Wyndham Championship, the top 144 points leaders qualify to enter the first of the FedExCup playoffs, The Barclays.

FedExCup Points Distribution

Before The Barclays is played, the FedExCup points for all qualifying players are reset using a sliding scale. The player with the most existing points enters the playoffs with 100,000 points, the player with the second-highest number of existing points starts at 99,000 and so on – with the player at position 144 entering the playoffs at 84,700 points.

The Barclays

From August 21 to 24, the 144 qualifying PGA Tour players compete in The Barclays to determine which 24 players will be cut from the field for the FedExCup playoffs.

The Deutsche Bank Championship

The remaining 120 golfers with the highest number of FedExCup points qualify to play in the Deutsche Bank Championship, from August 29 to 1 September. This tournament provides a 36-hole cut to narrow the field for the remaining playoffs to 70.

The BMW Championship

From 4 to 7 September, the 70 top golfers compete in the BMW Championship – for 2008, due to be hosted at the Bellerive Country Club in St Louis, Missouri. The outcome determines which 30 players will participate in the final playoff, the Tour Championship.

The Tour Championship

From 25 to 28 September, the top-ranked 30 players compete in the Tour Championship. If any qualifying players can’t participate in the tournament, they aren’t replaced by players with the next-highest numbers of FedExCup points. This helps ensure that truly only the best of the best players for the season face off in the final competition for the championship trophy.

There’s no shortage of incentive to win the FedExCup competition. In addition to sizeable prize money from the individual championships, the winner will be awarded a staggering $10 million bonus. The winner is also given a five-year exemption from having to qualify for the PGA Tour.

Do you think Tiger Woods will do the inevitable and win the FedExCup a second time running in 2008, or is a surprise in store?

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