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As every year, the Tour Championship formula assigns a score to each player even before the first shot based on their position in the FedEx Cup standings at the end of the penultimate tournament of the season.
The top 30 players on the 2024 PGA Tour now know their scores ahead of the start of the final tournament of the season, the 2024 Tour Championship at East Lake, which will decide the winner of the 2024 FedEx Cup from Thursday to Sunday.
This one will receive a record first prize of $25 million. Indeed, this year the overall endowment has been increased to 100 million dollars compared to 75 million in 2023. And the favorite for the title, Scottie Scheffler, will set off with a two-shot lead over his closest pursuer.
Scheffler vs Schauffele and opening
The world number 1, who has not hidden his dissatisfaction with the format, will try to get his name on the list of winners of the competition for the first time, which is supposed to crown the best player of the season on the American circuit.
Scheffler’s score when he steps onto the 1st tee will therefore be -10. His main rival, a double major winner this year, Xander Schauffele will start the competition at -8.
In third place, Hideki Matsuyama will be 3 shots behind with a score of 7 under par. The Japanese’s chances are also subject to his physical condition since he had to abandon the BMW Championship due to injury.
Keegan Bradley who won for the 7th time in his career on the PGA Tour this Sunday in Colorado is fourth at -6. The Ryder Cup captain for Team USA also dreams of qualifying mathematically, but only the points of the 4 majors of 2024 and the Players played in March of this year, are counted for the moment.
To complete this royal top 5, we must add the Swedish prodigy Ludvig Åbergsecond behind Bradley at the BMW Championship. For his first appearance at East Lake, the Scandinavian will start with a 5-shot deficit on the leader.
6 moves to make up for the triple winner
While none of the above players have managed to win the competition in the past, this is not the case for the 6th in the ranking. Rory McIlroyThe Northern Irishman is even the record holder for victories with three titles. He will be 6 shots behind his main rival on Thursday.
The defending champion Viktor Hovland who has shown encouraging signs of returning to form is at -2. The winner of the first Playoff tournament Billy Horschel is at -1, just like the first Frenchman in history to qualify for this prestigious final, the Bordelais Matthieu Pavon.
Scores before the 1st round
Scottie Scheffler -10
Xander Schauffele -8
Hideki Matsuyama -7
Keegan Bradley -6
Ludvig Aberg -5
Rory McIlroy -4
Collin Morikawa -4
Wyndham Clark -4
Sam Burns -4
Patrick Cantlay -4
Sungjae-In -3
Sahith Theegala -3
Shane Lowry -3
Adam Scott -3
Tony Finau -3
I Am An -2
Viktor Hovland -2
Russell Henley -2
Akshay Bhatia -2
Robert MacIntyre -2
Billy Horschel -1
Tommy Fleetwood -1
Sepp Straka -1
Matthew Pavon -1
Taylor Pendrith -1
Chris Kirk By
Tom Hoge Par
Aaron Rai Par
Christian Bezuidenhout Par
Justin Thomas By
