FedEx Cup Standings: What the PGA Tour Standings currently look like

As the PGA Tour takes a break of play for a few weeks, it seems like a good time to look at the FedEx Cup Standings.

Although it may seem like there is a ton of golf left to play, a lot of players have made their mark already on this young PGA Tour season. We have already seen 10 weeks and 11 events (November 3rd there was both the WGC-HSBC and the Bermuda). We are roughly 25% into the season, and some players are already very comfortable in the FedEx Cup standings.

You may think to yourself “Only 25%, surely there is going to be a lot of movement, and that not too many people are safe?”

Each year, the top 125 make it to the first of three playoff events for the FedEx Cup. It is then cut to 70, and finally 30.

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Last year, the 125th ranked player, Pat Perez, had only 376 points. There are already 21 golfers with more points than that, as Xander Schauffele sits in 21st with 385 points.

The 70th ranked golfer last year, Rafa Cabrera Bello, finished with 713 points. That includes the first playoff round. We have four players already at or above that mark, as Rory McIlroy has exactly 713 points currently.

So yes, there is going to be a lot of movement. At the same time, a decent amount of golfers are already sitting pretty for the 2020 FedEx Cup tournament. The current leader, Brendon Todd, has a total of 957 points already. Looking at least years standings, that would’ve been good enough for 45th place.

He’s almost guaranteed a spot in the final 30, as long as he can amass around 300 more points before the final event of the year at East Lake, the Tour Championship.

A big part to remember is that a win can get you 500 points. Well, most of the time it does. Like Brendon Todd at the Bermuda, if you win an alternate event, you only receive 300 points. There are four alternate events left, and some chances for the lesser-known players to earn some much-needed points.

There are also a few opportunities to earn 600 points in an event, all of which come at Major Championships. In case you didn’t know, there are four of those as well, regardless of what staunch defenders of the Players Championship tell you.

If we look at Rafa Cabrera Bello’s mark of 713 points in 70th place again as a decent goal for players to try and get to, winning an event is a huge boon. Bronson Burgoon sits in 42nd place right now at 210 points. A win would vault him up into a near-guaranteed appearance into round two of the playoffs.

Looking at it from a different angle, only 93 golfers finished last season with over 500 points. A win, as long as it isn’t at an alternative event, gets you into that stratum of the standings.

Even a win at an alternative event puts you at a good pace, although it isn’t a guarantee. There were actually two winners last season who did not make the FedEx Cup playoffs. Jim Herman won the Barbasol and finished 138th, while Martin Trainer won the Puerto Rico Open and finished 132nd.

There are a couple of players you may not be familiar with (yet), like Lanto Griffin, Sungjae Im, or Cameron Champ. They currently rank 3rd, 7th, and 9th, respectively. They are all strong upcoming players that the golf world should get to know if they haven’t already.

Then there are the ones that you are quite familiar with. Rory McIlroy (4th), Justin Thomas (5th), Kevin Na (6th), and Hideki Mastuyama (10th) are all sitting pretty in the top ten, with Matsuyama rounding it out at 566 points. An interesting stat here is that neither Im nor Matsuyama have won this year, and are the only two in the top ten without a win, showing just how good and consistent they have been playing.

Although the season is only ~25% done, we are already seeing some interesting trends in the FedEx Cup Standings. It picks back up January 5th with the winners-only event, the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Then we get back into the regular swing of things with the Sony Open in Hawaii on January 12th.