Brooks Koepka bolsters standings lead with WGC win

Last chance for players to qualify for FedExCup Playoffs at this week’s Wyndham Championship

ATLANTA – Brooks Koepka increased his FedExCup standings lead to 572 points after collecting his seventh PGA TOUR victory and first World Golf Championships title at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Rory McIlroy, who finished T4 in Memphis, took over the No. 2 spot as he looks to grab his second FedExCup title and first since 2016.

In just three weeks, the TOUR Championship will return to historic East Lake Golf Club from Aug. 21-25, when the top 30 players from the FedExCup standings will vie for the FedExCup title at the PGA TOUR’s season-ending event.

“That's why we play, to make it to Atlanta. I'm sure everybody that tees it up on the PGA TOUR, that's their goal, to make it to Atlanta and to have a chance to win,” Koepka said. “So to be able to put myself in the spot that I have, it's been an enjoyable ride to say the least and I think this would just cap off this two-year stretch of great golf.”

This week’s Wyndham Championship is the concluding event of the PGA TOUR Regular Season and marks the final opportunity for players to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs by being among the top 125 in the FedExCup standings. The top 125 will compete in THE NORTHERN TRUST at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey, with just the top 70 advancing to the BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club outside of Chicago before the top 30 arrive for the season finale at the TOUR Championship.

Those players on the bubble for one of the coveted 30 spots at East Lake heading into the Regular Season finale include: Tiger Woods (No. 27), Phil Mickelson (No. 31), Keith Mitchell (No. 35), Jason Day (No. 38), Billy Horschel (No. 47), Patrick Reed (No. 50) and Jordan Spieth (No. 67).

Click here for the current FedExCup standings.

New TOUR Championship Format
While the points structure for the first two events will remain the same – awarding quadruple points compared to Regular Season events – there will be a significant change to the format for the TOUR Championship.

Instead of a points reset at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, the TOUR is instituting a strokes-based bonus system (TOUR Championship Starting FedExCup Strokes) related to the FedExCup standings through the BMW Championship. The FedExCup points leader after the first two Playoffs events will begin the TOUR Championship at 10-under par. The next four players will start at 8-under through 5-under, respectively. The next five will begin at 4-under, regressing by one stroke per five players until those ranked Nos. 26-30 start at even par.

With the implementation of this change, the player with the lowest total score including TOUR Championship Starting FedExCup Strokes will be the FedExCup champion and be credited with an official victory in the TOUR Championship competition. There will no longer be the potential for two winners at East Lake.

If the first round of the TOUR Championship were contested today, here is how the leaderboard would look prior to the first pairing teeing off:

  1. Brooks Koepka –10
  2. Rory McIlroy –8
  3. Matt Kuchar –7
  4. Xander Schauffele –6
  5. Gary Woodland –5
  6. Patrick Cantlay –4
  7. Dustin Johnson –4
  8. Paul Casey –4
  9. Jon Rahm –4
  10. Justin Rose –4
  11. Marc Leishman –3
  12. Rickie Fowler –3
  13. Webb Simpson –3
  14. Chez Reavie –3
  15. Tony Finau –3
  16. Justin Thomas –2
  17. Charles Howell III –2
  18. Bryson DeChambeau –2
  19. Tommy Fleetwood –2
  20. Shane Lowry –2
  21. Adam Scott –1
  22. Kevin Kisner –1
  23. Ryan Palmer –1
  24. Francesco Molinari –1
  25. Sungjae Im –1
  26. Scott Piercy Even
  27. Tiger Woods Even
  28. Sung Kang Even
  29. Hideki Matsuyama Even
  30. Lucas Glover Even

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