The FedEx Cup Playoffs are starting to look like a formality for top golfer Scottie Scheffler. The playoffs, for those not familiar, are made up of three tournaments: The FedEx St. Jude, The BMW Championship and The Tour Championship at East Lake.
These limited field events are contested among the PGA Tour’s top players, with an opportunity to win their share of the $100 million in prize money, with the winner of the FedEx Cup taking home a $10-million bonus.
With each playoff tournament having a large prize of its own, the $10 million at the end stands as a reward for the most consistent player over the three playoff tournaments.
Sweet-smelling Rose
The playoffs begin with the top 70 players being eligible for the first event, the FedEx St Jude. Last week, an inspired Justin Rose, at 45 years old, outlasted US Open Champion JJ Spaun in an exciting sudden-death playoff.
Making a run on the back 9, Justin Rose went on a 4-hole birdie streak from the 14th to the 17th to make the playoff with JJ Spaun.
Missing the playoff by one shot were round 3 leader Tommy Fleetwood and none other than world number one Scottie Scheffler.
For someone in his mid-40s, Justin Rose seems to be on a good run.
He’s always been a pillar of English and European golf. He’s come close to winning another major, most recently at the 2025 Masters, where he almost spoiled Rory’s fairytale.
He also placed second to Schauffele in the 2024 Open Championships. He was pivotal in Europe’s Ryder Cup win in 2023, and also has an Olympic Gold.
Rose has come a long way from his 1998 Open Championship performance, where, as an amateur, he wowed the crowds, finishing 4th as a 17-year-old amateur.
At 45, Justin Rose seems to have had a second wind, enjoying good form and proving that he can still hang with the best golfers on the planet.
Disappointing finish for MacIntyre
This week, with the field down to 50, it seemed like the tournament would be all about Scotland’s favorite lefty, Robert MacIntyre. After shooting a first round 62 and keeping a comfortable gap from his pursuers through 3 rounds, the young Scot failed to finish strong in the 4th round, giving Scheffler another win.
MacIntyre followed up his 62 in round 1 with a 64 and then a 68. That totaled to -16 on Cave Valley’s par 70 layout.
In second place, four shots adrift was Scheffler, and a further two back was Aberg.
The final round turned into a duel between the top two, while the rest were left scrambling for prize money.
The day started with a two-shot swing on the very first hole, with Scottie making birdie from 8 feet and MacIntyre missing his par attempt from about 6 feet.
It was more of the same in the next few holes, so that by the 5th hole, MacIntyre’s lead had vanished and he and Scheffler were tied at -13.
In the end, Scheffler didn’t even need to shoot a low score to win by two. He got a boost as MacIntyre stumbled with a 3-over 73 — his worst round of the week by far.
It wasn’t a simple walk in the park, of course, as MacIntyre tried to hang on with a few holes left. Scheffler had a couple of miscues on the 12th and 14th, bogeying both.
By the 17th, his lead was trimmed to one. And then from the gnarly greenside rough, Scheffler thrust the dagger with a miraculous chip-in birdie to go up by two strokes with one hole to go.
You can feel the frustration and dejection in MacIntyre’s face when Scheffler holed out. There was nothing really he could do.
Week after week, Scheffler just keeps playing steady golf, fairways and greens.
Even Tiger has said that Scheffler is in a different league when it comes to ball striking.
Woods noted that with Scottie’s consistency, a poor putting week still keeps him in contention, an average week makes him the winner, and a hot putter means Scheffler wins by a wide margin.
In short, the only real outcomes would be Scotty almost wins, Scottie wins, or Scottie wins by a lot. Now, how would you beat someone like that?