2025 TOUR Championship Preview
- Jeff "The Sandbagger"
- Aug 21
- 3 min read
By Jeff Hagen
The FedEx Cup Finale at East Lake
The season-long race for the FedEx Cup comes to a head at East Lake Golf Club, where the top 30 players on the PGA Tour will battle for the $10 million top prize. With a format shakeup for 2025, defending champion Scottie Scheffler has a tougher path to repeat with no starting strokes, no cushion, just four rounds of pure competition.
Format Overhaul: Winner Takes All
Since 2019, the TOUR Championship has used the "Starting Strokes" format, where the FedEx Cup points leader began the event at -10, with staggered starting strokes down the leaderboard. The goal was to simplify the crowning of a FedEx Cup champ, but the format made the tournament less competitive and didn’t resonate with fans.
Whoever wins the tournament wins the FedEx Cup. It’s a clean slate. But while it raises excitement, it also diminishes the value of season-long dominance. Case in point: Scottie Scheffler’s points lead over Rory McIlroy is greater than Rory’s entire total, yet they’ll both start Thursday at even par. If you’re feeling bad for Scottie though, I wouldn’t worry too much… he’s still taken home almost $24 million in winnings in 2025 and is a heavy favorite to win the $10 million top prize.
What’s at Stake
The TOUR Championship boasts a $40 million purse with the 30th place finisher still guaranteed $355,000. Just making it to East Lake is a major achievement.
East Lake: Classic Course, Modern Challenge
The classic venue hosts the TOUR Championship for the 25th time, only the second time since the original Donald Ross design saw a modernized restoration in 2024. The 7,440-yard par-70 layout features newly shaped greens, bold undulations and classic bunkers that closely guard greens and protrude into landing zones in the fairways. This forces players to choose their landing spots carefully, rewarding precise ball striking this week.
Three Players to Watch (Not Named Scottie)
Tommy Fleetwood
Still chasing his first PGA Tour win, despite holding the 54-hole lead twice in his last five events, Fleetwood is playing some of his best golf. He ranks 3rd in Strokes Gained Total behind only Scheffler and McIlroy. If he can withstand the pressure on Sunday, there’s no reason his breakthrough couldn’t come with a $10 million payday.
Rory McIlroy
After capturing the Masters in April, Rory has paced himself through the summer. While he hasn’t contended often, he returned from a month off with a solid T12 at the BMW Championship last week. Ranked second in FedEx Cup points, he’s fresh, experienced, and has won this event three times before.
Cameron Young
Young’s slow start to the season included six missed cuts in his first 11 events, but has turned it around with a win at the Wyndham earlier this month, followed by strong showings at the St. Jude (5th) and BMW (11th). If he can get off to a good start, he has the firepower to steal the title from 13th in the standings.
Closing Thoughts
With the FedEx Cup now a true winner-take-all format, the TOUR Championship promises four days of pressure-packed golf. Whether Scottie caps off his second straight historic season or someone from deeper in the pack surges late, East Lake is set for drama. One way or another, the season ends with a straight-up fight for $10 million and no one, not even Scottie is guaranteed a thing.
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