2024 Tour Championship starting points for all 30 players

New year, same result. After a full season of PGA Tour golf (and a short one since the PGA Tour returned to a calendar-based schedule), Scottie Scheffler once again finds himself at the top of the FedEx Cup heading into the final event, the Tour Championship in Mpumalanga. A lake.

Scheffler has dominated this year, winning six times on the PGA Tour, including his second Masters title, and won a gold medal at the Olympics earlier this month in Paris.

He leads second-ranked Xander Schauffele by nearly 1,200 FedEx Cup points, and third-ranked Hideki Matsuyama by more than 2,700, nearly matching Matsuyama's lead over No. 50 player Eric Cole.

But, even after a historic season, Scheffler will begin the Tour Championship in the same position he has in the previous two editions: with a two-shot lead at 10 under.

This is the sixth year of the Tour Championship's handicap format where players are awarded starting points based on their place in the FedEx Cup standings entering the week. Scheffler will start this week at East Lake with a two-stroke lead over Schauffele and a 10-stroke lead over Justin Thomas, the last man in the field at No. 30 in standing.

The change was made because under the old format, a player could win the Tour Championship and not lose the FedEx Cup. It was difficult to count the points and track the viewer at home.

This way, there are no more points to worry about and whoever wins the Tour Championship, including strokes, wins the FedEx Cup and the $25 million first prize.

Here's what the starting strokes look like this year.

Scores starting at the 2024 Tour Championship

10 under: Scottie Scheffler
Eight under: Xander Schauffele
Shown below: Hideki Matusyama
Six below: Keegan Bradley
Five below: Ludwig Aberg
Four below: Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay
Three below: Sungjae Im, Sahith Theegala, Shane Lowry, Adam Scott, Tony Finau
Two below: Byeong Hun An, Viktor Hovland, Russell Henley, Akshay Bhatia, Robert MacIntyre
One below: Billy Horschel, Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Matthieu Pavon, Taylor Pendrith
I mean: Chris Kirk, Tom Hoge, Aaron Rai, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Justin Thomas

Now you might think that the top seed might have a significant advantage, but in reality, the top seed has only won the Tour Championship twice in the previous five editions of this format. Scheffler himself has yet to win when holding a two-stroke lead in the past two seasons.

In the latest of his two FedEx Cup victories, Rory McIlroy came back from five and six shots back earlier in the week to lift the trophy (and a big day's lead into first place) on Sunday evening. Last year, Viktor Hovland was two shots back of Scheffler as he blew away everyone at East Lake to win his first FedEx Cup.

You can follow the action from 1-6 pm ET on Golf Channel on Thursdays and Fridays. Saturday broadcasts 1-2:30 pm on Golf Channel and 2:30-7 pm on CBS, and Sunday's final round is 12-1:30 pm on Golf Channel and 1:30-6 pm on NBC.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A native of Pennsylvania, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was the captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as the head coach. Jack is also *still* trying to stay competitive with the local novices. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a reporter/multimedia reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting weather. He can be reached at [email protected].