A long and entertaining PGA Tour season is about to come to a close, with one golfer walking away with $25 million.
East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta is the home of the third and final leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs, as the PGA Tour Championship is this weekend. There are only 30 golfers left in the hunt for the FedEx Cup and only 72 holes separate them for the title.
The PGA Tour Championship is unlike any other golf tournament on the tour. Not only is it a considerably smaller field with no cut after two rounds, but also, not all of the golfers start with an even score. Depending on their position in the standings, golfers this weekend get an advantage before they have even teed off from the first hole at East Lake.
Scottie Scheffler enters in the best position of them all. The owner of six wins already on the tour this season, the Texas native holds the most points in the FedEx Cup standings. As a result of his prior success in 2024, he is rewarded with a multi-stroke lead to start the PGA Tour Championship.
What score do all of the golfers at the PGA Tour Championship start with? Here's everything you need to know about the starting strokes for the PGA Tour championship.
PGA Tour Championship starting strokes
Golfers pile up the points throughout the season to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs. Now those points are used to determine the starting strokes for each golfer.
For the final event in the FedEx Cup playoffs — the PGA Tour championship — the points system goes out the window. Instead, a golfer's placement in the standings determined their starting score at East Lake.
The player with the most points begins with a 10-under handicap. The golfer in second is 8-under, the golfer in third is 7-under, and so on until the field ultimately is rounded out with the bottom five golfers all entering play at an even par.
Here's a look at the full handicap system:
| Seeding | Starting stroke |
| 1 | 10 under |
| 2 | 8 under |
| 3 | 7 under |
| 4 | 6 under |
| 5 | 5 under |
| 6-10 | 4 under |
| 11-15 | 3 under |
| 16-20 | 2 under |
| 21-25 | 1 under |
| 26-30 | Par |
It's worth noting that Scheffler has entered into the PGA Tour championship in first place the last two years, as well, but faltered both seasons. In 2022, he lost Rory McIlroy on the final day of the tournament, and last year, it was Viktor Hovland who came back to defeat the World No. 1 golfer.
It's one of the few things not on Scheffler's resume yet, but there's a good chance he gets it this season. It would cap off one of the more impressive seasons on the PGA Tour out of a golfer, with seven wins, a second green jacket, and an Olympic gold medal all won in 2024.
FedEx Cup playoff standings
Below is a look at the top 30 golfers left in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the Tour Championship.
| Rank | Golfer | FedEx Cup Points | Starting Score |
| 1 | Scottie Scheffler | 6,615 | -10 |
| 2 | Xander Schauffele | 5,422 | -8 |
| 3 | Hideki Matsuyama | 3,898 | -7 |
| 4 | Keegan Bradley | 3,096 | -6 |
| 5 | Ludvig Aberg | 2,980 | -5 |
| 6 | Rory McIlroy | 2,829 | -4 |
| 7 | Collin Morikawa | 2,714 | -4 |
| 8 | Wyndham Clark | 2,708 | -4 |
| 9 | Sam Burns | 2,518 | -4 |
| 10 | Patrick Cantlay | 2,221 | -4 |
| 11 | Sungjae Im | 2,220 | -3 |
| 12 | Sahith Theegala | 2,114 | -3 |
| 13 | Shane Lowry | 2,099 | -3 |
| 14 | Adam Scott | 2,058 | -3 |
| 15 | Tony Finau | 2,047 | -3 |
| 16 | Byeong Hun An | 2,040 | -2 |
| 17 | Viktor Hovland | 1,967 | -2 |
| 18 | Russell Henley | 1,933 | -2 |
| 19 | Akshay Bhatia | 1,891 | -2 |
| 20 | Robert MacIntyre | 1,885 | -2 |
| 21 | Billy Horschel | 1,838 | -1 |
| 22 | Tommy Fleetwood | 1,747 | -1 |
| 23 | Sepp Straka | 1,721 | -1 |
| 24 | Matthieu Pavon | 1,690 | -1 |
| 25 | Taylor Pendrith | 1,668 | -1 |
| 26 | Chris Kirk | 1,656 | E |
| 27 | Tom Hoge | 1,655 | E |
| 28 | Aaron Rai | 1,639 | E |
| 29 | Christiaan Bezuidenhout | 1,628 | E |
| 30 | Justin Thomas | 1,617 | E |
