FedEx Cup 2015: Standings, rules and results from the PGA Tour playoffs

In the past, the PGA Tour season essentially ended at the conclusion of the PGA Championship. The season’s final major marked a full turn to football and other sports, with golf packing it up and dropping off the mainstream map.

The FedExCup is the Tour’s attempt to keep its circuit relevant and also give the best in the world something to play for deep into the month of September. The format and rules have been re-done and re-imagined several times over since this playoff competition started in 2007. It will continue to always be the butt of some jokes and critiques -- it’s not a major and never will be, and the word “playoffs” may not be the most accurate descriptor. The boatloads of cash available are a certainly a primary motivator, as opposed to some sort of postseason glory. It can probably be improved and made more relevant, but it’s better than what we had. And it’s succeeded in getting these big names on the Tour for at least a couple more events before things shut down for the rest of the calendar year. Here’s some background and updated projections for the four-event FedExCup Playoffs:

The schedule of the FedExCup varies from year-to-year. There’s often a bye week slotted somewhere in between two of the four tournaments, usually after the second leg -- the Deutsche Bank Championship which ends on Labor Day Monday and would require a short turnaround for the BMW Championship. But that’s not always the case because sometimes the calendar is just funky in a particular year or the Tour tries to find some extra cushion before the team events -- Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup that can come up right behind the season finale in Atlanta.

This year’s edition will break right after Labor Day, which is as late is it can possibly be on September 7. The finale in Atlanta will wrap on September 27 and then many of the top American and non-European International stars will have a one week break before jetting to Korea for the 2015 Presidents Cup. One of the better parts of the FedExCup is the four-event circuit hits some of the biggest markets in the country and areas that usually don’t have regular season Tour stops. It starts in New York, then bounces up to Boston, over to Chicago, and concludes at East Lake in Atlanta, which has always hosted the final.

The Barclays is the one event with the most varied rota. It always takes place in the New York metropolitan area, but almost never at the same course in consecutive years. This used to be the old Westchester Classic, which started in 1967 and was played at Westchester Country Club every year until 2008. It became The Barclays and part of the FedExCup right away in 2007, and since then has bounced around different tracks, mostly in northern New Jersey. This year’s Barclays is at Plainfield Country Club, a classic Donald Ross design -- shorter in length with extreme undulating greens.

Plainfield has hosted The Barclays just once, back in 2011 when Dustin Johnson won an event that was shortened to three rounds thanks to Hurricane Irene pounding the east coast. The top 125 in the FedExCup standings at the end of the season at the Wyndham Championship make this playoffs opener. That field is then cut down to 100 for the second leg.

Barclays Results and Highlights

Jason Day joined the Jordan Spieth-Rory McIlroy argument for best player in the world, shooting 63-62 on the weekend to roll to a dominant six-shot win. It was his third win in his last four starts, which, of course, includes that career-changing major championship. The win rocketed Day into No. 1 in the FedExCup standings heading into Boston. Some highlights from the week:

Day was unconscious with his putter and Sunday’s final stretch was something special to watch.

Brian Harman became the third player in PGA Tour history to make multiple aces in the same round.

Phil Mickelson tried his backwards flop shot in actual competition ... and failed.

The annual Labor Day weekend stop on the PGA Tour returns to TPC Boston, where the final 100 left in the FedExCup standings are trimmed down to 70. This is the only stop on the PGA Tour with a designated Monday finish. The first round starts Friday in suburban Boston and the final 18 wrap up late Labor Day afternoon.

Unlike Plainfield, TPC Boston is one of those modern monster tracks that’s well over 7,000 yards. While it’s on the longer side, the course is not particularly challenging or interesting. We’ve seen some players threaten the magic round of 59 here in recent years and there will be more low-60s rounds again this year. That gives a player near the bottom of the standings an opportunity to be rewarded with a massive jump if he gets hot.

Deutsche Bank Championship Results and Highlights

This incredible 2015 run of ascendant stars winning the top events continued in Boston, where Rickie Fowler picked up his third title of the season. Fowler fell behind Henrik Stenson by as much as three shots on the back nine on Monday, but pulled off the chase down to win by one on the 18th green. Fowler bombed in a putt at the 14th green that ignited the charge and then took advantage of Stenson dunking one in the water on the par-3 16th.

Fowler is already one of the most valued pitchmen off the course, but now with this FedExCup event win and his Players win back in May, he’s banking loads of winner’s cash too.

Rory McIlroy returned and promptly admitted that even he’s sick of his stupid watch commercial.

Jordan Spieth was terrible yet again, but he got his No. 1 world ranking back ... for one more week.

The BMW Championship is a descendant of the old Western Open, one of the Tour’s most important events in its early history. That used to jump around different venues in the Midwest, mostly in the Chicago area. The BMW set up residence in the Chicagoland area as well, playing at Cog Hill in four of its first five years. But this event, which started with the FEC in 2007, is now moving around a bit more, going to Crooked Stick in Indianapolis three years ago and Cherry Hills in Denver last year (it’s headed to Indy again next year).

This year, the BMW is back in Chicago at Conway Farms, where Jim Furyk posted the sixth round of 59 in PGA Tour history the first time they played this track two years ago. Conway Farms is a relatively new club and was completely new to the PGA Tour in 2013. With just 70 players in the field, there’s no cut at this limited-field third leg of the postseason. But this is the round with the largest chop in the playoffs, sending 40 more players home before the finale.

BMW Championship Results and Highlights

Jason Day happened. The Aussie won his second FedExCup events and his fourth PGA Tour event in his last six starts. Day matched a 36-hole scoring record and got to 18-under by Friday night, which made it academic on the weekend. He cleaned up Sunday and cruised to the title to become the new No. 1 player in the world.

Jordan Spieth’s miserable FedExCup run ended on Thursday, when he recored his second ever Tour ace.

After a rain delay, Day came back Friday morning with one chip shot at 59...which he didn’t even know he was chasing.

Rickie Fowler had another strong week, aided by this incredibly lucky ricochet off Spieth’s ball.

Fabian Gomez lofted a shot from the carpet of a hospitality bar and through a few rows of grandstand seats.

The TOUR Championship started in 1987 as an offseason game for the top 30 money winners from the season. It rotated around the country and was usually later in the fall in November. But since the start of the FedExCup, it’s been the main event of the postseason and held at historic East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

While it does not have the prestige or cache of a major, it is the most exclusive event of the PGA Tour season. It’s the smallest field of the year. Just getting through and becoming one of the final 30 triggers a ton of exemptions for the following season, including an invite to the majors. And the cash on the line is outrageous -- there’s an $8.25 million purse, which is already one of the largest in the world, but there’s also that $10 million grand prize and a river of bonus money for everyone else.

The TOUR Championship is also different from the preceding playoff events because all the points accrued all season and during the first three legs reset (totals listed below). The top five in the standings all “control their own destiny” and automatically win the overall FedExCup with a Tour Championship win. So you’ll hear a lot about the importance of getting into the top 5 by Atlanta over the month of September. The reset definitely changes the dynamic of the entire playoffs, for better or worse.

More than anything else unique about these playoffs, the FedExCup has come to be known for the amount of money just dumped into these players’ pockets. The purses are all extremely deep at $8.25 million (only the majors, WGCs, and Players are higher). On top of those purses at each event, the bonus cash around the playoffs is absurd. The winner gets that $10 million windfall, which is well-publicized and even makes the caddie an instant millionaire. But everyone in the top five of the final standings walks away with seven figures.

Those large sums might not even be the craziest part of the bonus pool: there are 25 guys who don’t even qualify who still get $32,000 just for coming close. The 150th ranked player in the final regular season standings gets that for being just OK or below average and not teeing it up in a single playoffs event. Here’s the bonus money breakdown:

So. Much. Cash.

The first three events can put a player in a position to win but it really all comes down to Atlanta and that final event for crowning the overall winner. The points earned all season and through the first three legs are wiped out for the finale. It’s how you end up with a guy like Rory McIlroy, who won two of four FedExCup events in 2012, losing the overall postseason title to Brandt Snedeker, who accrued enough points with solid results to get in a top 5 position for the final but did not win one until Atlanta. The reset totals and points awarded this year are reduced slightly. Here are those updated totals for the last 30 going to East Lake for the final weekend of September:

Making it to the Tour Championship triggers a set of coveted exemptions for the following year, including an invite to the Masters. Once there, it’s all about that bonus cash.

Jordan Spieth did not need the money, but winning the season’s final tournament will earn him $11.5 million in one day and complete a $22 million year. He set a new single season money earnings mark, with just over $12 million in on-course cash earned. He then captured the $10 million FedExCup bonus prize and become the youngest FedExCup winner. It has not been a particularly good postseason for Spieth, but he posted his best rounds at the right time in the most important event. He started the week inside the top 5 with that “control your own destiny card” and finally jumped ahead of Henrik Stenson on the 18th hole Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday, he shut it down early and cruised through the day with a multi-shot cushion. It was a fitting end, the Player of the Year and No. 1 in the world rankings taking the playoffs. Here are your final FedExCup standings for the 2015 season:

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