2026-04-08
FedEx Cup Pool Format Guide: How to Run a Playoff Pool (2026)
The FedEx Cup playoffs are three weeks of shrinking fields, higher stakes, and a staggered start that makes Tour Championship scoring weird. They're also the second-best window of the golf season for running a pool with friends — the audience is still locked in, the storylines are tighter than a regular Tour event, and the season-long arc gives you something to crown at the end.
Here's how to run a playoff pool that actually rewards skill, sidesteps the Tour Championship scoring quirk, and produces a season-long winner without a 40-tab spreadsheet.
The structure of a FedEx Cup pool
The simplest playoff pool is three sub-pools — one for each playoff event — with combined scoring across all three to determine a season-long winner.
- Week 1 — FedEx St. Jude Championship. 70 players. Field is still wide enough that tier drafts work normally. Run a standard tier-draft Pick-5 pool.
- Week 2 — BMW Championship. 50 players, no cut. The smaller field makes tier limits more important — you don't want every entry picking the same five.
- Week 3 — Tour Championship. 30 players, no cut, staggered starting strokes. This week is where the format gets weird. Decide in advance whether you score with starting strokes (PGA Tour's actual method) or raw stroke totals (most pool tools, including Cut Line Club).
The staggered-start problem
The Tour Championship gives the FedEx Cup leader a 10-stroke head start, second place 8 strokes, and so on down to even par for everyone outside the top 30. The PGA Tour scores the tournament with these starting strokes baked in — but most pool tools score from raw stroke totals. That gap can flip the season standings.
Three ways to handle it:
- Use raw stroke totals. Simplest. The starting strokes are ignored, the lowest 4-round combined to-par wins the week. Cut Line Club does this by default.
- Adjust manually for starting strokes. Apply the 10/8/7/6/5/etc. starting strokes per the PGA Tour's published table after round 4. More accurate but more work.
- Score finish position instead of strokes. Award points for top-N finishes instead of using stroke totals. Avoids the staggered-start question entirely.
Pick one before the FedEx St. Jude tees off. The worst possible outcome is changing methods after week 2 because someone's losing.
Combining the three weeks into a season winner
Two reasonable approaches:
- Combined to-par across all three events. Lowest total to-par across 12 rounds wins. Simple, transparent, compounds week over week.
- Points per event. Award 100 points for 1st, 80 for 2nd, etc. Easier to communicate week-by-week standings but harder to do tiebreakers.
Some groups weight the Tour Championship double, since it's the season finale. That's a defensible choice — just decide before week 1.
Run it on Cut Line Club
Cut Line Club is currently set up per-event — one club, one tournament. The simplest playoff workflow is three separate clubs (one each for the FedEx St. Jude, BMW Championship, and Tour Championship) with the same group of friends. After week 3, sum the to-par totals across all three clubs and crown the season winner.
We don't currently have a built-in “season-long” mode that combines clubs automatically — that's on the roadmap. For now, three clubs + one shared spreadsheet for the final tally is the cleanest path.
FAQ
How does a FedEx Cup playoff pool work?
Most playoff pools run as three separate sub-pools — one for each playoff event (FedEx St. Jude, BMW Championship, Tour Championship) — with combined scoring across all three to determine a season winner. Some groups run a single one-and-done style pool instead, picking one golfer per week.
How do the shrinking fields change pool strategy?
The FedEx St. Jude has a 70-player field, the BMW has 50, and the Tour Championship has 30. Tier limits matter more in smaller fields because you have fewer differentiators. By the Tour Championship, every entry will look similar — that's where last-week tiebreakers usually decide the season.
Does the Tour Championship's staggered start affect pool scoring?
Yes. The Tour Championship gives the FedEx Cup leader a 10-stroke head start, the second-place player 8 strokes, and so on. PGA Tour scoring uses these starting strokes; most pool tools (including Cut Line Club) score from raw stroke totals instead. Decide which one your pool uses before round 1 — and write it down.
Can the Tour Championship have a cut?
No. The Tour Championship has no cut. The cut penalty is irrelevant for that event, so use a no-cut-penalty format like Skip the Cut or Final Stretch — or just expect every golfer to play all four rounds.
How do you score a season-long playoff pool?
The cleanest method is total to-par across all three events combined, lower is better. Some pools weight events differently (e.g., Tour Championship counts double). Whatever you pick, write it down before the FedEx St. Jude tees off — once people see the standings, you can't change the rules.
Cut Line Club is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the PGA Tour or FedEx. “FedEx Cup” and “Tour Championship” are trademarks of the PGA Tour and FedEx Corporation.