A 2026 PGA Tour season that began in mid-January has reached its conclusion with the Tour Championship. The tournament begins on Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, and whoever wins will also be the 2026 FedEx Cup champion. This 30-man field consists of only those highest up the FedEx Cup standings, and this is a no-cut event.
Here are the top things to know about the 2026 Tour Championship.
What’s at Stake?
The Tour Championship offers the biggest purse of any PGA Tour event, surpassing that of any major or the Players Championship. The total purse is $40 million, with the victor receiving $10 million, in addition to a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour. The runner-up will walk away with $5 million, which is still more than the winner at any Grand Slam event. Whoever finishes in last—30th place—will receive $355,000.
The Course
East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta’s oldest golf course, has been around since 1904. It has hosted the Tour Championship continuously since 2004, and this will be the 26th time it hosts the event.
A par-70, 7,490-yard course, it is one of the 10 longest in use during the 2026 PGA Tour season. Fairways surrounded by thick rough place a premium on driving accuracy, but unlike many other Donald Ross designs, East Lake is relatively simple on the green. Low scores won’t be an issue in Atlanta this week, as all 30 golfers from last year’s edition shot at least 4-under-par, with the winner at 18-under.
The Contenders
Tommy Fleetwood was that 18-under winner a year ago as his first PGA Tour victory came en route to winning the 2026 FedEx Cup Playoffs. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler won in 2024 and is atop the FedEx Cup standings for the fifth straight year. Others in the field who are past FedEx Cup champions include Victor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, and Xander Schauffele, but just one of the 30 competitors is a multi-time champion.
Rory McIlroy has three FedEx Cup championships to his name, and another would give him the most outright titles. He’s tied with Tiger Woods at three wins, with Phil Mickelson (two) the only other person with multiple FedEx Cup titles.
The Newcomers
Six of the 30-man field are making their first ever appearances in the Tour Championship. They include PGA Tour veterans Ryan Gerard, Min Woo Lee, Alex Smalley, and Ryan Fox. Those four are joined by the only two PGA Tour rookies who advanced to the Tour Championship: Alex Fitzpatrick and Kristoffer Reitan. The latter won the Truist Championship in May for his first and only tour victory, while Fitzpatrick is the younger brother of Matt Fitzpatrick, and the brothers teamed up to win the Zurich Classic in April.
Who’s Not Here?
While just about all of the top players on the PGA Tour made the 30-man cut, several notables did not. Rickie Fowler was in the top 30 until last week’s tournament, the BMW Championship, bumped him out, while PGA champion Aaron Rai is the top ranked player who also isn’t in the field. Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, and Justin Thomas are other big names not in the field, as are all LIV golfers, such as Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau.
Player of the Year?
With different winners for each of the four majors, and with three golfers all having a season-high three wins on tour, there is no clear leader in the clubhouse to be named the PGA Tour Player of the Year. Thus, the Tour Championship carries lots of weight in that regard, and if the winner is someone who falls into one of those aforementioned categories, then he will be on the inside track to win the season-ending award.
Scheffler has won the award four straight years but has no majors and just two PGA Tour victories this year. Over the 19-year history of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the Tour Championship winner has also been the Player of the Year nine times.
The End
While the Tour Championship ends the PGA Tour season, it’s not the end of golf in 2026. The last big event after the Tour Championship in 2026 is the Presidents Cup, from Sept. 24-27. This is the biennial tournament which pits the top American golfers versus the top international golfers, outside of Europeans. The 2026 Presidents Cup will take place at Medinah Country Club, just outside of Chicago, with Team United States having dominated this competition. The U.S. has won it 10 straight times and 13 of the 15 editions of it, including the last one in 2024.
The top six Americans currently in FedEx Cup standings have automatically qualified for the 12-man Presidents Cup team. The other six selections will be picked by team captain Brandt Snedeker. With the Tour Championship being the last event before the Presidents Cup, player performance will play a big part in whom Snedeker chooses—as well as who Team International captain Geoff Ogilvy chooses—so there’s certainly incentives for the Tour Championship outside of just becoming FedEx Cup champion.
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