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Tour Championship 2019: 5 golfers outside top 5 that could win FedEx Cup

By Cody Williams

MEDINAH, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 17: Xander Schauffele of the United States plays his shot from the fourth tee during the third round of the BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club No. 3 on August 17, 2019 in Medinah, Illinois. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
MEDINAH, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 17: Xander Schauffele of the United States plays his shot from the fourth tee during the third round of the BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club No. 3 on August 17, 2019 in Medinah, Illinois. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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The Tour Championship is introducing a new handicapped format to determine the FedEx Cup champion but which dark horses could make a run to win?

Golf fans that enjoyed Steve Sands and his whiteboard at the Tour Championship as he tried to figure out the updating leaderboard for the FedEx Cup are going to be sorely disappointed. As the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings head to East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta for the 2019 Tour Championship, things are going to be simpler in regards to determining a champion.

For the first time, the final tournament of the PGA Tour season will be handicapped based on the standings to this point. The leader in the FedEx Cup standings, Justin Thomas after his win at the BMW Championship, will start the 2019 Tour Championship at 10-under and with a two-shot lead.

Beyond Thomas at the top, the rest of the field is handicapped accordingly. Patrick Cantlay, in second place in the standings, will start at 8-under. Next is Brooks Koepka at 7-under, Patrick Reed at 6-under and Rory McIlroy at 5-under. The rest of the field is slotted into five separate five-golfer blocks that will start at 4-under, 3-under, 2-under, 1-under and ever-par.

While this is a novel format for the PGA Tour, it does seemingly put players that aren’t in the top five entering the Tour Championship at a severe disadvantage — which is kind of the point. However, one week after Thomas fired off a 61 in the third round to establish his dominance at the BMW, it’s clear that any of the top 30 players from this season could go low and get right in the mix to win.

Setting the top five players aside, let’s take a look at the rest of the field and select five of the additional 25 golfers that have what it takes to storm up the handicapped leaderboard and win the 2019 Tour Championship and, ultimately, the $15 million prize of capturing the FedEx Cup.

Note: All stats are courtesy of PGATour.com.

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