Cantlay "19.6 Billion Won Jackpot Only at PO"..."How Will the Bonus Be Shared?"

Regular Season Wyndham Reward $10 Million, PO Games 1 and 2 Total Prize $9.5 Million Each, Final Game 3 Winner Takes $15 Million Jackpot

U.S. Professional Golf Tour Playoff (PO) FedEx Cup

[Asia Economy Kim Hyun-jun, Golf Specialist Reporter] "An $89 million (102.8 billion KRW) money feast."

This is about the PGA Tour Playoffs (PO). It was introduced in 2007, inspired by the idea from professional baseball playoffs to prevent world stars from skipping the tour at the end of the season. From the beginning, to entice players, a total prize money of $35 million (4.04 billion KRW) was allocated across four tournaments, with an additional $35 million (4.04 billion KRW) bonus based on final rankings, including $10 million (1.16 billion KRW) for the first place, pouring a total of $70 million (8.08 billion KRW).

In 2019, the scale was increased. The 'Wyndham Rewards' of $10 million (1.16 billion KRW) is first distributed among 10 players based on regular season PO points, with $2 million for first place. The PO was condensed into three tournaments, with the first and second events each having a total prize money of $9.5 million (1.1 billion KRW). The third event, the Tour Championship, has no separate prize money but offers $60 million (6.93 billion KRW), including $15 million (1.73 billion KRW) for first place. The third event especially applies a 'stroke bonus' such as 10-under par for the number one seed. This means higher seeds have an advantage.

This was to solve the problem of winners and PO champions being different. In fact, in 2017, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas, and in 2018, Tiger Woods (USA) and Justin Rose (England) were different winners of the Tour Championship and PO, causing concern. Through advantages such as 2nd place 8-under par, 3rd place 7-under par, 4th place 6-under par, 5th place 5-under par, 6th to 10th place 4-under par, 11th to 15th place 3-under par, 16th to 20th place 2-under par, 21st to 25th place 1-under par, and 26th to 30th place even par, the PO champion is directly decided at the Tour Championship.

Patrick Cantlay is taking a commemorative photo after becoming the 'PO Champ' at the Tour Championship. Atlanta, USA - Photo by Getty Images/Multibits

This year as well, based on PO points (500 points for a regular tournament win, 550 points for World Golf Championships (WGC) series, 600 points for majors), 125 players started at the first event Northern Trust, 70 at the second event BMW Championship, and only 30 players competed in the third event Tour Championship, which ended on the 6th, making it a 'survival game.' The PO first and second event winning points are 2000 points, so PO performance is naturally important. Tony Finau topped the Northern Trust, and Patrick Cantlay (both USA) secured the number one seed by winning the BMW Championship.

It is interesting that Cantlay sat on a 'money cushion' of $16.91 million (1.96 billion KRW) from PO alone, including $200,000 for tied 11th place at the first event, $1.71 million for winning the second event, and the '$15 million jackpot.' Second place Jon Rahm (Spain) also earned more than double the regular tour winning prize money with $5 million (580 million KRW). Third place earned $4 million (460 million KRW), fourth place $3 million (350 million KRW), and fifth place $2.5 million (290 million KRW). The $60 million bonus is evenly distributed among 150 players, including $70,000 (81 million KRW) for those ranked 126th to 150th who did not enter the first event.

PO Final Ranking 'Top 30' Bonus

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.