Is FedEx making final deliveries on PGA Tour?
Umbrella sponsorship ends after 2027: what's next? Playoff makers/missers; LIV drama
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The FedEx brand has been ubiqitous on the PGA Tour for 20 years (Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
No matter the opinions on the various forms of the FedEx Cup playoffs over the past two decades, there is no argument about the system’s ability to put large sums of cash — some of it deferred — into the accounts of PGA Tour players.
From its start in 2007 with $35 million in bonus money (including a whopping $10 million to the winner of the season-long series, which was claimed that year by Tiger Woods) to today’s $100 million outlay (which includes $10 million to the winner of the Tour Championship in two weeks as well as some $24 million in bonus money to be paid to the leader in points after the BMW Championship), the shipping and packaging company sponsorship has been incredibly rewarding to players if not so satisfying to fans.
The tweaks and alterations to the format over the years have been many, resulting in a system now that will see for the second time a regular 72-hole event played at East Lake in Atlanta to decide the FedEx Cup champion as well as the winner of the Tour Championship.
Also in today’s DD …
Michael Brennan wins Wyndham to make playoffs; notables fall short
Asterisk Talley finally notches an amateur ‘major’
Joaquin Niemann’s ninth LIV win only small piece of Bedminster drama
Brooks Koepka has some harsh words … for himself
Remarkable streak comes to an end for Jason Day
Basically, if a player just gets inside the top 30 and makes it to East Lake he has an equal opportunity to win the entire thing, regardless of how he got there or how far behind Scottie Scheffler he is as the start of the week.
That’s a difference from prior to 2025 when points always carried over and were reset for the Tour Championship in some fashion — sometimes to the confusion of those watching at home.
All of this promises to be different in 2028 when a new PGA Tour model will be unveiled.
Will FedEx still be a part of it?
The company’s deal as the umbrella sponsor of the PGA Tour is up after next year, and it has already been decided that the FedEx St. Jude Championship — which kicks off the FedEx Cup playoffs this week in Memphis, Tenn. — will not be a Championship Series event in 2028.
That leaves a lot of questions about the sponsor’s future on the PGA Tour and if it will lavish players with continued bonus riches.
“They’ve been an amazing partner,” said PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp at a news conference in June in which unveiled an outline of the new tour-tiered Championship and Challenger Series. “The PGA Tour is blessed to have tremendous corporate support. This system is really designed to bring more value to our partners.
“The details of how all of our commercial agreements will work, we’re going to work that out. But our hope is to create more value for FedEx and everybody else. We’re in an existing contract, and we’re going to honor that.”
FedEx branding — which couldn’t be missed anywhere as part of every PGA Tour event over the past 20 years — was noticeably absent at Rolapp’s March news conference before the Players Championship as well as in June at the Travelers Championship.
While it certainly makes sense that the PGA Tour would want to continue engagement with its longtime sponsor, it can’t help that the tour confirmed that the playoff event in FedEx’s corporate hometown of Memphis would not be part of the Championship Series schedule starting in 2028 when the company appeared willing to do so.
That suggests that tour is not having difficulty finding the 15 or so sponsors it needs to round out the Championship Series lineup as well as its playoff system. It has already announced events such as the Sentry at Torrey Pines, the Travelers Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Cadillac Championship and a new event sponsored by Sompo, a Japanese insurance company.
“FedEx has been a wonderful partner since 1986, with our relationship evolving and innovating over the years,” the tour said in a statement. “As we prepare for the FedEx St. Jude Championship … and again in 2027, we remain in close conversation about the future of our partnership. …
“As we implement a new competitive model and map out our schedule for 2028 and beyond, we believe Memphis is well-positioned to remain part of the PGA Tour. TPC Southwind is a premier venue in our TPC Network and remains an important asset to the tour. We look forward to sharing more as plans take shape.”
The TPC affiliation would suggest the tour wants to keep a tournament in Memphis. But it appears it would be headed for the Challenger Series, and so far none of those have been announced.
The FedEx event used to be played in June and moved to August as a World Golf Championship tournament in 2021. A year later, it became one of three FedEx Cup playoff events, and while giving the big sugar daddy sponsor what it wanted was understandable, it never made sense to play in sweltering Memphis at this time of year.
It’s one of the reasons the playoff format, at times, has dragged. Players sometimes appear to be going through the motions. The week after Memphis, the tour goes to steamy St. Louis for the BMW Championship followed by the Tour Championship at another sauna, Atlanta. It’s why there is talk of revamping the playoff format with new venues likely in less oppressively hot places in August such as the west coast.
Undoubtedly this is just one of many future tournament issues to be resolved.
Michael Brennan closes the deal and makes playoffs with Wyndham win (Caleb Bowlin/Getty Images)
Onto the postseason stretch
Michael Brennan, who won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday, is the only player who moved into the top 70 at the regular-season finale, thus qualifying for this week’s first playoff event in Memphis.
The FedEx St. Jude Championship is for the top 70 in points — although Daniel Berger is not entered, thus the field will be only 69 players. Steven Fisk got bumped out of the top 70 to 71st and Beau Hossler, who finished runner-up, climbed only to 72nd. Jackson Koivun held onto the 70th spot, with the rookie qualifying despite only five official professional starts on tour.
Despite concerns he would skip for the second year in a row, Rory McIlroy is in the Memphis field which is led by the top points earner, Scottie Scheffler. The player who has the most points through next week’s BMW Championship earns a $24 million FedEx bonus.
