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The PGA Tour regular season is coming to a close, bringing with it the excitement of the FedEx Cup playoff that culminates in the TOUR Championship

By BRENDAN BARRATT

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The Women’s Open tees off at Royal Porthcawl

It’s been 20 years since the FedEx Cup was launched and the season-ending series has been through numerous iterations to get to this point. What hasn’t changed is that it remains the biggest cash prize in all of golf, with the PGA Tour’s TOUR Championship being the cherry on the cake.

At the conclusion of the regular season, the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings qualify to play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, a series of three events with nearly $100 million in bonus prizemoney at stake.

For those who finish the season inside the top 30 and qualify for the Tour Championship, it gets even better – playing a no-cut finale for a purse of $40 million, with the FedEx Cup Champion taking home $10 million.

So how did our South African players fare in the 2025/26 PGA Tour season?

(as at July 30)

Aldrich Potgieter

Rating:

B

Potgieter started the 2026 season as a player to watch. In 2025, the big-hitting youngster had won his maiden title in his rookie season on the PGA Tour and was set to press on as the next Major hope for South African golfers.

A big decision at the start of the year to switch equipment brands arguably slowed his progress, yet, at the time of publication, he had put together a reasonable season and was on the cusp of qualifying for the FedEx Cup playoffs.

The season was certainly an up and down one. Nine cuts made in 18 starts is an area he can improve, but Potgieter has always been more of a highlights reel than a season-long show. His two top 10s and some handy performances towards the end of the season saw him rake in almost $2 million in prize money.

Potgieter sits atop the driving distances on the PGA, averaging over 300 metres per drive and ahead of the likes of Rory McIlroy and Marco Penge. This includes a longest drive of 402 yards in the second round of the Canadian Open.

With the good comes the bad, and Potgieter’s driving accuracy of a scratch over 50 percent leaves him a couple of spots off the bottom in this regard.

Rating: B

A satisfactory season for Potgieter, particularly given the equipment change at the start of the season. Expect a big year from him 2027.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout

Rating:

C-

HOW IT WORKS

The PGA Tour FedExCup Playoffs is a three-event, post-season series featuring a progressive reduction in the field, culminating in The Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta to determine the 2026 FedExCup champion.

The FedExCup Playoffs begin with a field of 70 (on FedExCup standings after the Wyndham Championship on August 6-9) for the FedEx St. Jude Championship, is then reduced to 50 for the BMW Championship, and then 30 for the TOUR Championship, where the FedExCup Champion will be determined. There are no cuts in FedExCup Playoffs events.

PGA Tour FedExCup Playoffs Schedule
FedEx St. Jude Championship:
August 13-16
TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee – Top 70 players

BMW Championship: August 20-23
Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis, Missouri – Top 50 players

Tour Championship: August 26-30
East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia – Top 30 players

Points structure
Regular-season PGA Tour events award 500 FedExCup points to the winner.

The first two Playoffs events award 750 points to the winner (matching that of the majors and The Players Championship).

The TOUR Championship will be played as a 72-hole stroke-play event, with all players starting the tournament at even par.

TOUR Championship
At the TOUR Championship, the player with the lowest stroke total over the 72 holes will win the FedExCup, be credited with an official victory at the TOUR Championship, earn a bonus of $10 million, and receive a five-year PGA TOUR exemption.

Players compete for a $40 million purse at the TOUR Championship that is considered Official Money, separate from the nearly $100 million in FedExCup Bonus Money.

It’s hard to put a finger on exactly where it is going wrong for Bezuidenhout, who has slipped from a FedEx Cup ranking of 29th in 2024 to 78th in 2025 and down to 91st this year.

While he will likely do just enough to keep his card for next season, he will need to arrest the slide in order to get his career back on track. With only three cuts missed all season, Bezuidenhout is clearly doing a lot right, but rankings of 132nd in strokes gained off the tee and third in putting tell their own story.

He also went a remarkable 317 holes without a three-putt until the 7th on the second round of the 3M Open on July 24.

A tie for 35th in the PGA Championship represented the former SA Open winner’s only appearance in a Major this year, yet he still did enough over the season to bank a healthy $1 046 408.

Rating: C–
A frustrating season for a player who has the game and the temperament to be a regular in the world’s top 50.

145

Erik van Rooyen

Rating:

d

2026 has been a difficult year for Van Rooyen and it looks likely that he will lose his card for 2027. Eight cuts made out of 18 starts makes for tough reading, but Van Rooyen is a two-time PGA Tour winner so he will know that he has what it takes to get back amongst the world’s best players.

Rating: D

A season to forget for Van Rooyen, who will now face some difficult choices about where to play next season.

157

Garrick Higgo

Rating:

d

For a player who won as recently as last season and ended 2025 ranked 54^th in the FedEx Cup, Higgo’s slide has been hard to watch. Claiming just one top-25 finish this year, the left-hander missed more cuts than he made, including a bizarre one in the PGA Championship, where he was awarded a two-stroke penalty for being late to his tee time.

Fortunately for Higgo, his 2025 win in the Corales Puntacana Championship ensures he has playing rights on the PGA Tour until the end of next season, so there is plenty of time to get things back on track.

A ranking of 152^nd (out of 156) in Greens in Regulation and 76^th in overall putting seem like an obvious place to start for the talented two-time PGA Tour winner who banked only $311, 598 this year.

Rating: D

Although the year has been a bit of a write-off, Higgo should have renewed focus in 2027, having learned some valuable lessons from a tough year. Expect him to bounce back.

199

Christo Lamprecht

Rating:

E

It has been a disaster of a rookie season for Christo Lamprecht, who has struggled to record only five cuts in 16 events – with a best finish of T48.

Lamprecht earned his card via the Korn Ferry Tour and it looks likely he will need to do so again next year, unless he switches his attention to the DP World Tour. The former world No 1-ranked amateur has real pedigree and will have learned an awful lot through this season’s struggles.

Hopefully some time off will fix the swing kinks and see Lamprecht get back to his rightful place among the world’s best.

Rating: E

While the results were disastrous, the experience gained will be invaluable for one of South Africa’s brightest young talents. Expect a comeback in 2027.

HOW IT WORKS

PGA Tour FedExCup Playoffs Schedule
FedEx St. Jude Championship:
August 13-16
TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee – Top 70 players

BMW Championship: August 20-23
Bellerive Country Club, St. Louis, Missouri – Top 50 players

Tour Championship: August 26-30
East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, Georgia – Top 30 players

Points structure
Regular-season PGA Tour events award 500 FedExCup points to the winner.

The first two Playoffs events award 750 points to the winner (matching that of the majors and The Players Championship).

The TOUR Championship will be played as a 72-hole stroke-play event, with all players starting the tournament at even par.

Players compete for a $40 million purse at the TOUR Championship that is considered Official Money, separate from the nearly $100 million in FedExCup Bonus Money.

TROY WINFIELD | TYRONE WINFIELD | CARL FOURIE | SUNSHINE TOUR

07/31/2026 05:52:54