FedEx Cup Points 2021: Explaining Distribution and Standings

The 2021 FedEx Cup playoffs begin Thursday with the Northern Trust at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey.

The tournament is the first of three over a three-week span that will determine the PGA Tour champion for the 2020-21 season, which began in September.

One hundred and twenty-five golfers will converge on Liberty National Golf Club. The players at the top of the standings are more likely to survive the two rounds of cuts. The field gets trimmed from 125 to 70 for the BMW Championship and then the top 35 players qualify for The Tour Championship.

FedEx Cup Standings

1. Collin Morikawa: 2,171 points

2. Jordan Spieth: 2,139

3. Patrick Cantlay: 2,056

4. Harris English: 2,039

5. Jon Rahm: 2,003

6. Abraham Ancer: 1,926

7. Bryson DeChambeau: 1,910

8. Louis Oosthuizen: 1,877

9. Justin Thomas: 1,759

10. Sam Burns: 1,721

Full FedEx Cup standings can be found on PGATour.com.

The points system within the FedEx Cup playoffs works differently than the regular season.

The winners of the Northern Trust and BMW Championship receive 2,000 FedEx Cup points, which is four times the amount earned for a regular-season victory.

The second-place finisher receives 1,200 points, third place is worth 760 points, fourth carries 540 points and fifth is worth 440 points. The full FedEx Cup points breakdown can be found here.

Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth and the other golfers on top of the FedEx Cup standings have a bit more wiggle room on the leaderboard for the first playoff tournament. Those golfers do not need to win the competition. As long as they finish in a reasonable position, they will make the cut to advance to the BMW Championship.

The real drama at the Northern Trust comes on the cut line for 70th place. J.T. Poston is 70th with Bubba Watson, Harold Varner III, Seamus Power, Brandon Hagy and Andrew Putnam directly beneath him.

PGATour.com broke down the scenarios for Watson and every golfer from 71st to 125th on the projected finish they will need to ensure a spot at the BMW Championship.

Of course, a victory changes everything in the bubble picture and would allow any golfer in the bottom tier of the rankings to move on to next week's competition. However, it could be hard for any of the bubble golfers to win the Northern Trust since it has typically been won by the game's top stars.

Dustin Johnson has two victories in the past four years, including last year's event at TPC Boston. Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau won in the two years between Johnson's triumphs.

The FedEx Cup leaders see the winning points total as valuable as well since the top 30 players start on different levels at the Tour Championship. The leader after the BMW Championship begins the final event of the season at 10 under. If Morikawa, Spieth or any of the top players win in the next two weeks, they would enter East Lake in Atlanta with a valuable edge.