PGA Tour postseason begins as U.S. Amateur returns to historic Merion

 PGA Tour postseason begins as U.S. Amateur returns to historic Merion

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The PGA Tour postseason begins this week with the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind, while the U.S. Amateur returns to Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania for a tournament packed with history and future opportunities.

The FedEx St. Jude Championship features the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings competing for a $20 million purse, with $3.6 million going to the winner. Scottie Scheffler enters the postseason as the No. 1 seed for the third consecutive season.

Scheffler will be joined by Rory McIlroy, who returns to the event after skipping last year’s tournament. McIlroy and Brian Harman have the longest active streaks of reaching the PGA Tour postseason, with both making it for the 15th consecutive year.

Justin Rose is the defending champion, while Michael Brennan arrives as one of the most notable newcomers after winning last week’s Wyndham Championship to secure his place in the playoffs.

Brennan is among 11 players making their first postseason appearance.

The stakes extend beyond the $20 million purse. The top 50 players who advance from the FedEx St. Jude Championship will qualify for all of the PGA Tour’s $20 million signature events next season.

Jason Day, meanwhile, will miss the postseason for the first time in his career.

The tournament has also developed a reputation for dramatic finishes. Three of the last four St. Jude Championships have been decided in playoffs.

U.S. Amateur returns to Merion

While the PGA Tour begins its postseason in Memphis, the U.S. Amateur returns to one of the most historic venues in American golf.

Merion Golf Club’s East Course in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, will host the championship for a record seventh time. The tournament has previously been played at Merion six times, with the latest edition coming in 2005, when Italy’s Edoardo Molinari won the title.

Defending champion Mason Howell returns after defeating Jackson Herrington 7 and 6 at The Olympic Club last year. Howell was entering his senior year of high school when he captured the championship and is now beginning his freshman year at Georgia.

The U.S. Amateur winner earns exemptions into the U.S. Open, Masters and British Open, provided the player maintains amateur status. The runner-up receives invitations to the Masters and U.S. Open.

Preston Stout, ranked the No. 1 amateur in the world, is among the players expected to challenge for the championship.

Tiger Woods remains the benchmark for the event. He is the last player to win consecutive U.S. Amateur titles and won the championship a record three times in a row.

The championship begins with 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying, with Philadelphia Country Club also being used before the field is reduced to 64 players for match play.

LPGA Tour and European Tour action

The LPGA Tour heads to Oregon for the Standard Portland Classic at Columbia-Edgewater Country Club. The tournament carries a $2 million purse, with $300,000 going to the winner.

Aki Iwai is the defending champion, while Nelly Korda leads the Race to CME Globe but is not playing this week. Lexi Thompson is in the field for her first individual tournament in three months.

The European tour returns to action in Denmark for the Danish Golf Championship at Great Northern. Marco Penge is the defending champion, while Patrick Reed leads the Race to Dubai.

Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson and Caleb Surratt are also in the field after competing in LIV Golf New York last week.

On the PGA Tour Champions, Stewart Cink leads the Charles Schwab Cup heading into the Boeing Classic in Washington. Cink and Zach Johnson have each won four times this season, although Johnson is taking the week off after winning the Portugal Invitational.

Meanwhile, LIV Golf is heading toward its season finale, with Joaquin Niemann coming off his victory in New York and Jon Rahm leading the points standings.

With the PGA Tour postseason underway and the U.S. Amateur returning to Merion, this week’s schedule brings together established stars, emerging professionals and the next generation of golf talent.

Analysis: PGA Tour postseason raises the stakes as golf’s next generation takes center stage at Merion

The PGA Tour postseason begins this week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, but the wider story across professional golf is bigger than one tournament. The opening playoff event in Memphis and the U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club represent two very different stages of the sport, yet both are built around the same idea: opportunity.

For established PGA Tour stars, the FedExCup playoffs are about converting a long regular season into a championship run. For amateurs at Merion, the U.S. Amateur is about earning a pathway toward professional golf’s biggest stages. Together, the tournaments provide a snapshot of where the sport stands — with its biggest stars competing for millions while its next generation competes for exemptions that could shape their careers.

The FedEx St. Jude Championship is particularly important because the postseason format places enormous value on finishing among the top 50. The 70 players who qualified for the playoffs earned their place through the regular season, but only 50 will move on after Memphis. Golf Channel reported that the final playoff field includes 69 players because Daniel Berger, ranked No. 60, did not enter. 

That creates an unusual pressure for players who are not among the favorites.

Scottie Scheffler enters as the No. 1 seed, giving him the strongest starting position in the FedExCup standings. He is also widely viewed as the player to beat in Memphis.  But the playoff structure means that simply being among the favorites is not enough. Players must perform immediately because the field will be reduced after the opening event.

Scheffler’s position is also symbolic. The world’s elite have spent months accumulating FedExCup points, but the postseason offers them another chance to separate themselves. A poor week can change the complexion of the playoff race, while a victory can dramatically strengthen a player’s position heading toward the BMW Championship and ultimately the season finale.

Rory McIlroy provides another major storyline. His return to the St. Jude Championship after skipping the tournament last year adds star power to an event that already features many of the PGA Tour’s leading players. McIlroy and Brian Harman are making their 15th consecutive postseason appearances, an indication of remarkable consistency over more than a decade.

But perhaps the most interesting story is Michael Brennan.

Brennan entered the postseason after winning the Wyndham Championship, a victory that transformed his position in the FedExCup standings. Reuters reported that the 24-year-old jumped to No. 47 after his breakthrough victory and earned an invitation to the 2027 Masters. 

That is why the FedExCup system can be so compelling. A player who was outside the playoff picture can suddenly become one of the central figures in the postseason. Brennan is not entering Memphis with the same reputation as Scheffler or McIlroy, but his recent form gives him an opportunity to prove that his Wyndham victory was more than a single-week breakthrough.

His story also illustrates the value of timing. Winning late in the season does not simply provide a trophy and prize money. It can change a player’s schedule, confidence, ranking and access to major championships.

The absence of Jason Day is another reminder of how unforgiving the modern PGA Tour can be. Day’s failure to qualify for the postseason for the first time in his career represents a significant change for a former major champion and world No. 1. It demonstrates that reputation cannot protect a player from the consequences of an inconsistent season.

The FedEx St. Jude Championship therefore has two competing narratives: the established stars trying to finish the season on top and players such as Brennan trying to establish themselves.

Merion offers a different definition of pressure

While the professionals compete in Memphis, Merion is hosting the 126th U.S. Amateur, and the historic Pennsylvania club provides perhaps the most intriguing contrast of the week.

Merion’s East Course is one of the most celebrated venues in American golf. The 2026 championship marks the seventh time the U.S. Amateur has been held there. The USGA lists the championship as running from Aug. 10-16, with Merion hosting the match-play portion and Philadelphia Country Club serving as the co-host for stroke-play qualifying. 

The tournament began with a field of 312 players, and the format requires competitors to survive 36 holes of stroke play before the field is reduced to 64 for match play. 

That format makes the U.S. Amateur fundamentally different from the PGA Tour postseason. Professional golf generally rewards four-round consistency, while match play can turn the competition into a series of individual battles where one bad hole can dramatically alter a player’s chances.

Defending champion Mason Howell is at the center of that story.

Howell won last year’s U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club by defeating Jackson Herrington 7 and 6. The USGA notes that he earned his title after entering match play as the No. 63 seed, making his championship run particularly remarkable. 

Now Howell returns as a defending champion with much greater expectations.

That transition can be difficult. A player who surprises the field one year becomes a target the next. Opponents know his game, expectations are higher and every round carries additional attention.

Preston Stout represents another major storyline. He entered the championship as the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, putting him among the players expected to challenge for the Havemeyer Trophy. The 2026 field also includes 47 of the world’s top 50 amateurs, making the competition exceptionally deep. 

The U.S. Amateur also offers something that the FedExCup cannot: a direct connection between amateur achievement and golf’s major championships.

The winner receives exemptions into the Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship as long as the player remains an amateur. The runner-up receives invitations to the Masters and U.S. Open.

That makes Merion a potential launchpad.

Golf history is filled with players who used the U.S. Amateur as a springboard toward professional success. Tiger Woods remains the clearest example, having won the championship three consecutive times. Bryson DeChambeau, the 2015 champion, later won a major championship.

The significance of Merion is therefore not simply historical. The tournament could identify the next player whose name becomes associated with the professional game.

Two tournaments, one broader story

The most interesting aspect of this week’s golf schedule is the contrast between Memphis and Merion.

In Memphis, players are fighting to preserve their place among the PGA Tour’s elite and secure access to lucrative events next season. At Merion, amateurs are fighting for exemptions that could put them directly onto the sport’s biggest stages.

Both competitions are ultimately about advancement.

The FedExCup playoffs reward players who have performed throughout the season, but the system also gives recent breakthroughs an opportunity to become something bigger. Brennan is the perfect example.

The U.S. Amateur operates differently, but its rewards can be even more transformative. One successful week can give an amateur access to the Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship.

That is why this week’s golf schedule deserves attention beyond the leaderboard.

The FedEx St. Jude Championship is about the present: Scheffler, McIlroy and the established stars trying to win the FedExCup.

Merion is about the future: Howell, Stout and hundreds of ambitious amateurs trying to take the first major step toward becoming the next generation of stars.

Ultimately, that combination captures the strength of golf’s current landscape. The sport is simultaneously celebrating its established champions and searching for its next ones. And this week, both stories are unfolding at historic venues with careers and legacies on the line.

Source: PGA Tour