FedEx Cup Standings 2023: Points Leaderboard Before TOUR Championship | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

The standings have shifted over the past two weeks, with the winners of the St. Jude Championship (Lucas Glover) and the BMW Championship (Hovland) each adding 2,000 points to their season totals.

Those points matter heading into the TOUR Championship which uses a stroke-play format and what's called "FedExCup Starting Strokes."

It's a weighted system that rewards players for their accomplishments throughout the season. Scheffler, the leader in the points standings will open the tournament with a score of 10-under. Golfers ranked 26th-30th will start at even par, with starting scores weighted by FedEx Cup rank.

• No. 1: 10-Under
• No. 2: 8-Under
• No. 3: 7-Under
• No. 4: 6-Under
• No. 5: 5-Under
• Nos. 6-10: 4-Under
• Nos. 11-15: 3-Under
• Nos 16-20: 2-Under
• No. 21-25: 1-Under
• Nos. 26-30:  Par

This scoring format can make it extremely difficult for lower-ranked players to win the FedEx Cup. McIlroy, for example, begins three strokes behind Scheffler and must outplay him by at least four strokes over the weekend to move ahead. That's a tough task, but certainly not impossible.

29th-ranked Jordan Spieth, however, must shoot 11 lower than Scheffler to move ahead.

It's a very daunting challenge for those outside of the top five, but there's also FedEx Cup bonus money on the line. $18 million goes to the winner, while last place gets $500,000.

10th place will receive $1 million, which means that if Sepp Straka can successfully move from 30th to 10th, he'll double his bonus money.

Not everyone is thrilled with the format, of course, as it places far more weight on the three playoff tournaments than the season as a whole.

"I think I've expressed my dislike towards the fact that you can come in ranked No. 1 in the FedExCup. You can win every single tournament up until this one. You have a bad week, you finish 30th, and now you'll forever be known as 30th in the FedExCup that season," Rahm said, per Jack Milko of SBNation.

Rahm may be a little biased. He's fallen from first to fourth in only two weeks and will open Thursday four strokes behind Scheffler.

If there's a golfer who can overcome the disadvantage, though, it's Rahm. He's won four events and claimed 10 top-10 finishes this season. He also won The Masters by, you guessed it, four strokes.

Hovland is surging, Scheffler has been steady all season, Rahm can get it done in the biggest moments, and McIlroy is vying for his fourth FedEx Cup title. It's going to be a thrilling battle at the top and a fantastic four days of golf in Atlanta.