Tiger Woods won the 2018 Tour Championship by two strokes over Billy Horschel on Sunday, going wire-to-wire over the final round of action at East Lake Country Club. Somewhat unfortunately for him, he did not also wind up atop the lucrative FedEx Cup standings, where the top finisher is awarded $10 million. That doesn't mean Woods left empty-handed, it's just that he could have secured an even more substantial payday.
The reason Woods did not win it all is because he came into this week ranked No. 20 and needed a handful of scenarios to play out to win the FedEx Cup. Somewhat incredibly, many of them took place -- except for one. It is highlighted in bold below.
- Tiger Woods wins the Tour Championship
- Bryson DeChambeau finishes T15 or worse
- Justin Rose finishes T5 or worse
- Tony Finau finishes T3 or worse
- Dustin Johnson finishes in three-way tie for second or worse
- Justin Thomas finishes in a three-way tie for second or worse
- Keegan Bradley finishes T2 or worse
In fact, it was a Rose birdie put on 18 that ensured he finished T4 and maintained his spot atop the FedEx Cup standings. As such, took home a cool $10 million even though Tiger won the tournament. There were a few moments where it looked like Woods might win both, but alas.
It is the second consecutive year that the Tour Championship winner did not also win the FedEx Cup. The top five in the FedEx Cup all get over $1 million in bonus money, though, and Woods finished right behind Rose at No. 2. He will take home $3 million on top of the $1.6 million he won for reigning at the Tour Championship.
2018 FedEx Cup payouts
- $10 million
- $3 million
- $2 million
- $1.5 million
- $1 million
2018 Tour Championship payouts
- $1.62 million
- $972,000
- $621,000
- $432,000
- $360,000
- $324,000
- $306,000
- $288,000
- $270,000
- $255,600
Woods was business-like when talking about what was at stake on Sunday
"I would love to be able to win this event," said Woods. "I've got a three-shot lead. I've got a bunch of guys behind me that have been playing well and are playing well, and we'll see what happens."
What happened was Woods winning his first event since 2013 and earning a grand total of $4.6 million for doing so. Rose brought in over $10 million, and the golf world continues spinning with plenty of cash available for the rest of those that placed.
