Qualifiers for all 2026 Signature Events, THE PLAYERS and majors
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Highlights | Round 4 | TOUR Championship
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The funny thing about this recap of the TOUR Championship is that almost all of the exemptions available for reaching the last leg of the FedExCup Playoffs were captured earlier in the series. The 50 who advanced to the BMW Championship secured spots in all Signature Events in 2027, while the 30 who played on to vie for the 20th FedExCup title shored up tee times in next year’s Masters, U.S. Open and The Open Championship.
While the majority of the guys in the field at East Lake Golf Club wake up every day already knowing that all of those exemptions have been guaranteed for a while, there’s always something to gain even for the long-running world’s No. 1 golfer, Scottie Scheffler, even when he wins the TOUR Championship, which he did for the second time on Sunday.
As he’s done so well so often, Scheffler submitted the strongest 72-hole performance yet again, this time en route to 16-under 264. It was good for a three-stroke margin of victory over Viktor Hovland. The 28-year-old from Norway sat alone atop the leaderboard after three rounds and was chasing his second FedExCup title (2023). He managed but a 2-over 72 in the finale, thus making it easier for Scheffler and his 4-under 66 to bag his second FedExCup (2024).
When he won The American Express in his first start of 2026, Scheffler’s exemption as a PGA TOUR member stretched to the maximum five years through 2031. As a former winner of the Masters and PGA Championship, he’s exempt into both for life. And as a winner of The Open in 2025, he’s exempt into that major through his age-60 season of 2056, as well as THE PLAYERS Championship and the U.S. Open through 2030.
All of that is enough to feel comfy about controlling his schedule longer than most, but for winning the FedExCup on Sunday, Scheffler’s exemption into THE PLAYERS Championship extends another edition, so he’s all set for inclusion at the PGA TOUR’s flagship event through its maximum allowance of 2031.
NOTE: The opening list of qualifiers for the 2027 season will publish in the coming weeks.
