Justin Thomas won the 2019 BMW Championship in Medinah, Illinois, on Sunday, but he also took an important step toward the $15 million bonus awaiting the FedEx Cup winner this year.
Thomas shot a four-under 68 on Sunday to move to 25-under for the tournament and three shots clear of second-place finisher Patrick Cantlay. He is sitting atop the FedEx Cup standings as a result and will have the No. 1 spot heading into the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
He won't have to fend off defending TOUR Championship winner Tiger Woods or 2015 FedEx Cup champion Jordan Spieth considering they're both outside the top 30 in the standings.
Here is a look at the full FedEx Cup standings heading into the deciding tournament, per PGATour.com:
1. Justin Thomas
2. Patrick Cantlay
3. Brooks Koepka
4. Patrick Reed
5. Rory McIlroy
6. Jon Rahm
7. Matt Kuchar
8. Xander Schauffele
9. Webb Simpson
10. Abraham Ancer
11. Gary Woodland
12. Tony Finau
13. Adam Scott
14. Dustin Johnson
15. Hideki Matsuyama
16. Paul Casey
17. Justin Rose
18. Brandt Snedeker
19. Rickie Fowler
20. Kevin Kisner
21. Marc Leishman
22. Tommy Fleetwood
23. Corey Conners
24. Sungjae Im
25. Chez Reavie
26. Bryson DeChambeau
27. Louis Oosthuizen
28. Charles Howell III
29. Lucas Glover
30. Jason Kokrak
There will be a number of changes outside the absence of Woods this year.
According to Ben Everill of PGATour.com, a scoreboard system has replaced the points version that determined the previous FedEx Cup champion. The previous system asked those who were near the bottom of the top 30 to both win at the TOUR Championship and hope those ahead of them fell further down the leaderboard, but the new system is clearer.
Thomas will start at 10 under at the TOUR Championship as the FedEx Cup leader, while Cantlay (eight under), Brooks Koepka (seven under), Patrick Reed (six under) and Rory McIlroy (five under) will be playing catch-up from second through fifth place, respectively.
Elsewhere, those in positions six through 10 start at four under, those from 11 through 15 start at three under, those from 16 through 20 start at two under, those from 21 through 25 start at one under and those from 26 through 30 start at even par.
That is plenty of ground to make up for those near the bottom of the standings, but they at least control their own destiny given the new system. They will have to overcome Thomas, who has the starting advantage and plenty of momentum following Sunday's performance.
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