Eyes down for the $10 million golf game

You do not have to win the Tour Championship to top the FedEx Cup rankings and pick up the $10 million jackpot on Sunday night — but it sure helps.

In theory, all 30 of the elite field teeing off today at East Lake in this end-of-season bonanza has a chance of scooping the biggest payday in golf. The PGA Tour ensure this egalitarian edge to their showpiece event, not just by removing a halfway cut but by resetting the points in the standings following the last FedEx Series tournament, the BMW Championship two weeks ago.

It means that No 30 Charl Schwartzel and everyone else between him and No 1, Dustin Johnson, can follow 2015 FedEx Cup champion Jordan Spieth into the mega money in Atlanta, albeit if Johnson finishes in the bottom two.