Jon Rahm ready for FedEx Cup Playoffs, eyes $18 million first-place prize

After 46 events, the PGA Tour's 2021-22 season concludes in Atlanta at East Lake Golf Club this week with the Tour Championship.

The season finale also caps the FedEx Cup Playoffs, a three-event sprint to a big pile of cash.

Only the top 30 players advanced to the Tour Championship, which uses a staggered strokes scoring system. Scottie Scheffler, who finished first in the points standings, will be staked to a two-stroke lead at 10 under. Patrick Cantlay, who won the BMW Championship on Sunday, will start at 8 under. Will Zalatoris, who won the FedEx St. Jude Championship two weeks ago, the first event in the Playoffs, will be slotted third at 7 under.

There is no regular tournament purse this week and the money doesn't count towards a golfer's official PGA Tour earnings. But the money spends just the same and the first-place bonus money prize this week is $18 million. The runner-up takes home $6,500,000, third place is good for $5 million and so on. The 10th-place finisher will make $1 million and 30th place will pocket $500,000.

Jon Rahm, who tied for eighth at the BMW, moved up three spots to 11 in the points so he'll start at 3 under, seven shots back of the lead. A year ago, Rahm tied for low score of the week but because of the staggered start, came up short of Cantlay in the end.

Ex-ASU golfer wins LPGA Q School

Italian amateur Alessandra Fanali, who played collegiate golf at Arizona State, topped the field at LPGA Qualifying with back-to-back 69s over the weekend. Fanali, 23, finished at 14 under for the tournament, one stroke ahead of two more amateurs, Natthakritta Vongtaveelap (67) and Valery Plata (68).

“It feels good,” said Fanali, who didn’t have a caddie this week. “I still don’t really realize it, but it’s good. I’m so excited. This is what I’ve been waiting for since I was 12.”

Last week’s event was held in blistering Rancho Mirage, California, and Fanali bested the field of 311 hopefuls. There are 106 golfers moving on to the second stage of Q-School, to be held Oct. 18-21 at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Florida. From there, players will advance to Q-Series, a two-week contest in Mobile and Dothan, Alabama, where LPGA cards will be handed out.

Olivia Mehaffey, also a former ASU golfer, finished 130th, which means she missed out on her LPGA card but she will have Epson Tour status for 2023.

Beau Bremer of Cave Creek, Mikayla Fitzpatrick of Phoenix, Alexis Linam of Peoria, Kate Machado of Scottsdale and Jessica Williams of Paradise Valley all missed the cut.

— Beth Ann Nichols, Golfweek

Team Arizona wins Hogan Cup

Mahanth Chirravuri, Brasen Briones, George Rubelsky and Brayden Bozak made up Team Arizona for the 2022 Hogan Cup and came out on top at Riverside Golf & Country Club in Portland, Oregon, Aug. 13-14. It's the third victory for Arizona in the tournament's 54-year history. The previous wins were in 2018 and 1986.

The Hogan Cup uses a four-person-team format, with the three lowest individual scores each day making up the team score.

Chirravuri, who was on the winning 2018 squad and is committed to USC, won individual honors after finishing 3 under and winning by four strokes. Briones tied for fourth at 3 over. Rubelsky, headed to Columbia University, tied for 13th at 7 over. Bozak, who will play for UNLV in college, tied for 34th.

Tiger's video game features TPC Scottsdale

For the first time in nearly a decade, Tiger Woods will grace the cover of a golf video game.

PGA Tour 2K23 is set to launch in October with three editions. He and other professional men’s and women’s golfers will be featured as playable in-game characters, as well. Woods is also an Executive Director advising the game development team.

Gamers can tee it up with golfers like Woods, Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris, Lexi Thompson, Lydia Ko and Brooke Henderson at launch. More will be added over time.

There will also be 20 licensed courses at launch, including TPC Scottsdale, home of the WM Phoenix Open.

— Cameron Jourdan, Golfweek

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Jon Rahm ready for FedEx Cup Playoffs, eyes $18 million 1st-place prize