GREENSBORO, N.C. — Rickie Fowler missed the cut and didn’t reach the weekend at the Wyndham Championship, the PGA Tour’s regular-season finale, and was left standing on shaky ground during the closing stages of Sunday’s final round.
Fowler held on, barely, to his tenuous position in the FedEx Cup Playoffs and thus advanced to next week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tennessee, the postseason opener.
Joohyung “Tom” Kim’s final-round 9-under 61 and breakthrough victory at Sedgefield Country Club dropped Fowler to No. 125 in the FedEx Cup standings, the very make-or-break line for moving on and gaining entry to the playoffs.
Tour rookie Max McGreevy made a significant jump, rising from the wrong side of the bubble at No. 126 up to No. 104 in the standings on the strength of tying for fifth place at the Wyndham. McGreevy shot 65 on Sunday and carded 13-under for the tournament, with his fiancée and dog, an 8-pound Chihuahua, rooting him on among the Sedgefield spectators.
“Felt good to put four good rounds together, for sure,” McGreevy said. “Game feels really, really good and I feel like I could have popped off and played better than I did this week. Just super excited to have got it done, but just that hard work I’ve kind of put in these last couple months has actually shown.”
Kim, the 20-year-old rising star, gained temporary PGA Tour membership recently and played the Wyndham on a sponsor exemption. He had to win to qualify for the playoffs, and he delivered in first-class fashion while claiming the Sam Snead Cup, the trophy given to the Wyndham champion.
Kim’s victory bumped Matt Wallace out of the playoffs. Wallace entered the Wyndham at No. 124 in the standings, slipped to No. 125 in the projections by Sunday, and then fell to the wrong side of the postseason bubble when Kim won and leapfrogged into the playoffs.
Austin Smotherman had his playoff bubble status burst. The rookie entered the Wyndham at No. 125 and dropped one spot outside the playoffs. He made double bogey on his final hole of the second round here and missed the cut for the weekend by two strokes.
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