Tag: FedEx Cup Points

Top 50 bubble watch: PGA Tour players currently in and out of next year’s designated events

Here’s an early look at the top 50 in the FedEx Cup Standings.

For PGA Tour players, being inside the top 50 of the FedEx Cup Standings now comes with more than a spot in the field at the BMW Championship.

The Tour’s board recently ratified a new approach for the Tour’s 2024 schedule that will see reduced fields in new designated events, as well as the removal of the 36-hole cut. Fields in designated events will contain between 70 and 78 players and be largely comprised of the top 50 players who qualify for the BMW Championship during the previous season’s FedEx Cup playoffs, adding some extra intrigue to the season-long race that was desperately needed.

Golfweek provided the first bubble watch to track top-50 movement after the Players Championship, the 20th tournament of Tour’s 2022-23 schedule, and will continue to provide updates throughout the season. With major season just around the corner and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play behind us, here’s a look at some players who are currently in and out of next year’s designated events.

FedEx Cup: Full standings here

Bubble watch

Check out the last 10 in and first 10 as the points stand after the 2023 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, where No. 40 Jordan Spieth (510 points) and No. 60 Sam Ryder (387) are separated by a little more than 100 points.

Player Current FedEx Cup ranking Previous FedEx Cup ranking FedEx Cup points
Jordan Spieth 40 38 501
Ben Taylor 41 35 500
Danny Willett 42 36 492
Davis Thompson 43 41 487
Denny McCarthy 44 40 480
Matt Wallace 45 108 476
Sepp Straka 46 43 473
Eric Cole 47 42 468
J.J. Spaun 48 59 449
Brandon Wu 49 44 442
Keith Mitchell 50 46 442
Joel Dahmen 51 48 435
Patrick Rodgers 52 47 434
Matthew NeSmith 53 49 418
Alex Smalley 54 50 407
Adam Hadwin 55 56 405
David Lingmerth 56 51 404
Maverick McNealy 57 53 403
K.H. Lee 58 54 401
Nico Echavarria 59 55 388
Sam Ryder 60 57 387

Biggest movers

Matt Wallace was the big mover of the week, jumping 63 spots into the top 50 after his win at the 2023 Corales Puntacana Championship, the event held opposite the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

The Tour’s last Match Play event for the foreseeable future saw Sam Burns move 44 spots inside the top 10 (8th) after his defeat of Cameron Young, 6 and 5, in the final match at Austin Country Club. Despite the loss, Young took home a whopping $2.2 million and climbed 50 spots to No. 33 on the FedEx Cup Standings.

J.J. Spaun played his way into the top 50 (48th) and moved 11 spots into the designated zone with his Round of 16 appearance in Austin.

Notables inside the top 50

The usual suspects this season of Jon Rahm, Max Homa and Players champion Scottie Scheffler are all Nos. 1-3 in the standings, with Keegan Bradley in fourth and a newcomer in fifth. Kurt Kitayama cracked the top five with his run to the quarterfinals at the Match Play.

Thomas Detry has come out swinging in his first full season on Tour. The Belgian has five top 25s and two top 10s in 12 starts and currently sits 29th. In his second season, Brandon Wu (49th) has found a bit of form with three top 25s in 16 starts with a T-2 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Fan favorites Jason Day (17) and Rickie Fowler (25) are both inside the top 25.

Notables outside the top 50

Only 81 points separate Nos. 51 to 70.

Joel Dahmen (51), Patrick Rodgers (52), Matthew NeSmith (53) and Alex Smalley (54) have all moved outside the top 50.

Justin Thomas is currently No. 63 but would still qualify for the designated events due to his top-30 place in the Official World Golf Ranking (11th). Same with Tommy Fleetwood, Hideki Matsuyama and Will Zalatoris.

Other notable players currently outside the top 50 (ranking in parentheses):

  • Matt Kuchar (66)
  • Corey Conners (82)
  • Shane Lowry (97)
  • Billy Horschel (100)
  • Webb Simpson (132)
  • Adam Scott (137)

It’s still relatively early in the season, but certainly not as early as you may think. There’s still plenty of time for players to make their moves up the standings, and we’ll be here to keep you updated on the top 50 storylines for the rest of the season.

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Top 50 bubble watch: PGA Tour players currently in and out of next year’s designed events

Here’s a way-too-early look at the top 50 in the FedEx Cup Standings.

For PGA Tour players, being inside the top 50 of the FedEx Cup Standings now comes with more than a spot in the field at the BMW Championship.

The board recently ratified a new approach for the 2024 schedule that will see reduced fields in new designated events, as well as the removal of the 36-hole cut. Fields in designated events will contain between 70 and 78 players and be largely comprised of the top 50 players who qualify for the BMW Championship during the previous season’s FedEx Cup playoffs, adding some extra intrigue to the season-long race that was desperately needed.

While it may seem like it’s too early in the season to be following the top-50 movement, the Players Championship was the 20th tournament of the PGA Tour’s 2022-23 schedule, as well as the fifth designated event. With major season looming, here’s a look at some players who are currently in and out of next year’s designated events.

Bubble watch

Check out the last 10 in and first 10 as the points stand after the 2023 Players Championship, where Nos. 40 and 60 are separated by just 101 points.

Player Current FedEx Cup ranking Previous FedEx Cup ranking FedEx Cup points
Xander Schauffele 40 43 441
Keith Mitchell 41 41 435
Denny McCarthy 42 49 432
Joel Dahmen 43 38 426
Patrick Rodgers 44 39 418
Matthew NeSmith 45 40 418
Nico Echavarria 46 44 388
Adam Hadwin 47 59 388
Robby Shelton 48 45 382
J.J. Spaun 49 46 380
Alex Smalley 50 47 380
Maverick McNealy 51 48 380
David Lingmerth 52 66 378
Wyndham Clark 53 56 365
K.H. Lee 54 50 355
Garrick Higgo 55 53 354
Tyson Alexander 56 51 349
Sam Ryder 57 55 347
Taylor Moore 58 58 347
S.H. Kim 59 52 346
Hideki Matsuyama 60 90 342

Biggest movers

Tyrrell Hatton was the big mover of the day on Sunday after an impressive 7-under 65 at TPC Sawgrass to finish solo second at 12 under and claim $2,725,000. Not only that, he flew 43 spots up the FedEx Cup points list to sit No. 26.

Hideki Matsuyama moved 30 spots up to No. 60 after his fifth-place showing at the Tour’s flagship event.

Notables inside the top 50

The usual suspects this season of Jon Rahm, Max Homa and Players champion Scottie Scheffler are all Nos. 1-3 in the standings, with Keegan Bradley in fourth and Seamus Power in fifth.

Taylor Montgomery, in his first full season on the PGA Tour, is currently 17th thanks to his eight top 25 finishes (four in the top 10) over his 14 events so far this season.

Jason Day (20) and Rickie Fowler (22) are both inside the top 25, while fellow fan favorites Xander Schauffele (40) and Joel Dahmen (43) are just inside the line.

Robby Shelton finished 167th last season after missing 21 cuts over 32 tournament starts, but currently finds himself at No. 48.

Notables outside the top 50

Around 100 points separate Nos. 50 to 72.

David Lingmerth moved up 14 spots to No. 52 after his T-6 showing at the Players, while Maverick McNealy (51) and K.H. Lee (54) have both played their way out.

Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are Nos. 65 and 66, respectively, but each has yet to play more than seven events this season.

Other notable players currently outside the top 50 (ranking in parentheses):

  • Sam Burns (68)
  • Cameron Young (79)
  • Will Zalatoris (85)
  • Matt Fitzpatrick (92)
  • Shane Lowry (96)
  • Tommy Fleetwood (97)
  • Billy Horschel (115)

As stated before, it’s still relatively early in the season, but certainly not as early as you may think. There’s still plenty of time for players to make their moves up the standings, and we’ll be here to keep you updated on the top 50 storylines for the rest of the season.

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The 30 golfers who advanced to the 2020 Tour Championship

The BMW Championship is in the books, the FedEx Cup points have been calculated and we now know the 30 golfers who will be moving on.

The BMW Championship is in the books, the FedEx Cup points have been calculated and we now know the 30 golfers who will be moving on to the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

After the conclusion of the BMW Championship, the golfer ranked No. 1 on the FedEx Cup point list will start the Tour Championship with a score of -10, a reward for accumulating the most points throughout the season.

That golfer will be Dustin Johnson. Jon Rahm, winner of the BMW Championship, will start in the second position.

On the other end of the top 30 is Billy Horschel, the 2014 FedEx Cup winner. He is advancing in the final spot thanks in part to a double-bogey, three-putt by Corey Conners on the 18th hole on Sunday.

“You never want to see something like that happen to anybody,” Horschel said after hs round. “If it turns out that was how I made it to Tour Championship, I’ll probably give him a nice bottle of wine or a good dinner or something.”

Mackenzie Hughes was the lone golfer who jumped from outside the top 30 to inside this week, vaulting from 36th to 28th after posting scores of 69-73-69-71 at Olympia Fields. Hughes had to hole a 5-foot par putt on the last hole or else he was out and drained the right-to-left breaker.

“That was some of the most pressure I’ve felt in a long time,” said Hughes, who raised his arms to the sky in celebration. “You know, I’ve contended to win some tournaments this summer, and that kind of felt like the same kind of intensity on that putt. I really woke up today with a pretty bad neck and really struggled tee to green. Didn’t have my good stuff at all, and somehow found a way to grind it out. I made it pretty hard there down the stretch, but just really thankful and relieved to get it done.”
Finishing in the top 30 not only earned players a trip to East Lake week; it also makes them exempt for all four majors in the 2020-21 season, the WGCs and the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Based on how the points-list finish, all 30 golfers will start between two and 10 shots behind the leader:

Rank Player Starting position
1 Dustin Johnson 10 under
2 Jon Rahm 8 under
3 Justin Thomas 7 under
4 Webb Simpson 6 under
5 Collin Morikawa 5 under
6 Daniel Berger 4 under
7 Harris English 4 under
8 Bryson DeChambeau 4 under
9 Sungjae Im 4 under
10 Hideki Matsuyama 4 under
11 Brendon Todd 3 under
12 Rory McIlroy 3 under
13 Patrick Reed 3 under
14 Xander Schauffele 3 under
15 Sebastian Munoz 3 under
16 Lanto Griffin 2 under
17 Scottie Scheffler 2 under
18 Joaquin Niemann 2 under
19 Tyrrell Hatton 2 under
20 Tony Finau 2 under
21 Kevin Kisner 1 under
22 Abraham Ancer 1 under
23 Ryan Palmer 1 under
24 Kevin Na 1 under
25 Marc Leishman 1 under
26 Cameron Smith Even
27 Viktor Hovland Even
28 Mackenzie Hughes Even
29 Cameron Champ Even
30 Billy Horschel Even

Now that the top 30 players have been assigned their starting scores for the Tour Championship, FedEx Cup points become meaningless.

Whoever wins the Tour Championship will also win the FedEx Cup and the $15 million prize.

Last season, Justin Thomas entered the Tour Championship ranked No. 1 and started at -10. Still, Rory McIlroy, who started the week fifth on the point list, wound up winning the tournament and the FedEx Cup even though he began the week five shots behind Thomas.

Among those not advancing

Adam Long was No. 27 in the points before the BMW but dropped four spots this week after posting scores of 72-77-72-71. He is the first one out, coming in at No. 31. Kevin Streelman’s disappointing week dropped him four spots to the 32nd spot. Byeong Hun An (34) and Patrick Cantlay (35) also fell short. Matthew Fitzpatrick climbed 24 spots but could only get to No. 36.

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, shot 73-75-72-71 this week to finish 11 over for the tournament and 63rd in the points race. He didn’t break par in any of the four rounds, the first time that happened since the 2010 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Because of all the shuffling due to the COVID pandemic, the final event on the 2019-20 schedule was pushed back a week from its original dates. The season finale will start Friday and conclude on Labor Day Monday, a slight change to the original PGA Tour schedule.

Golfweek’s David Dusek contributed to this article.

Jon Rahm sinks 66-foot putt to win BMW Championship, Dustin Johnson claims top spot for Tour Championship

Jon Rahm overcame a first-round 75 and a third-round knuckle-head penalty to win the BMW Championship on Sunday.

Dustin Johnson drained a snaking 43-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole on Sunday to force a playoff in the BMW Championship with Jon Rahm.

But on the first playoff hole, Rahm poured in a 66-footer for birdie to win the tournament, his second of the year and fifth PGA Tour win.

Rahm overcame a first-round 75 and a third-round penalty to shoot 66-64 over the weekend. He led by two late Sunday, but Johnson birdied the 15th to make it a one-shot deficit. Johnson’s birdie on 18 forged a tie.

Johnson won last week’s Northern Trust. He’ll start next week’s Tour Championship in the pole position, 10 shots ahead of the field.

Rahm will start second, two shots back.

On Saturday, after hitting a solid drive on the 421-yard par-4 5th hole, Rahm then found the green with his second from 129 yards and had 44 feet for birdie. Walking to the green, he was jiggling his ball marker – an Arizona State poker chip – in his right pocket.

He bent over and picked up his ball but the ball marker was still in his pocket. Rahm was penalized one stroke under Rule 9.4b/1 for touching his ball while it was in play without putting a marker down first.

BMW Championship: Leaderboard | Photos

Rahm won the Memorial in July after also committing a penalty. He chipped in from behind the 16th green for birdie to take a four-shot lead but as he soled his club right before the chip, the ball moved and didn’t return to its original spot before Rahm hit his shot.

Rahm was penalized two shots for the infraction. He didn’t learn about the situation on the 16th until he had finished his round.

Only five golfers at the BMW finished under par: Rahm (-4), Johnson (-3), Niemann (-2), Hideki Matsuyama (-2) and Tony Finau (-1).

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