It’s last call for the FedEx Cup Playoffs and a handful of big names on the PGA Tour are lining up for one last shot.
It’s last call for the FedEx Cup Playoffs and a handful of big names on the PGA Tour are lining up for one last shot.
After the conclusion of this week’s Wyndham Championship, the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings will qualify for the first event of the playoffs, the FedEx St. Jude Championship (Aug. 10-13). The top 50 will then advance to the BMW Championship (Aug. 17-20), and the top 30 will ultimately punch their tickets to the season-ending Tour Championship (Aug. 24-27). This year, the total bonus pool for the FedEx Cup Playoffs is a whopping $75 million.
With the regular season coming to a close on Sunday at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, players ranked No. 60 (670) to No. 80 (538) are separated by just 132 points. Each of the last 10 players in and first 10 players out are in the field this week, too.
Cam Davis (No. 69) played his way just inside the top 70 with a T-10 at the 3M Open, same with Lee Hodges, who rose from No. 74 to No. 33 thanks to his win at TPC Twin Cities. Meanwhile, Justin Thomas dropped after his 3M Open missed cut (but more on him to come).
Here are some notable PGA Tour names who are on the outside looking in for the 2023 FedEx Cup Playoffs.
BLAINE, Minn. — There are only two regular season events left in the 2022-23 PGA Tour season, meaning the FedEx Cup Playoffs are right around the corner.
However, this year, they’re going to be unlike ever before. Only 70 players will qualify for the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, unlike the 125 who have in year’s past. From there, the top 50 make it to the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields in Illinois, and then the top 30 advance to East Lake in Atlanta for the Tour Championship.
The change in amount of players who qualify for the playoffs means some big names joined the field of this week’s 3M Open in Blaine, Minnesota, at TPC Twin Cities.
At the top end, Jon Rahm is No. 1 in the FEC standings, with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler right behind. Rory McIlroy won his third FedEx Cup last year.
Here’s a closer look at some interesting names in the FedEx Cup points standings, including some who have work to do to stay in the top 70 and others who need to make a push to make it to Memphis.
If you had Brian Harman running away with the Claret Jug and four top-20-ranked pros heading home on Friday, well, congratulations.
Royal Liverpool is living up to the hype as a tough, old-school links layout that has stood the test of time. Defending champion Cameron Smith closed with an eagle to jump to 2-over 144 and move to the right side of the cutline — which came at 3-over 145 — and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler needed to produce a sublime bunker shot at 18 to make birdie and make the cut on the number (extending his streak of consecutive made cuts on Tour to 22, the third-longest active streak).
All told, these 12 players made the cut in all four majors this season: Patrick Cantlay, Tommy Fleetwood, Ryan Fox, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland, Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Xander Schauffele, Scheffler and Smith.
Half the fun is over, but half the fun is still to come. The bad weather, which is expected over the weekend, should make whoever is destined to be the Champion Golfer of the Year to have earned the moniker in spades.
The field has been trimmed to the top 70 and ties, with 76 players advancing to the weekend and within 13 strokes of the lead. Let’s take a closer look at some of the notables who were sent packing from the 151st British Open.
A flatter series of bunkers along with the multitude of the sandy deterrents has some players struggling to figure out where to play tee shots and approaches at Royal Liverpool with the 151st Open Championship underway.
Much had been made about how grounds crews had flattened the bunkers in advance of the tournament, a move that doesn’t allow wayward shots to settle comfortably in the middle.
The result has been an array of difficult lies for players, some in fairway bunkers and others while cozying up to the greens.
Shane Lowry, who finished his opening round with a 1-over 72, was one of those who said the prospects are daunting.
“You stand on every tee and almost every bunker is in play. You’re standing there and you’re kind of trying to figure out what to do because if you lay back, long way in, it’s quite tricky, and you’re just playing for pars,” Lowry said. “If you take it on and hit a bad shot and end up in a bunker, it’s a penalty shot basically.”
“Yeah, it does ask a lot of questions, this golf course, but it’s the most well-bunkered golf course that we play. They’re everywhere, and they’re very penal.”
Lucas Herbert found this out the hard way as he came to the new 17th hole at 3 under par, but had a heck of a time with the par 3 as he found one of the greenside bunkers. He left the hole with a 6 and relinquished his short-lived lead.
What can happen on the 17th hole.
Lucas Herbert held a share of the lead on the tee.
Matthew Jordan, who finished in the thick of things with a 69 on Thursday, said the difficulty of the hazards was unfamiliar.
“I haven’t seen the bunkers like this at all. I don’t know who’s annoyed the green keeper, but yeah, to have them — they’re just so flat and they’re so penal. You just can’t hit it in any bunkers whatsoever.
“We know how penal fairway bunkers are, but even the greenside bunkers this week you can drop two shots just like that.”
Scottish star Richie Ramsay got into more detail on the bunkers, saying they will add a full stroke to each player’s total over the course of the tournament.
Connor Syme plays a shot from a bunker on the 15th hole during the first round of the 2023 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. (Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)
“It’s heavily, heavily underrated how much of a difference that makes,” Ramsay said. “If the ball goes up, it’s obviously giving you loft straight off the back, but when the ball comes down it obviously will feed in more into the middle of the bunker.
“I got caught today on one sort of leg, knee up on the side. It’s just part of links golf. You’ve got to take it on the chin. But you’re very wary of hitting into a bunker knowing that you could be like a foot from the face with seven feet in front of you.
“So you’re going to see a lot of guys, like I say, maybe right up against the face trying to hit it as hard as possible. Matt had one today where he did well to get out, and it just popped out with a bit of forward spin and it got over the lip of the bunker, but he wasn’t far off playing that out sideways.
“I think over the course of a tournament, it’s worth at least an extra shot, make it harder. I would say definitely.”
Two majors are in the books, with Jon Rahm capturing the green jacket at the Masters in April, and Brooks Koepka claiming his third Wanamaker trophy and fifth major at the PGA Championship.
Next up, the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club in California.
Shockingly, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the favorite at +750, followed by No. 2 Jon Rahm at +900 and PGA champ Brooks Koepka at +1200.
Scheffler tied for second at Oak Hill while Rahm struggled, tying for 50th.
One of the public’s favorite picks to win at LACC, Max Homa, is +2000 to take home the hardware. Homa has won six times on Tour, four of those coming in his home state of California.
Here are the top 10 betting favorites for the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.
With the year’s third major on the horizon, it’s time to head north of the border for the RBC Canadian Open.
Rory McIlroy, who tied for seventh at Jack’s Place last week, has claimed the last two titles of this event. In 2019, he won at Hamilton Golf & Country Club, and last year he outlasted Justin Thomas and Tony Finau at St. George’s.
The ’23 edition will be held at Oakdale Golf and Country Club in Toronto.
McIlroy is the overwhelming betting favorite at +500, followed by Tyrrell Hatton at +1100.
There are several Canadians in the field, including Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Svensson and Adam Hadwin.
Golf course
Oakdale Golf and Country Club | Par 72 | 7,264 yards | Stanley Thompson design
You are looking LIVE at Oakdale Golf and Country Club, the site of the 2023 @RBCCanadianOpen.
“Once you get a taste of (winning), you want to get back there as soon as possible.” — Davis Riley
DUBLIN, Ohio – When former U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover pulled up to the front gate at Jack Nicklaus’s Muirfield Village Golf Club this week, he asked the attendant how he was doing.
“He said, ‘If I was any happier, I’d be dancing.’ I’d never heard that one before,” Glover said. “And then he followed that up by saying, ‘And nobody wants that, trust me.’ ”
On a warm, sunny Thursday at the Memorial, Davis Riley danced around Jack’s Place to the tune of 5-under 67, to lead Englishman Matt Wallace by a stroke.
Riley, 26, made birdie on three of the final four holes to vault to the top of the leaderboard. But it was a par save at the second hole that jump-started his round after an errant tee shot left stopped behind a tree. Riley pitched out sideways and then wedged inside 3 feet and holed the putt.
“I felt like that was kind of a momentum-keeper shot and hole and, yeah, that kind of kept the round going,” he said.
He made a birdie at the third and finished with a flurry of birdies including a 13-footer at the ninth.
“I thought that I left the last one short and thankfully it fell in on the last roll and it was a good way to end the day,” he said.
A year ago, he shot an opening-round 67, too, and was part of a six-way tie for the lead before finishing T-13. Riley, who claimed his first PGA Tour win last month at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, entered the week having missed four straight cuts.
“I hit a really hard reset at the beginning of this week and said to my caddie James (Edmonston) – he helped me out a lot with that and he’s like, ‘Look, you just need to keep doing your thing, good golf is right around the corner.’ I know it’s weird saying that when you win, six, seven weeks ago, but it’s just one of those things to try to kind of get that consistency part, I feel like I need to be a little easier on myself and just keep playing my golf,” he said. “Once you get a taste of (winning), you want to get back there as soon as possible, and I feel like I’ve been getting in my own way a little bit.”
Asked if he would treat himself to one of Muirfield’s trademark milkshakes after his strong start, Riley said he’d hold off because it would keep him up all night and he’s got an early wake-up call for his 8:12 a.m. tee time. “If tomorrow goes well I’ll probably have to have one,” he said.
Tommy Fleetwood tied for fifth at Southern Hills in 2022.
It’s major time.
The best players in the world are at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, for the 2023 PGA Championship.
Jon Rahm, the No. 1-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking, claimed the first major of the year at the Masters in April. He’s the second betting favorite at +750 behind Scottie Scheffler (+700). The two players have combined to win six events this season.
Although the field is littered with stars from both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf League, there are several names further down the odds list worth keeping an eye on.
Here are five sleeper picks for the PGA Championship at Oak Hill.
The annual Masters hangover is a bit more bearable this year thanks to the new designated events on the PGA Tour, as world No. 1 Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, defending champion Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa lead the best field in the history of the RBC Heritage.
Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, is different than the other venues we’ve seen host these star-studded events so far this season. It demands precision, patience and does a fantastic job of minimizing the advantage bombers have off the tee.
Let’s jump onto five prop bets for the RBC Heritage, starting with a triple chance to win that includes two names we mentioned in our expert picks story on Tuesday.
The week after the Masters is usually a letdown, but thanks to the new designated events on the PGA Tour, the RBC Heritage field is loaded.
World No. 1 and Augusta National champion Jon Rahm leads the way in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, as he’s joined by Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, last year’s RBC Heritage winner Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa.
Rory McIlroy, who disappointedly missed the cut last week in Georgia, withdrew from the event Monday. In one start at Harbour Town Golf Links, McIlroy finished T-41. Will Zalatoris, who was originally in the field, had season-ending back surgery after withdrawing from the Masters. Jason Day withdrew Sunday after finishing the year’s first major with an 80.
A view of the lighthouse behind the 18th green during the second round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links. (Photo: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports)
Course history
Harbour Town Golf Links – Course History for the #RBCHeritage
Includes average finish position and Strokes Gained per round since 2015
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