FedEx Cup bubble watch: The race for top 50 is on
Viktor Hovland and Jordan Spieth are outside the bubble this week.
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Say it with me, now:
“Playoffs?!”
Yes, the PGA Tour’s postseason gets underway this week in Memphis with the first of the Tour’s three FedEx Cup Playoff events at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. And this is the second year of the current iteration of just 70 players in the field for the first week of the Playoffs.
In previous years, when the fields were whittled down by 50 or 40 players at a time, the current system goes from 70 to 50 after this week and then to 30 by the time we get to the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Qualifying for each respective tournament — each round, if you will — comes with special bonus perks. For example, not only will making the 30-man Tour Championship field earn you a two-year extension of your PGA Tour membership, it also gets you into the major championships.
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But perhaps most crucial is making it to next week’s BMW Championship by earning a spot in the top 50 of the standings by week’s end. By making the top 50 of the FedEx Cup, players now earn a place in each of the eight Signature Events next season. There are about 160 million reasons why that’s important.
For some players, like those in the current top 30, that’s a lock. But for those like the last man in the field this week, No. 70 Victor Perez, that’s going to be a more difficult challenge.
While points payouts are four times what they were during the regular season, Perez is 316 points outside the top 50, meaning he needs at least a ninth-place finish to get into the BMW — and even that might not be enough.
Who else is on the FedEx Cup bubble this week? Glad you asked! Keep reading below for the most notable names on the FedEx Cup Playoffs bubble this week.
2024 BMW Championship bubble
No. 39 Keegan Bradley: Just 127 points (roughly the payout of a 27th-place finish this week) separate No. 39 Bradley with No. 54 Eric Cole, making this a logical place to start. It’s unlikely 11 players could pass next year’s Ryder Cup captain, but anything is possible with the massive points payout in the playoffs.
No. 40 Matt Fitzpatrick: The 2022 U.S. Open Champion is just one point behind Bradley in the standings. Fitz has just three top-10s this year and none since the memorial. His last start at the Olympics ended with a WD after a bizarre third-round 81 that followed a second-round 64.
No. 43 Tom Kim: Kim has been playing well for the most part this summer, with the exception of two missed cuts, including at the Open. His Olympics ended with heartbreak after coming oh-so-close to a medal, but now he’ll turn his attention to moving into position to make the Tour Championship for the second-straight year.
No. 46 Adam Scott: While Scott came up short in his bid for his first win since 2020 at the Scottish Open, he still moved into position to make the BMW Championship and become exempt for next year’s Signature Events, which he wasn’t in 2024. His T10 at the Open Championship helped matters too.
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No. 47 Max Greyserman: The PGA Tour rookie’s final-round back-nine meltdown in Greensboro didn’t cost him everything. His second-straight runner-up on the PGA Tour launched him from 64th to 47th as he looks to unlock next year’s Signature Events.
No. 49 Will Zalatoris: In his return from injury, Zalatoris enters his first Playoffs since hurting his back in 2022 on a string of three missed cuts and a WD before that. He’ll need to recapture the form that led him to top-10s at Riviera, Bay Hill and Augusta earlier this season if he wants to move on. But he’s in a good place to do it as this will be his first appearence at TPC Southwind since his first PGA Tour victory here two years ago.
No. 50 Jake Knapp: The first PGA Tour winner of 2024 to make our list is the bubble man for this week at No. 50. Since his breakthrough in Mexico, Knapp has just one top-10 and withdrew in his last start at the 3M Open.
No. 55 Justin Rose: It’s surprising to see Justin Rose so far down on this list, especially after his T2 at the Open Championship and T6 at the PGA Championship earlier this year. But he missed the cut in the other two majors this year and missed the cut last week in Greensboro.
No. 57 Viktor Hovland: It’s even more surprising to find last year’s FedEx Cup Champion needing a good week in Memphis just to have a chance to defend his title at the BMW, let alone at East Lake. Hovland could go from best player on the planet to not guaranteed starts in the Signature Events in one year. Although his place at No. 7 in the Official World Golf Ranking should get him in to each one, except the Sentry.
No. 62 Min Woo Lee: A fan favorite in his first year as a PGA Tour member, Lee will need a big week in Greensboro to extend his season.
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No. 63 Jordan Spieth: Spieth’s situation is signicantly more dire than Hovland’s for next season as he’s fallen outside the OWGR top 30, meaning he needs to get to the BMW Championship to earn a spot in next year’s Signature Events. He hasn’t missed the Tour Championship, let alone the BMW, since 2020 when he was 107th on the points list. He revealed last week that offseason wrist surgery may be on the table.
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