Justin Thomas woke up Sunday morning in a tough position.
A Saturday 74 had left him 46th in a now-48-man field at the BMW Championship and dangerously close to falling out of the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings and missing the Tour Championship for the second straight year.
It felt a lot like last year’s Wyndham when Thomas came up one shot short of making the Playoffs. But not to him.
“I mean, it’s just weird,” Thomas said Sunday. “The Playoffs are fun like that because I felt some things on those last couple holes that feel similar to trying to win a golf tournament, just when you know if you don’t advance to the next stage, you don’t have a chance. That’s all I want.
“I understand that if I do get into Atlanta I’m going to be beyond a long shot, but in my eyes I have a chance, and that’s all I want. It’s a lot of pressure, but you’ve got to play well at the right time, and that’s what the Playoffs are about.”
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He played well at the right time as he posted a bogey-free 68 to move up seven spots on the leaderboard, it looked like it would be just enough to sneak into the Tour Championship field Sunday as the No. 30 man in the standings. When Alex Noren missed a seven-foot slider for par on the 16th hole to fall out of a tie for 4th, Thomas moved back into the field for the season finale.
While Thomas stayed in the top 30, four players (this week’s winner Keegan Bradley, Adam Scott, Tommy Fleetwood and Chris Kirk) moved from outside the top 30 to inside the field for East Lake this week. There are some surprises in the 30-man field who all receive two-year exemptions on Tour and entry into three of the four majors. There’s even set to be the shocking East Lake debut of Shane Lowry, who somehow had never made the Tour Championship before.
But not everyone was as fortunate as four players also moved out of the top 30. Several big-name players didn’t even make it to the BMW this week to have a chance at East Lake.
Keep reading below for some of the most surprising names to miss out on the 2024 Tour Championship.
7 surprising players to miss the Tour Championship
No. 31 Brian Harman: Harman was one of the four players to fall out of the top 30 this week after a solo 25th finish in Colorado. He misses East Lake for the first time since 2021.
No. 33 Jason Day: Day was unable to make anything happen on the weekend at Castle Pines and finished T33 this week to fall eight spots from 25th.
No. 38 Will Zalatoris: Solid performances in the playoffs (T12 last week and T13 this week) weren’t enough to make up for an up-and-down return from injury year which saw him miss three cuts in a row coming into the Playoffs.
No. 40 Matt Fitzpatrick: Fitzpatrick dealt with a bizarre rules situation on Sunday at Castle Pines as he was denied the ability to replace his cracked driver during the round. He ended up finishing T28, which wasn’t enough to keep a down season, in which he recorded just three top-10s, going. He misses East Lake for the first time since 2021.
No. 44 Cameron Young: Young added to his record total of seven runner-ups without a win at the Valspar earlier this year, but a T61-T43 run in the playoffs saw him slide from 31st to 44th in the standings.
No. 46 Max Homa: Homa seemed to be going through the motions this week. After his T3 at the Masters, he only recorded one other top-10 and finished dead last in Memphis before a final-round 67 salvaged a T43 this week.
No. 49 Nick Dunlap: Dunlap was on a hot run after winning in Tahoe and contending in Memphis just to make it to Colorado. A Sunday 66 would have gotten the rookie to East Lake, but he went the wrong way with a final-round 77.
Did not make BMW field (and not included in count): No. 51 Tom Kim, No. 55 Justin Rose, No. 58 Nick Taylor, No. 59 Jake Knapp, No. 60 Min Woo Lee, No. 66 Jordan Spieth, No. 73 Kurt Kitayama, No. 77 Lucas Glover, No. 81 Nicolai Hojgaard, No. 103 Matt Kuchar, No. 106 Rickie Fowler
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