Chandler Phillips has two tournaments left to retain his PGA Tour card, but the stress of trying to keep his job has been dwarfed by another emotion golf commonly conjures.
Frustration.
“Can you tell I’m over it?” Phillips said Friday at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
The 28-year-old Phillips has had a year to forget on the PGA Tour. In 26 events, Phillips has just one top-10 finish, which came at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a team event. His best individual finish? A T15 at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. He finished the PGA Tour regular season ranked 124th in the FedEx Cup, leaving him six FedEx Cup Fall tournaments to retain his card.
Phillips missed the cut at the Procore, finished T44 at the Sanderson and then missed the cut in Utah and in Mexico, dropping him to 139th in the FedEx Cup Fall standings with two tournaments to play. In short, golf has been kicking him in the teeth in 2025, and he’s ready to know his fate.
“The amount of times I’ve missed the fairway this year by a yard and it’s just completely screwed me, it’s unbelievable,” Phillips said. “It’s not the course, it’s just me. Aim a little bit farther left, aim a little bit farther right, I don’t know.
Phillips arrived in Bermuda with a slim road to keep his card and remain on the PGA Tour.
A win would give him a two-year exemption. A runner-up finish would move him just inside the top-100 bubble, with a trip to next week’s season-ending RSM Classic looming. Otherwise, Phillips will go back to the Korn Ferry Tour. His dream will be at least deferred, and the task of re-summitting the KFT mountain back to the PGA Tour will be in front of him in 2026.
Reality has set in for Phillips. He has accepted the steep climb he has to stick on the top circuit. He’s at peace with what his game has given him this year and will let the chips fall where they may. Sometimes in life, and in golf, you can only fight the inevitable for so long.
Then came Friday, when Phillips fired a seven-under 64 to vault into second heading into the weekend. Just like that, his card and future were within grasp. But a good round and a flicker of hope didn’t deliver Phillips a reprieve. One good round won’t fix what a frustrating year of golf has brought.
But it has at least given him clarity. Phillips has both everything and nothing to lose. He has to play his best to keep his job. If he doesn’t, he’ll have to reset and find a way to fix his game and get back to the PGA Tour.
“I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s just like you’re not thinking of, oh, you know, I need a top-20 this week or I just need to make the cut,” Phillips said. “Well, I mean, that’s never a good mindset even if you are in a really good position to keep your card or whatever. You’ve got to have the mindset of trying to win every week, and if you don’t, you might as well not even show up.
“To tell you the truth, I’m pretty over this year,” he said. “Like it’s been a struggle, but I’m waiting for that finish line.”
Phillips went out on Saturday at Port Royal Golf Course and fired a one-under 70. He will enter Sunday’s final round in a tie for third, one shot back of co-leaders Braden Thornberry and Adam Schenk. Phillips went to bed Friday projected inside the top-100 bubble. He left the course on Saturday, having dropped over 20 spots in the FedEx Cup Fall projections.
Every shot matters, but Phillips is mainly ticking them off until he can exhale, put the clubs away and face what comes next, regardless of what it is.
A good Sunday can wash away an irritating year for Phillips. He’ll tee it up knowing exactly what he has to do to make sure a good week in Bermuda doesn’t end in more frustration, something he has felt all too often in 2025.
“I only have one option and that’s to go out there and try to win because if I don’t, I’m not keeping my card,” Phillips said. “There’s not a lot of answers to it. There’s just one answer, it’s just go out there and try to ball out. If it happens, it happens. If not, you know, try to go fix what’s wrong for the year.”
