It’s tougher than ever to make the PGA Tour’s postseason. And with one event to go, plenty of big names are on the wrong side of that equation.
Just 70 berths are available in the first round of this year’s FedEx Cup Playoffs, down from 125 a few years ago. Those 70 will be finalized after this week’s Wyndham Championship.
There are other important numbers in our future, like the top 50 who will get into next year’s Signature Events (we’ll lock in on those next week) and then the top 30 players who will advance to the Tour Championship (the week after that). Missing out on the playoffs also doesn’t mean losing your Tour card; the fall schedule remains in place before 100 spots are awarded.
But this week we’re cutting to the top 70 on the FedEx Cup points list. Michael Thorbjornsen just leapt from No. 69 on the list to No. 38 with his win in Detroit — others will look to punch their tickets now, too.
Who’s already out?
There are 219 golfers who have earned at least one FedEx Cup point this season (shoutout to William McGirt at No. 219, who earned 1.244 points for a T79 at the Corales Puntacana Championship) and plenty more who have played one or more events without any points.
Per the PGA Tour’s Paul Hodowanic, those currently outside the top 182 have zero mathematical chance of cracking the top 70, even with a Wyndham Championship victory. Thus concludes the regular seasons of familiar names like Ryan Palmer, Jason Dufner and Kevin Kisner (six, five and one starts, respectively, without a point) as well as the likes of Netflix star No. 184 Neal Shipley, injured fan favorite No. 189 Will Zalatoris and heralded rookie No. 198 Christo Lamprecht.
There are those who could make the postseason with a Hail-Mary victory in North Carolina, like No. 127 Chris Kirk, No. 142 Matt Kuchar or No. 147 Luke Clanton.
There are those who need a podium finish, at least, like No. 96 Lucas Glover, No. 107 Billy Horschel or No. 119 Joel Dahmen.
And then there are some surprising names right on the edge. Here are five:
5 golfers who could miss the 2026 FedEx Cup Playoffs
No. 70 Jackson Koivun
No need to panic here; it’s impressive that Jackson Koivun is even this close. You’d be right to conclude that the only reason Koivun might not make the FedEx Cup Playoffs is because he’s only been on the PGA Tour a couple months. Last week Koivun won the 3M Open, doubling down on his existing status and reemphasizing just how big a part he’ll play on Tour for years to come. He just has work to do if he’s going to crack the top 70, or 50 or 30 this season.
We wouldn’t bet against it.
No. 72 Keegan Bradley
Reigning U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley has had a comedown year in more ways than one. It hasn’t been particularly bad on the course — he’s missed just one cut in his last 14 starts — but it hasn’t been great, either. Bradley has finished T21 or better six times without a top 10, which means he’s missed out on any big-time points-grabs.
“It’s annoying, but in a weird, like, demented way, it’s kind of fun that I have to go out and try to do it,” Bradley said at the Open Championship. That’s one way to look at it. He has one shot left.
No. 75 Jason Day
Jason Day’s game took a turn for the worse just after his T12 at the Masters; his best result in seven starts since then is T38 and he withdrew from last week’s 3M Open with a back injury. The stats suggest that not all is right with his swing; his iron play is well below his usual standard. At the Memorial he explained his search:
“The guys that are playing well typically know exactly what their tendencies are when it does go off, so it’s easy to get things back in order. For me, I’m still trying to figure that out. The hard thing is that I’ve always got to, in the back of my mind, make sure that I have some sort of focus on my back because if I’m trying to make some change for better shots and better overall results, I also won’t trust it if it hurts my back.”
He’s in the Wyndham field; let’s hope it’s a healthy week and a run at the playoffs.
No. 86 Brooks Koepka
It was always going to be a strange season for Brooks Koepka, whose return to the PGA Tour headlined the beginning of the year. But his uncertain status has added an unfortunate element of late; he withdrew from the RBC Canadian Open last month, missed his next two cuts and pulled out of last week’s Rocket Classic pre-tournament, too, suggesting something is amiss. Koepka’s Florida Swing — T9 at PGA National, T13 at TPC Sawgrass, T18 at Innisbrook — seems like a distant memory. So does his Masters T12. Maybe he’ll find something at Sedgefield this week.
No. 89 Tony Finau
If there’s a trend on this list it’s guys we’ve grown accustomed to playing at a certain standard and struggling to believe it as they show the effects of golf, or life or time — or some combination of the above.
Enter Tony Finau, who hoped to turn his season around with a T6 at the Byron Nelson but that remains his lone bright spot; he’s finished T40 or worse in his last five starts. His Sunday 77 at the Rocket Classic was high score of the day, and he finished the week second-to-last in strokes gained putting. Something is off. Can he get it right just in the nick of time?
“>
Here’s the entire bubble, from the locked-in Harry Hall at No. 62 all the way to A.J. Ewart at No. 100.
You can see the complete FedEx Cup points list on the PGA Tour’s site here.
62 – Harry Hall 63 – Brian Harman 64 – Patrick Rodgers 65 – Aldrich Potgieter 66 – Ricky Castillo 67 – Matti Schmid 68 – Jordan Smith 69 – Steven Fisk 70 – Jackson Koivun – cut line – 71 – Mac Meissner 72 – Keegan Bradley 73 – Andrew Putnam 74 – Johnny Keefer 75 – Jason Day 76 – Austin Smotherman 77 – Stephan Jaeger 78 – David Lipsky 79 – Tom Hoge 80 – Matt Wallace 81 – Davis Thompson 82 – Jackson Suber 83 – Brandt Snedeker 84 – Denny McCarthy 85 – Taylor Pendrith 86 – Brooks Koepka 87 – John Parry 88 – Kevin Roy 89 – Tony Finau 90 – Chandler Phillips 91 – Andrew Novak 92 – Christiaan Bezuidenhout 93 – Zach Bauchou 94 – Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 95 – Ben Kohles 96 – Lucas Glover 97 – Doug Ghim 98 – Taylor Moore 99 – Max Greyserman 100 – A.J. Ewart
