The FedEx Cup fall conclusion always feels a little different. The players arrive on St. Simons Island, Georgia, a laid-back seaside island in the Lowcountry, for the final game of the season with (as the kids say) high atmosphere and even higher stakes.
The juxtaposition of the two is striking. The easy-going nature of the area hides the nerves and tension of those on the scene. Until Sunday, players and fans alike will know exactly what needs to happen for golfers to jump into a new tier on the PGA Tour, or stay where they are.
At least that’s it should Please be so. It doesn’t always work out, and this is one of the problems the FedEx Cup Fall Tournament always faces.
“The competition should be easy to understand,” PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolup said at the Tour Championship. “The regular season and postseason should be connected in a way that builds toward the Tour Championship in a way that all sports fans understand.”
The tour’s new chief mentioned the regular season and postseason, but the same sentiment carries weight for the fall swing. A few cutoff points are highlighted: Aon Next 10 and Top 100 for full-time status, but the nuances beyond the magic number are not. This once again creates confusion, lack of clarity and misunderstandings for both players and fans. And it needs to improve.
Not everything is falling short of what it should be at this time of year. That would be an overly pessimistic stance. Both longtime PGA Tour players and newcomers joined the winner’s circle for the first time. The improbable cancellation of the tournament resulted in one of the best viewing experiences of the entire PGA Tour season, with one event receiving a flood of interest thanks to the presence of America’s top players in preparation for the Ryder Cup.
We call balls and strikes here and will continue to do so throughout this year’s FedExCup fall. Winners are celebrated, losers are identified, and an additional thought or two is shared.
FedEx Cup Fall Winner
First time users
Like it or not, change is coming to the PGA Tour. Jump on the train or risk being stranded on the old circuit. Harris English mentioned the schedule change starting after the Super Bowl, but there are also rumors that it will actually start the same week at the WM Phoenix Open, with only about 20 tournaments to be held.
Bottom line: The PGA Tour, and what I called the PGB Tour, will be more than just a signature event compared to your regular run-of-the-mill tournaments. There will be a line drawn between the best talent the Tools can offer and the rest of the league.
This is why there are so many first-time winners. of winner FedEx Cup Fall Game. Who knows how complex exemptions will work in the future? No one knows how to make it to the main event. Who knows how all this happens?
Adam Schenk and Sami Valimaki (I put Michael Brennan in a separate category given his age and top talent) have secured their spots on the PGA Tour through 2027. know That’s very valuable.
Bermuda Championship
It was one of the top five tournaments of the entire PGA Tour season. With tee times moved up before the start of NFL games on Sunday, the Bermuda Championship provided golf fanatics with the best viewing experience imaginable. Definition of pleasant surprise.
Faced with wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour, forced to take flight shots, the players used their imaginations to hang on to their lives as their livelihoods, career-changing prospects and lifelong dreams were all at stake. The drama was engaging, the characters were interesting, and the quality of the golf was something I wanted to see more of this fall.
napa valley
It may not have worked out for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, but it worked out for the Pro Core Championship. After revealing after the fact that the players on the 2023 team may not have been ready for the Ryder Cup tournament in Rome, U.S. captain Keegan Bradley made sure that doesn’t happen ahead of the 2025 tournament at Bethpage Black.
As such, 11 of the team’s 12 members (with the exception of Xander Schauffele as he welcomed a newborn) prepared the team for the first FedEx Cup Fall event. The result may have been as expected — the best American player played the best, Scottie Scheffler won — but it was a lively start to a swinging season.
While top-ranked amateur Jackson Koibun makes his point, players like Lant Griffin, who was in contention for the card, are off to the best start of the year and said the quiet part out loud when Scheffler mentioned (cheek-in-cheek) that he wished he hadn’t played.
fedex cup fall losers
jordan spies
If a player underperforms in the regular season and postseason, he should theoretically play in the FedExCup fall, even if it’s just one tournament. Spieth felt as if he didn’t need to play, but in the end he was proven right. Having started to fall down the rankings within the Aon Next 10, the three-time major champion was edged out by Max McGreevey thanks to his runner-up finish at the RSM Classic, which saw him narrowly unplaced.
The first reaction is to point out that while Spieth might attract invitations from sponsors, he probably won’t need them. The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the first signature event of 2026, will feature 80 players due to its amateur aspect. This spot will be determined by the FedExCup standings at the end of the season, so Spieth will play. He also stands as the first alternate for the Genesis Invitational.
Spieth is not a “loser” by any definition of the word. What was presented actually suggested the exact opposite — he might enjoy the offseason, earn some spots in some big tournaments, and lose nothing — but in doing so, he exposed flaws in the system that need to be fixed.
journeyman
Looking at the final FedEx Cup standings from 101st to 125th, you can’t help but think these players would have been safe this time last year. With the PGA Tour tightening the right to full-time play, longtime PGA Tour players like Sheamus Power, Joel Dahmen and Matt Kuchar will have to look elsewhere for playing opportunities.
These names don’t dictate everything, but it’s easy to see trends on the PGA Tour. It becomes more difficult for golfers to maintain their membership status each season.
“I’m pretty pissed, to be honest,” Justin Lower said. “I don’t have anything else to say. No matter what I say or what I think, people tend not to like it, so I’m not going to say too much. There’s a lot that can be said about changes and everything, but obviously in the situation I’m in, I feel threatened by it and that’s totally understandable. I completely understand the need for changes. Do I agree with them? No. I don’t think our product is so bad that we have to blow everything up.” But obviously, I had a terrible year. I mean, there were a lot of missed shots over 27 over two days at the US Open.
“Was this year the best I’ve had? Absolutely not. But I worked so hard this fall and it sucks to be this low. … But it really sucks, the situation I’m in and the situation the other players are in. I just don’t like the direction the tour is going.”
Notable players ranked from 101st to 125th in the FedEx Cup
104 | bo hosler | 2017 |
113 | doug pin | 2019 |
114 | Andrew Putnam | 2017 |
117 | sheamus power | 2016 |
118 | matt kuchar | 2006 |
120 | Justin Lower | 2021 |
122 | Joel Damen | 2016 |
| one two three | sam rider | 2017 |
| 125 | runt griffin | 2019 |
simplicity
If you watched Sunday’s broadcast, you would have thought that players who finished outside the top 100 would be done on the PGA Tour, but that’s not the case. Lee Hodges, who finished 101st in the FedEx Cup, will likely start more often next season. The same goes for Ricky Castillo, who finished 102nd and has a chance to move up through Q-School.
“I had to sit out with a broken rib. I think I missed six or seven tournaments and was given four (medical starts),” Hodges said. “That’s the thing. It definitely helped me more, yeah. I could have started more and it wasn’t my last tournament like the other players, so that was good.”
“My agents told me, ‘If you get in the top 111, you’ll really like where you’re at.'” So I think 101 is OK after a bad year — sorry, this was a bad year. So, yeah, that’s what it is. ”
The two did not hold full-time status, but as Hodges and his representatives pointed out, they still hold conditional status and are well positioned for 2026. Players ranked 101-110 are three spots higher in the priority order than players ranked 111-125, which could mean the difference between qualifying for some tournaments or not.
