It all comes down to this: the Wyndham Championship, the final regular-season stop on the PGA Tour calendar.
Sure, this week is mostly about jockeying for position in the FedExCup standings or playing one’s way into (and, on the flip side, out of) the playoffs. But for those players who don’t have the luxury of already being fully exempt on Tour past this season, their jobs could be on the line after this week.
Looking at the FedExCup bubble picture, which has been affected this year by LIV Golf players either renouncing their Tour membership or being removed from the points list, not all players just inside and outside that No. 125 position will be sweating it out in Greensboro. For example, No. 123 Rickie Fowler has his full card locked up through next season and likely longer should he need to tap into various exemptions. Same goes for Cameron Champ (130) and Harris English (182), who missed much of this season due to injury.
But what about guys who absolutely need this week or risk losing most of, if not all, their Tour playing privileges for 2022-23?
Here are 12 names on or near the playoff bubble who either play their way into the top 125 or head to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals trying to keep their cards:
Kramer Hickok
Current FEC position: 122
Finish needed to crack top 125: Currently in
He’s really kicking himself over last year’s Travelers playoff loss now. The Texas product, who is in his fourth year on Tour after nearly losing his card in 2019 (KFT Finals) and 2020 (pandemic), was helped majorly by his solo fourth in Houston in the fall. He should manage to squeak into the playoffs and keep his card, but he also hasn’t cracked the top 60 in a non-opposite-field event since March.
Matt Wallace
Current FEC position: 124
Finish needed to crack top 125: Currently in
The Englishman earned his Tour card as a non-member after the 2018-19 season, during which he tied for third at the PGA, shared 12th at the US Open and cracked the top 25 in the world rankings. But he still hasn’t finished better than No. 111 in the FedExCup and is now ranked No. 157 in the OWGR. He barely sits inside the bubble entering Wyndham as he mixed two top-10s with 11 missed cuts in 20 starts this season.
Fowler: ‘Everyone’s managing their own grind’ at Wyndham
Austin Smotherman
Current FEC position: 125
Finish needed to crack top 125: Currently in
Bryson DeChambeau’s former teammate at SMU, the Tour rookie has been OK in his debut season with six top-25s, including a recent solo eighth at the Barracuda. He’s made 16 of 24 cuts, too, so he’s earned his 125th position in points a little bit at a time. Another handful of points this week will come in handy considering he has zero margin for error.
Max McGreevy
Current FEC position: 126
Finish needed to crack top 125: 46th or better
The former Oklahoma Sooner is another Tour rookie, although unlike Smotherman, he’s earned the majority of his points via one event, a runner-up at the Puerto Rico Open. He finds himself a spot outside of the top 125 and enters Wyndham not in the best form, having missed six of seven cuts.
Danny Willett
Current FEC position: 127
Finish needed to crack top 125: 44th or better
OK, so a poor week won’t kick Willett off the Tour completely, but if it happens, the 2016 Masters champion, whose five-year exemption from that win runs out this year, will have to go to KFT Finals or play out of the Nos. 126-150 category next season – or go back full-time to the DP World Tour. Willett is playing his 21st event of the season this week, the most starts he’s had since becoming a Tour member, but he’s got just one top-10 to show for it.
Nick Hardy
Current FEC position: 129
Finish needed to crack top 125: 31st or better
Talk about bad luck: Hardy got off to a slow start to his rookie Tour campaign and then missed about a month with a wrist injury. However, the promising prospect out of Illinois has played much better of late, leading the US Open at one point before tying for 14th, one of three top-15s in his last six Tour starts.
Kelly Kraft
Current FEC position: 131
Finish needed to crack top 125: 27th or better
Impressively, the 2011 US Amateur champion has played six straight seasons on Tour, although he had to retain his card via KFT Finals last year. He may very well have to do that again after making just 10 cuts this season entering this week, otherwise he’ll be playing out of the Nos. 126-150 category.
Martin Trainer
Current FEC position: 135
Finish needed to crack top 125: 18th or better
Who knew that 2019 Puerto Rico Open win would have Trainer still clinging to fully exempt status. However, Trainer’s time on that two-turned-three-year exemption is finally up, unless, of course, he can crack the top 18 this week, something he’s done just three times this season and not since a T-11 at the Mexico Open in May.
Harry Higgs (138)
Current FEC position: 138
Finish needed to crack top 125: 13th or better
If only players got FedExCup points for viral moments. A year after advancing to the BMW Championship, Higgs has mustered only three top-15s this season, although two of those came at the Masters (T-14) and CJ Cup (T-9).
Rory Sabbatini
Current FEC position: 140
Finish needed to crack top 125: 9th or better
The Silver Slovak used his career money exemption this season and posted just one finish better than T-25, a T-3 at the Shriners Open in the fall. If he fails to make the playoffs, he’ll likely play next season out of the Nos. 126-150 category unless he plays well at KFT Finals.
Bill Haas
Current FEC position: 151
Finish needed to crack top 125: 4th or better
Like Sabbatini, Haas also used his career money exemption this season, so he’ll need to at least make the cut to have a shot at getting inside the top 150. If he doesn’t, the 2011 FedExCup champ and three-time Presidents Cupper will have the KFT Finals and then, worst case, should have a decent position in the reorder for categories 34-39, which includes past champs and other Tour veterans. He enters this week having missed five of his last seven cuts.
Luke Donald
Current FEC position: 159
Finish needed to crack top 125: 3rd or better
The recently named European Ryder Cup captain and former world No. 1 managed just one top-20 while playing off a career money exemption this season, and that was a T-16 at one of his favorite events, the Valspar. Getting into the top 125 is a possibility this week, and if not, he’ll be in a similar position as Haas, although his free time will be spent preparing for Italy in September 2023.