Who is in danger of missing out on the FedEx Cup?

It’s hard to believe, but the PGA Tour regular season ends this week at the Wyndham Championship.

For the second time since the PGA Tour created the new FedEx Cup playoff structure, only 70 players will advance from the regular season to next week’s first playoff event, the FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis. While no tour cards are at stake this week, there are reasons for $100 million (the increased size of the FedEx Cup bonus pool this year) for players to want to enter the Tour postseason.

Last year at the Wyndham Championship, we saw Justin Thomas, on the heels of his worst season as a member of the PGA Tour, fall inches short of securing a playoff bid. It was a stunning end to Thomas’ season, and a reminder of a fundamental truth in golf: Nothing is guaranteed, even for the most famous golfers.

This year, Thomas’ good friend Jordan Spieth is in Greensboro trying to improve his standing. At No. 63 in the FedEx Cup standings, Spieth is a statistical lock for the playoffs, but he’s nowhere near the spot he captured earlier this year. And since the bottom 20 players are eliminated from the play-offs after St. Jude (a team that currently includes Spieth), would do well to post a few low scores at Wyndham, making his ranking rise along with it.

“Whether it’s the playoffs or people moving to qualify, there’s a lot at stake in this event,” Spieth said Tuesday. “My goal this week is to try to climb all the way to the FedExCup and enter the Playoffs on a high note.”

He remembered Thomas’ situation last year. The end of the PGA Tour season brings drama in different ways, he said.

“I think it points to what this event can produce in the end,” he said. “There’s going to be a tournament to win and that’s going to be the focus, but you’re almost twice as excited about some of the things, guys making the playoffs, guys getting into the Top-125 or making a big push. where they will be able to return to their jobs until the end of the fall.”

With that pressure in mind, here are some of the tour players competing for their 2024 Playoff lives this week.

The bubble for the 2024 FedEx Cup playoffs

Near the bubble, but locked into FedEx St. Jude Championship

No. 60 Peter Malnati, No. 61 Ben Griffin, No. 62 Min Woo Lee, No. 63 Jordan Spieth.

In the bubble

No. 66 Nick Dunlap: Dunlap has won twice on the PGA Tour this season, but if one move doesn’t go his way, he could still be out of the Playoffs altogether. This is because the star’s first win, when he became the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour in more than 30 years, did not give him FedEx Cup points. Dunlap’s second win at Tahoe last month (and first as a professional) moved him out of the no-man’s playoff spot. With a five-player gap between Dunlap and the 71st spot, he should go into Memphis safely.

No. 67 Jonathan Vegas: Vegas broke a seven-year winless streak last month at the 3M Open and put itself in a good position to make the playoffs after a one-year absence.

No. 70 Brendon Todd: Todd is this week’s bubble guy after a spectacular season highlighted by a top-10 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (one of two such finishes all year). Rather than advancing to the FedEx Cup level with a win, Todd entered contention on a rough note, missing just four cuts all season. He’ll likely need to do better than just make the weekend at Wyndham to secure his spot in Memphis.

No. 71 Victor Perez: Last week’s Olympic home favorite finds himself the first man out of the Playoffs entering this week. His Sunday 63 finish and impressive T4 finish at the Paris Olympics did not count for FedEx Cup points, but it does count the vibes. Perez has been trending in the right direction, as the Olympics went 2-for-10 in three starts. Another top-10 should send him to the postseason in his first year as a member of the PGA Tour.

No. 72 Davis Riley: Riley earned his first PGA Tour win of the season at the John Deere Classic, but that wasn’t enough to guarantee a Playoff spot. Deere is Riley’s only top-10 finisher this season after making the Playoffs in his first two years on Tour.

No. 74 Kurt Kitayama: After winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2023 and playing in every Signature Event in 2024, Kitayama hasn’t had the same form this year and will need a strong week in Greensboro if he wants to earn invitations to every 2025 Signature. Events.

From the outside looking in

No. 76 Lucas Glover: Based on last year’s rankings, Glover is in pretty good shape. The player who won the US Open in 2009 was ranked 112th when he won at Wyndham last year, putting him in the Playoffs where he won. again next week. In 2024, the 44-year-old Glover has yet to record a top-10 finish this season and has missed four of the last six coming into the week.

No. 79 Keith Mitchell: One of the best drivers on the PGA Tour, Mitchell had a Jekyll and Hyde 2024 season. He had three top-10s and six top-25 finishes, but missed six times, including four of his last seven. The 32-year-old has never missed a playoff as a member of the PGA Tour.

No. 80 Nicolai Hojgaard: Hojgaard has performed well on the international stage over the past few years, including a 7th place finish at the Olympics. He also held a brief lead at the Masters before finishing T16. But since soloing at the Farmers Insurance Open, his first start as a member of the PGA Tour, he hasn’t recorded another top ten.

No. 86 Charlie Hoffman: Hoffman turned back the clock with his playoff loss to Nick Taylor at the WM Phoenix Open, but finished 50th the following week and promptly missed three consecutive cuts. Whether he makes the playoffs or not, it’s his best position in the FedEx Cup since 2021.

Longshots

No. 104 Rickie Fowler: Fowler had an odd follow-up to his resurgent 2023, with no top-10 finishes and just two top-25s in 2024. He declined to enter the Wyndham Championship, meaning his regular season is over.

No. 113 Matt Kuchar: Kuchar is the only player to play in all 17 FedEx Cup playoffs, but that streak is in serious jeopardy this week. Needs a win to get into the top 70.

No. 117 Joel Dahmen: Like Kuchar, Dahmen also needs a win to qualify for the Playoffs, but he missed all three of his cuts entering the week.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A native of Pennsylvania, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was the captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as the head coach. Jack is also *still* trying to stay competitive with the local novices. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a reporter/multimedia reporter, but also producing, anchoring and presenting even the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.