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The PGA Tour’s regular season finale may not carry the same drama as in years past—the reconfigured fall schedule now serves as the true last-chance saloon for tour cards. But what’s at stake this week at the Wyndham Championship is arguably more important than ever.
We’re now in Year 3 of the playoff system’s biggest shift: the cutline dropped from 125 players to just 70. While those ranked 71st and below still have autumn opportunities to chase status, players finishing 51-70 earn full exemption for next season. But here’s where it gets interesting, and expensive: Finish in the top 50, and you’re fully exempt into all eight signature events, where limited fields mean maximum points and prize money. The top 30 still advance to the Tour Championship, earning a two-year exemption plus automatic invitations to the Masters, U.S. Open, and Open Championship.
With that in mind, here are the bubble boys (for various bubbles) and players needing to do work heading into this week’s Wyndham Championship.
Daniel Berger
Berger’s tale of two seasons tells the story of momentum’s fragile nature on tour. Through the first two-thirds of 2025, the four-time tour winner was quietly orchestrating a career revival—nine top-25 finishes in just 12 starts suggested he’d rediscovered the form that made him a Ryder Cupper. But momentum, as Berger has learned, can evaporate quickly. His last seven starts tell a different story: just one finish inside the top 30. Sitting 28th in FedEx Cup points, Berger has secured his playoff spot and advancement to the BMW Championship, but East Lake—and the Tour Championship’s two-year exemption—will require him to rediscover that early-season magic at TPC Southwind or Caves Valley.
Xander Schauffele
Ross Parker – SNS Group
It’s odd to put the No. 3 player in the world on this list, although Schauffele stands at No. 41 on the FEC. The explanation is straightforward: an injury-shortened first half of the season, followed by rust-filled early returns. But dismissing Schauffele would be foolish. Since finding his rhythm around the Masters, he’s flashed the performance we’ve come to expect from him with finishes of T-8 at the Scottish Open and T-7 at the Open. Schauffele hasn’t missed the Tour Championship since capturing it in 2017, and East Lake remains the stage where the two-time major winner consistently produces his best golf.
Wyndham Clark
The 2023 U.S. Open champion has generated more headlines this year for his behaviour than play, but Clark appears to be emerging from his competitive hibernation at precisely the right time with a T-4 at Royal Portrush bookended by top-12 finishes at both the Scottish Open and 3M Open. While Clark has locked up his playoff spot, he’s teetering on the cutoff of signature status. In a telling sign of where his priorities lie, Clark committed to this week’s Wyndham Championship on Friday, only to reverse course and withdraw Monday—a calculated gamble that places all his hopes on a strong showing in Memphis.
Jordan Spieth
Ben Jared
Few players carry as much pressure into the next month as Spieth. The three-time major champion became an unwitting lightning rod this season when colleagues criticised the number of sponsor exemptions he received into signature events—whispers that grew loud enough to become tour gossip. Now, perched exactly at 50th in FedEx Cup points, Spieth has a chance to silence those critics and earn access the hard way, but there’s zero margin for error. The stakes extend beyond tour politics: Spieth remains in the conversation for a Ryder Cup captain’s pick, though his case desperately needs some recent form. The next two weeks, beginning with Wyndham, represent a crossroads where the 32-year-old Texan can begin to reclaim his once-heightened status or watch both opportunities slip away.
Tony Finau
The powerful Finau enjoys the luxury of tour status locked up through 2027, yet finds himself navigating one of the most puzzling campaigns of his distinguished career. For eight consecutive seasons, Finau finished 23rd or better in FedEx Cup standings—a model of consistency that made him one of the tour’s most reliable performers. This year tells a starkly different story: just one top-10 finish in 18 starts has left him languishing at 60th. While the playoffs remain a certainty, cracking the all-important top 50 hinges on two good weeks ahead.
Rickie Fowler
Emilee Chinn
The fanfare surrounding his 2023 renaissance was so loud that his subsequent slide back into mediocrity has occurred almost in silence. Now sitting 61st in FedEx Cup points with playoff qualification secured but little else, Fowler’s underlying numbers tell a harsh truth: 84th in strokes gained, with his solitary top-10 finish coming via the very sponsor exemptions that made him a target for peer criticism this season. Like Spieth, Fowler found himself defending the charity of tournament directors rather than celebrating his own performance. Without a strong showing this week or in Memphis, the Fowler faces the humbling prospect of once again relying on the goodwill of tournament organisers to access golf’s most lucrative events.
Matti Schmid
Schmid arrives at Wyndham wearing the most precarious position of Mr. 70, teetering on the edge of playoff qualification. His four top-10 finishes this season paint a misleading picture of success—three came at alternate events when the tour’s elite were competing elsewhere. More troubling is his recent form. Schmid enters Greensboro riding a brutal cold streak, managing just one finish better than T-60 over the past two months.
The Hojgaards
JOHN MACDOUGALL
The Hojgaard twins find themselves in the peculiar position of sharing both DNA and desperation. Nicolai sits frustratingly close at 71st in FedEx Cup points while brother Rasmus faces longer odds at 82nd, needing a minor miracle to extend his season. Their struggles carry international implications: both Danes currently sit outside automatic qualifying for Europe’s Ryder Cup team, transforming this week’s Wyndham Championship into a potential double rescue mission.
Gary Woodland
Woodland finds himself caught in the same uncomfortable spotlight that has illuminated Spieth and Fowler due to sponsor exemption usage. Yet the 2019 U.S. Open champion does have a runner-up finish at the Houston Open earlier this season, while last week’s solid T-20 at the 3M Open suggests a player building momentum at precisely the right moment. Now sitting 75th in FedEx Cup points, Woodland arrives at Sedgefield where just a good week could vault him into the top 70.
Adam Scott
Ramsey Cardy
The 45-year-old was in the mix at Oakmont, only to stumble on Sunday to the tune of a 79 to fall out of the top 10. That’s really the only week of note for Scott in 2025, with zero top 10s and just five top 25s. Tour status for next year is secured thanks to reaching the Tour Championship last year, but without a win this week Scott will likely need to rely on sponsor exemptions to compete in signature events next season.
Tom Kim
The 23-year-old is already in his fourth year on tour, yet for the second straight season Kim has taken a step back. After missing 11 cuts in his first three years, Kim has failed to make the weekend eight times in 2025, and has turned in just one top-10 finish. The metrics—88th in strokes gained, 126th off-the-tee—are also grim. He’s exempt through 2026, although without a win at the Wyndham, Kim (No. 89) won’t see the postseason. Kim did win in Greensboro in 2022, so a late run is not out of the cards.
Max Homa
Outside the top 100 in both the FEC and OWGR, although the fan favourite is exempt through 2028, so time is on his side. There’s even the case that a little break over the next month could do him good. But like the names above, anything less than a W will likely end his season.
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Main Image: Alex Goodlett
