The FedEx Cup Playoffs are set … almost. While a Tuesday court date will determine if three LIV Golf players make it into the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the 125 players from the Tour’s eligibility list are official.
Only, that doesn’t include No. 125.
Thanks to Joohyung “Tom” Kim winning the Wyndham Championship as a special temporary Tour member and securing a playoff spot, one player had to be bumped. That was Mr. 125, Matt Wallace.
Kim wasn’t on the eligibility list to start the week, since he wasn’t a full-time Tour member. But thanks to his victory, Kim accepted full status and joined the playoffs in the 34th position. That introduction bumped everyone else down a spot.
The official bubble boy ended up being Rickie Fowler, who had finished 124th in the eligibility standings – which the Tour used in a manner to remove suspended LIV Golf members from the playoffs. Fowler missed the cut in North Carolina, but dropped only one spot by week’s end.
Also headed to Memphis, Tennessee, is Max McGreevy. He began the regular-season finale at 126th on the eligibility list but finished T-5 at the Wyndham to move forward.
“I wasn’t trying to get a certain amount of points or finish top 30 or something like that,” McGreevy said. “I haven’t played good golf in a long time, so I was just trying to play good golf and I thought it could take care of itself.”
That it did. The 27-year-old vaulted to 105th place (with the inclusion of Kim) on the playoff list. In addition to the 125 players advancing to the postseason, the top 70 after the FedEx St. Jude will qualify for the second playoff event, the BMW Championship, and the top 30 thereafter will make the Tour Championship finale.
McGreevy was the only player, aside from Kim, to play his way into the playoffs. While Wallace was bumped at No. 125, the guy who started the week in that position, Austin Smotherman, missed the cut and finished No. 126.
Justin Lower was No. 127. He bogeyed his final hole at the Wyndham, which appeared to cost him the final spot in the playoffs. However, a par would have nabbed him the 125th spot, which, as Wallace can attest, still wasn’t good enough.