The cut line is never kind, but for several players just inside the top 100 of the FedExCup standings entering this week’s RSM Classic, it was especially cruel.
In fact, the four closest players to the right side of the bubble who weren’t already fully exempt for 2026 – No. 95 Ryo Hisatsune, No. 96 Thorbjorn Olesen, No. 97 Danny Walker and No. 99 Takumi Kanaya – all ended their seasons by missing the cut on Friday at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Georgia.
While none of those four players are projected to drop out right now – Kanaya currently sits squarely on No. 100 in the current projections – it will surely be an anxious weekend from home.
No. 98 Michael Brennan and No. 100 Karl Vilips each made the cut but both won tournaments this year to receive two-year winner’s exemptions.
Matt Wallace and Beau Hossler, Nos. 102 and 103, respectively, both made the cut, with Wallace shooting 6-under 66 on the Plantation Course to move to 9 under and Hossler carding 67 on the same layout to rise to 7 under. They’ve each moved up a spot in the projected points standings heading into Saturday, and neither has status to fall back on.
“Always nerve-racking to try and make a cut,” Hossler said, “but [especially] just knowing that there’s so much more needed.”
“This season’s been challenging,” Hossler added. “I feel like I’ve done some really good things. I’ve not really put four rounds together truthfully. At the end of the day, the way that the tournaments are, the point structure is you get rewarded heavily for high finishes, and once you’ve kind of finished in the middle of the pack, you don’t really get any points more or less, or certainly not difference-making points.”
With Nos. 101-110 in points receiving conditional status that will likely come with starts in most open tournaments next season, that’s a big cutoff, too. Jesper Svensson, Lee Hodges and Andrew Putnam are all inside the top 13 and projected to move into that range. Pierceson Coody made the cut on the number at 7 under and is projected to drop a spot to No. 111, but Coody already has his full PGA Tour card locked up via his top-20 performance on the Korn Ferry Tour this year.
Nos. 111-125 also receives conditional membership and likely decent starts, too. Lanto Griffin, No. 123 to start the week, missed the cut and is projected to drop out, while Greyson Sigg, who fired 10-under 62 on Friday to move to T-4, is projected to jump 20 spots to No. 123. Ricky Castillo, currently T-7, is the new No. 125 after starting the week No. 135.
“I think you drive yourself insane if you start looking at where you’re projected and all that,” Sigg said. “I just try and go out and do my best on every shot and see where I end up.”