Max McGreevy makes move, advances to FedExCup Playoffs

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Max McGreevy was the odd man out entering the Wyndham Championship, ranked No. 126 in the FedExCup eligibility list.

At stake was job security and a berth in the FedExCup Playoffs. Move inside the 125 – he trailed by 10.24 points -- and he would be fully exempt for the 2022-23 season and headed for the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis next week.

McGreevy, though, didn’t exactly arrive at Sedgefield on a hot streak, having missed six of his last seven cuts, including the last three consecutively. So, he wasn’t really focused on the mathematics or analytics.

The University of Oklahoma graduate just wanted to start playing golf the way he knew he could.

“I wasn't trying to get a certain amount of points or finish top‑30 or something like that,” McGreevy explained. “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. Felt good to put four good rounds together, for sure.”

Those four rounds in the 60s, punctuated by Sunday’s 65 that included six birdies in his last 11 holes, left him in a tie for fifth at 13 under. His second top-10 finish of season couldn’t have come at a more opportune time as McGreevy moved all the way to No. 104 in the FedExCup standings.

McGreevy was one of two players to move inside the top 125 on Sunday. The other was the winner, Tom Kim, who came in as a special temporary member but is now fully exempt and clocks in at No. 34 in the eligibility rankings.

With those two moving in, Matt Wallace and rookie Austin Smotherman, who missed the cut by two strokes when he made double bogey on his last hole, were eliminated.

McGreevy said his solid play at Sedgefield Country Club will give him a boost of confidence heading into the first Playoff event.

“(It’s)huge,” McGreevy said. “Luckily, I've actually been able to play that golf course a couple of times before, so it's even going to give me that much more confidence going into next week.

“Game feels really, really good and I feel like I could have popped off and played better than I did this week. Just super excited to have got it done, but just that hard work I've kind of put in these last couple months has actually shown.”

JUST MISSED: Justin Lower, who came to Greensboro ranked No. 127, came-oh-so-close to keeping his card and making the FedExCup Playoffs for the first time.

It all came down to a 61-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole on Sunday. Had he made it, Lower would have finished at No. 122. Two-putt for par and he’d be No. 125 (which, as it turns out, wouldn’t have helped after Kim won). When he made bogey, Lower finished 127th.

Lower, who will head to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals -- and regardless of what happens there he will have conditional status on TOUR for the 2022-23 season -- was emotional after he signed his he scorecard.

“I'd tell you if I could get it out,” he said, wiping away tears after he composed himself. “I don't really know what I'm thinking. It sucks to come up this short, really.”

Lower said he was aware of the TV cameras following him. But while he had looked at the electronic scoreboards which display the projected standings several times during the day, he wasn’t totally sure of the scenario at the 18th hole.

“But I had a feeling,” Lower said. “That first putt I had was, it was like not the putt you want at all, like I don't even know how long it was. I was trying to hit it 50 feet up the hill and try to use the hill to kind of kill it and it died over the edge.

“Just hit it a little too hard, because the last thing I want to do is leave it short and have it come back even more.”

NOTES: Sungjae Im tied for second with John Huh and moved up 5 spots to No. 10 in the Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 and earned $1 million. (Had he finished in a three-way tie for second, he wouldn’t have earned enough points.) Im was happy with the bonus but he said he had more work to do. “Finishing top-10 in the season on the PGA TOUR is definitely an honor and I'm happy with it, but still got three Playoff events remaining and I'm going to focus on playing well,” he said.

PLAYOFFS BUBBLE WATCH
Here are the players who moved in and moved out of the top 125 in the FedExCup standings after the Wyndham Championship, the final event before the start of the FedExCup Playoffs.

MOVED IN
Joohyung Kim (NR to No. 34): With his Wyndham win, Kim became a PGA TOUR member and thus eligible for the Playoffs. The 500 points from his win were combined with the points he earned from his previous finishes this season, including a third-place finish at the Genesis Scottish Open and seventh-place finish last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Max McGreevy (No. 126 to 104): His second top-10 of the season, punctuated by a final-round 65, came at the perfect time, allowing him to qualify for the Playoffs in his debut season. He finished T5 at Wyndham to go along with his runner-up at the Puerto Rico Open.

MOVED OUT
Matt Wallace (No. 124 to 126): Wallace missed the Wyndham cut by a stroke, but didn’t get bumped from the top 125 until Kim won. The win made Kim eligible to be included in the FedExCup standings, and his inclusion dropped Wallace from 125th to 126th in the FedExCup.

Austin Smotherman (No. 125 to 127): He started the week as the bubble boy and was off to a promising start with a first-round 65. A second-round 76, including a heartbreaking double-bogey on his 36th hole, left him two shots outside the cut line, however.