FedExCup update: Wyndham defending champion Lucas Glover goes back to basics to vie for Playoffs spot

A year ago, Lucas Glover came to Sedgefield Country Club, a place where he spent a lot of time as a kid visiting relatives, ranked a distant 112th in the FedExCup.

He had just missed the cut at the 3M Open but had rallied with a second-round 68 and was only one shot shy of playing the weekend. Plus, he’d finished sixth or better in each of his three starts before the tournament at TPC Twin Cities.

So, there was room for optimism, and Glover got the job done – winning the Wyndham Championship and moving to 49th in the FedExCup. He won the following week in a playoff and made it all the way to the TOUR Championship at East Lake.

As the Clemson grad enters his title defense this week, Glover is much closer to the top-70 FedExCup Playoffs cutoff at No. 75. But he’s missed the cut in four of his last six starts and has yet to post a top-10 this season.

Glover says he’s not focused on his precarious position – yet. But by Sunday, or whenever the weather-threatened Wyndham Championship winds down to a conclusion, he could have some decisions to make as he assesses the scenarios and tries to climb the FedExCup ladder.

“It's more everybody's on zero right now but come Sunday you're probably going to need to know,” Glover said. “Let's say you're a handful back with four, five holes to play and then you know you're not going to win, but should I go for it on 15 or should I be smart, or should I hit at it on 16?

“Just different scenarios because obviously you want to get there. The goal the next three days is to get in the position to have that matter.”

Glover’s main focus will be getting off to a good start at Sedgefield. In his last nine tournaments, he has only broken par twice in the first round, including a 78 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday and a 77 at The Open Championship two weeks ago in his last start.

“I've kind of been a slow starter this year, seem to be fighting after about six holes every Thursday, so my focus is to get off to a good start whenever we do get to start,” he said. “I haven't been doing that and so just been trying to focus on that instead of worrying about too much of the big picture right now.”

Glover spent time with his coach, Jason Baile, at Jupiter Hills Golf Club in south Florida last week. The former U.S. Open champion isn’t the kind of guy who pours over stats to identify problems in his game. He just wanted to go back to the fundamentals.

“Nothing's very comfortable when you're in the position I'm in, but I just haven't put much together this year,” Glover said. “I hit it good for a week, not make anything, and then the next week it would seem to be the opposite. … I said, hey, we've got to dumb this down and kind of go back to what we know. Worked on ball position and alignment and weight shift. That sounds very Golf Digest, but that's what we did.”

Bubble boy

Frenchman Victor Perez, coming off a heroic run at the Olympics to finish a stroke away from the bronze medal, enters the week right on the bubble at No. 70 in the FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List. His fate is in his hands. He's adjusting from his Olympic goals and getting right back to his goal to make the Playoffs. "Yeah, this is obviously a lot more what we're used to where kind of everything matters," Perez said. "Every points, positions, where you stand on the FedExCup, making the cut, missing the cut, the repercussion that it will have, top 10, winning, obviously where that puts you, everything can change so fast whereas last week a lot more straightforward."

FedEx St. Jude Championship bubble watch

At No. 71, Charles Schwab Challenge winner Davis Riley needs a solo-73rd finish or better for a chance to tee it up in Memphis. In the six starts since his win in May, the 27-year-old has three MCs in six events and a best finish of T46 ... Andrew Putnam stands No. 72 on the FedExCup, needing a two-way T50 or better for a chance to move inside the top 70. The Pepperdine alum has notched six top-25s in 21 starts this season, highlighted by a T8 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. He played this year's Signature Events after finishing 35th on the 2023 FedExCup and will not want to surrender that status ... No. 73 Kurt Kitayama, who has two top-10s and five top-25s in 19 starts, will likely need a solo 28th or better. The 31-year-old University of Nevada-Las Vegas alum is riding high off a made cut at The Open and a T6 at the 3M Open into this week ... Luke List, who entered the year with a big push from his Sanderson Farms Championship in the 2023 FedExCup Fall, has struggled to No. 74, with 11 missed cuts in 21 starts, including seven missed cuts in his past eight starts. The 39-year-old needs a solo 27th or better to have a chance to make the Playoffs.

Vegas eyes top 50 spot

Two weeks ago, the FedExCup Playoffs bubble was merely a pipe dream for Jhonattan Vegas. The Venezuelan has battled a shoulder injury in recent years but has maintained the drive to thrive at the highest level – powered by the support of his wife and young son and daughter.

Vegas scribed a signature moment at the 3M Open, where he made birdie on the 72nd hole to earn his fourth TOUR title and first since 2017. That vaulted him from outside the top 130 to No. 66 on the FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List, suddenly on the cusp of a Playoffs berth.

This week marks his 300th TOUR start, and Vegas looks to make it memorable. His main goal now is moving inside the top 50 after the FedEx St. Jude Championship to qualify for the BMW Championship – and for all Signature Events in 2025. It’s a far cry from battling to fulfill a medical extension and finish inside the top 125 to simply retain exempt status, but it’s a fair mental recalibration after a return to the winner’s circle.

“The win changed the whole focus for me,” Vegas said. “Tried to build up and get better as every week went on. Especially as you get closer to that top 50, which is the magic number right now … if you can get into those, it just makes the following year a lot easier. So that's the No. 1 goal, to get there, to make a pretty good run at the end and trying to get there because … all of the benefits you get from the top 50.”

First step: finishing inside the top 70 after the Wyndham.

This piece was contributed to by PGA TOUR staffers Stephanie Royer and Kevin Prise.