FedExCup update: Beneficiary of late bubble blunders, Justin Thomas advances to TOUR Championship

CASTLE PINES VILLAGE, Colo. – Justin Thomas didn’t wait around. For the sake of his blood pressure, that was probably best.

Thomas began the BMW Championship 22nd in the FedExCup, but by Sunday afternoon he had drifted to the dreaded top-30 bubble. A rough week at Castle Pines Golf Club put him on his back foot, shifting his mindset from free-wheeled aggression to survival mode.

As he spoke to the media after his Sunday 68, Thomas was on the wrong side of the projections at No. 31, the first man out.

“I'm just going home," said Thomas. "Going to go to Jupiter. There's no need for me to sit here and stress this out all afternoon. It sucks, but it's the position I put myself in.”

He arrived home to good news, with a few people to thank.

Thomas proved to be the central bubble figure of the final round, despite ending hours before Keegan Bradley closed out his seventh PGA TOUR win. With his fate in others’ hands, Thomas moved up and down the projections all afternoon, his chances to make it to East Lake looking bleak then promising with every passing birdie and bogey. He occupied every spot from No. 27-32 on Sunday afternoon. When the dust settled, he was No. 30, the last man in.

It wasn’t without some calamity. Thomas looked destined for No. 31 as Brian Harman reached the 18th hole. Inside the top 30 thanks to four back-nine birdies, Harman needed just a par to secure his spot, but the Georgian couldn’t get to the green in two after his drive found the rough. His third shot bounced over the green and Harman didn’t get up and down, making a closing double bogey to drop 29 FedExCup points behind Thomas.

Thomas' spot was threatened soon after. Alex Noren, who began the day projected inside the top 30 but dropped out after opening in 38, made birdies on 11 and 14 to jump back inside the projections. The Swede was four holes from securing his place in East Lake and likely all four majors next year, but he bogeyed the final three holes including No. 17, the easiest hole at Castle Pines. Noren was the only player in the top 10 to bogey the hole.

“It was tough. It was tricky," said Noren, who finished 37th in the FedExCup. "I didn't hit the shots that I needed."

Their misfortune was Thomas’ gain, who returns to East Lake after missing the FedExCup Playoffs altogether a season ago. Thomas has missed the TOUR Championship just twice in his TOUR career. He will start at even-par, 10 shots back of No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

“I'm going to be beyond a long shot, but in my eyes I have a chance, and that's all I want,” Thomas said.

Scheffler finished in a tie for 33rd, an unusual off-week for the world’s best. He heads to East Lake at No. 1 in the standings for the third consecutive year He’s 0-for-2 from the top position, a trend he hopes to remedy.

“It's weird starting off with a lead,” Scheffler said. “I know I'll be in contention going into next week, and just got to go out there and do my thing and compete and I've got a great chance to win the tournament next week, and I'm looking forward to the challenge.”

Moving in

Keegan Bradley (moved from No. 50 to No. 4): After earning the final spot in the BMW Championship field, Bradley embodied the FedExCup Playoffs’ potential for volatility with a one-stroke victory over a trio of players, his seventh PGA TOUR title. Bradley qualifies for his sixth TOUR Championship and moves into serious contention for a captain’s selection on the U.S. Presidents Cup Team (on which he is slated to be a captain’s assistant).

Adam Scott (moved from No. 41 to No. 14): The veteran Australian shared second place at Castle Pines, just one off Bradley’s winning total, to jump 27 spots in the standings and secure his 13th TOUR Championship appearance. It’s the continuation of strong play for Scott, 44, who followed a runner-up at the Genesis Scottish Open with a T10 at The Open and a T18 at the Playoffs-opening FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Tommy Fleetwood (moved from No. 31 to No. 22): The easygoing Englishman didn’t appear fazed by the BMW bubble, as he carded four rounds of par or better at Castle Pines for a T5 finish that advanced him to East Lake for the fourth time.

Chris Kirk (moved from No. 32 to No. 26): It was a roller-coaster final nine Sunday for The Sentry winner, who made back-to-back birdies on Nos. 14 and 15 and then shook off a double bogey at the par-3 16th with a birdie-par finish to grab a share of ninth place at Castle Pines. It was enough for his second trip to East Lake (first since 2014).

Moving out

Brian Harman (moved from No. 29 to No. 31): Harman took the agonizing distinction as first man out for the TOUR Championship, and it came in gutting fashion as he made double bogey on the 72nd hole at the BMW when a par would have been enough for a top-30 position. He finished solo 25th at Castle Pines.

Jason Day (moved from No. 25 to No. 33): The veteran Australian had no shortage of fireworks Sunday, including back-to-back closing birdies to keep his hopes alive, but he’ll rue a triple bogey-double bogey stretch on Nos. 14 and 15 Sunday that led to a T33 finish in the 50-man BMW field.

Davis Thompson (moved from No. 26 to No. 34): It was a sterling season for the second-year TOUR pro, who notched his first title at the John Deere Classic this summer. But he was doomed at Castle Pines with an opening-round 76 en route to a T41 finish that left him off the mark for East Lake.

Denny McCarthy (moved from No. 30 to No. 35): For the second straight year, McCarthy will fall just short of a trip to East Lake; he placed No. 33 on the 2023 FedExCup. The University of Virginia alum, who has battled a torn labrum of late, finished T26 at Castle Pines.