FedExCup Fall update: Hayden Springer is heartbeat as players fight to keep jobs Sunday at The RSM Classic

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Hayden Springer returned to his childhood swing coach Rosey Bartlett earlier this year, a reunion that has paid dividends in his rookie PGA TOUR season. Springer is making a last-ditch effort to earn a PGA TOUR card, and the changes coalesced in a big way Saturday afternoon.

Springer carded a second-nine 29 in Saturday’s third round at The RSM Classic (the front nine at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course), posting a 7-under 63 that matched the day’s low score and vaulted him 37 spots on the leaderboard; he stands T12 into Sunday at the FedExCup Fall finale.

Aside from the tournament leaderboard, where Maverick McNealy and Vince Whaley share the 54-hole lead at 14-under, the heightened drama in coastal Georgia lies around the No. 125 spot on the FedExCup Fall standings. Springer, who earned his first TOUR card via PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry last fall, entered the week at No. 128 on the FedExCup Fall. The top 125 after The RSM Classic will be fully exempt on the 2025 PGA TOUR, with Nos. 126-150 retaining conditional status.

With one round to play on the 2024 PGA TOUR schedule, Springer is projected No. 122 on the FedExCup Fall. His margin for error isn’t particularly robust, as he would project outside the top 125 with just two bogeys. But his spirited Saturday means he has a puncher’s chance at maintaining the lifelong dream that he first achieved 11 months ago.

“It would mean a lot,” Springer said Saturday afternoon. “I mean, that's really important to be able to secure that and have a job for next year and continue to live my dream of playing on the PGA TOUR. That’s very important to me and something that I've wanted to do for a really long time and something that I believe I can do and be out here for a long time. It would be special, for sure.”

Players in the 126-150 conditional category won’t completely fall off the TOUR, but they’ll have limited playing opportunities in the 2025 season, which features newly implemented status-and-eligibility changes that include fully exempt status for just the top 100 on the season-ending FedExCup Fall standings.

That means that the top-125 bubble has taken on a heightened importance this year, and the pressure is palpable at otherwise serene Sea Island Golf Club. It’s why McNealy said he’s following this week’s pursuits of his longtime friend Joseph Bramlett (who needs a top-three finish at minimum to move inside the top 125 and stands T12 into Sunday) more closely than his own. “I would trade 100 trophies to have him on the PGA TOUR next year,” McNealy said Saturday.

That emotion says it all. Arguably, Sunday’s truest trophy at The RSM Classic awaits those who finish inside the top 125, in the form of exempt status for 2025. Springer needed to grind out a windy Friday just to keep his hopes alive for the weekend; he made the cut on the number with rounds of 70-71, including two birdies in his final four holes. After an opening bogey in Saturday’s third round, he knew he needed a hot streak for a chance to move inside the top 125. He steadied the ship with birdies at Nos. 15 and 16 before making the turn, then turned on the jets with six birdies in a seven-hole stretch (Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8). All eight birdies came from inside 20 feet. He was dialed in, setting the stage for the most pivotal Sunday of his career.

Just over a year ago, Springer’s first daughter Sage passed away of complications from Trisomy 18, a severe developmental disorder stemming from an extra chromosome, of which she was prenatally diagnosed. It was heartbreaking of course for Springer, his wife Emma and the entire family. Yet they vowed to keep Sage’s spirit alive through their foundation, Extra To Love, which strives to encourage, support and celebrate families of those with Edwards syndrome (Trisomy 18) and Patau syndrome (Trisomy 13) through financial support for costs associated with the conditions, while also building a sense of community.

Sage’s spirit also endures through warmth in day-to-day human interactions. Springer glided to the interview area Saturday afternoon beaming from ear to ear, knowing he had taken a crucial step toward keeping the job he so deeply wants to preserve. It was unsaid, but his daughter’s spirit was with him – like it has been throughout a rookie PGA TOUR season which has offered countless reminders that he has indeed fulfilled a dream.

“It's been cool,” Springer said Saturday. “I was just thinking about the first two days playing with Russell Knox and Sean O'Hair. I've watched those guys on TV and now I'm teeing it up with them. A couple other times this year, I'm just trying to remember that as well. Like that's cool moments for me to play with those guys that I've kind of grown up watching and sat on the couch and I mean, I've watched so much golf on TV. It's been fun, it's been cool.

“I mean, it's kind of lived up to everything that I kind of dreamed it would be.”

Springer isn’t quite ready to abandon that dream. He can keep it alive Sunday at idyllic Sea Island.

Projected in

Daniel Berger (No. 127, projected to No. 108): Berger returned to competition in January from a back injury that had sidelined him for roughly 19 months, and he has gradually knocked off the rust across a full TOUR slate (The RSM Classic marks his 27th start of 2024.) His first top-10 finish came at last month’s Sanderson Farms Championship (solo seventh), and he’s positioned for another when he needs it most. Berger carded a third-round 63 at the Seaside Course, matching Saturday’s low round, and he shares third place into Sunday. Although he’s projected to move comfortably inside the bubble, he knows the job is not done. “I'm just happy and grateful to be pain-free and playing golf,” Berger said Saturday. “Two years ago, I was wondering if I would be playing golf again … Just control what I can control, and that’s it.”

Michael Thorbjornsen (No. 138, projected to No. 120): The recent Stanford grad is exempt on TOUR next season as the reigning PGA TOUR University No. 1, but he’d love to qualify for THE PLAYERS Championship via the top 125 on the FedExCup Fall. With rounds of 64-69-67 at The RSM Classic, he’s projected to do exactly that. Thorbjornsen is tied for third into Sunday, just two back of co-leaders Whaley and McNealy.

Henrik Norlander (No. 126, projected to No. 121): The veteran Swede can draw on good vibes at Sea Island, where he finished runner-up in 2016, as he did with a sizzling third-round 63 to ascend 37 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 12th. Norlander, 37, was the first man outside the bubble into this week’s FedExCup Fall finale, and he projects on the correct side into Sunday. He finished the third round in style, with three birdies in his last four holes.

Hayden Springer (No. 128, projected to No. 122): The TCU alum delivered when he needed it Saturday, matching the day’s low round with a 7-under 63 at the Seaside Course to ascend 37 leaderboard spots into a tie for 12th. He has one shot of wiggle room on the top-125 bubble – but that won’t seem like much on a nervy Sunday in coastal Georgia.

Projected out

Sam Ryder (No. 122, projected to No. 126): After a tie for fifth at last week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship to move inside the top 125, Ryder missed the cut at Sea Island with rounds of 72-76, a distant seven strokes off the number. He can afford three players passing him in the FedExCup Fall standings to preserve his full card, but not the four players as currently projected. Ryder, 34, was projected to remain inside the top 125 after each of the first two rounds – but not after Saturday’s third round.

Zac Blair (No. 123, projected to No. 127): The veteran pro missed the cut at Sea Island with rounds of 72-71, two strokes outside the number, and he is positioned for an anxious Sunday of number-crunching from afar. Blair can afford two players passing him in the FedExCup Fall standings to preserve his full card, but not the four players as currently projected.

Joel Dahmen (No. 124, projected to No. 128): Dahmen drained a clutch 6-footer on the final hole Friday to make the cut, a monumental step in his effort to stay inside the top 125, and he was 2-under through 15 holes Saturday before a gut-wrenching double bogey on the par-5 seventh, his 16th hole. He enters the final round at T61 on the leaderboard and will need a flurry of birdies Sunday (and/or some help from others around the bubble) to hang inside the top 125.

Wesley Bryan (No. 125, projected to No. 129): After a promising 2-under opening round, Bryan struggled to a second-round, 3-over 73 at the Seaside Course and missed the cut by two shots. It means he’ll need a lot of things to break his way Sunday to stay inside the top 125 and earn full status for 2025.

Aon Next 10

Nos. 51-60 in the final FedExCup Fall standings through The RSM Classic will get into two early-season Signature Events in 2025: the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational. After the third round at Sea Island Golf Club, Kevin Yu is projected to move inside the Aon Next 10, from No. 61 to No. 59. Yu earned his first TOUR title at last month’s Sanderson Farms Championship, and he stands T12 into Sunday at The RSM Classic. Yu is projected to snag the spot of Justin Rose (not competing this week), who is slated to fall from No. 60 to No. 62.

Notables

Stanford alum Joseph Bramlett carded a third-round 64, one off Saturday’s low score, to move into a tie for 12th and maintain a sliver of hope for cracking the top 125. Bramlett entered the week at No. 147 on the FedExCup Fall standings and needs a three-way T3 at minimum for a chance at moving inside the top 125 … Robby Shelton carded a third-round 67 to move into a tie for 20th place; he entered the week at No. 149 on the FedExCup Fall and is now projected No. 146. Beyond the top-125 bubble, the No. 150 position is crucial, as Nos. 126-150 on the FedExCup Fall standings after The RSM Classic will retain conditional TOUR status for 2025, if not otherwise exempt.