The calm before the storm. An off-week this week serves as a pause before the World Wide Technology Championship kicks off the three-event closing stretch of the FedExCup Fall that has major implications for the 2024 season.

Some will earn TOUR cards, others will lose them. Ten players will earn exemptions into Signature Events and three more could punch their ticket into The Sentry, the 2024 season opener.

With much still to be decided, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the first four events of the fall and take stock of the major stories that have emerged. The Five this week explores the biggest stories with an eye on how they could evolve over the final month.

No more Rookie of the Year debate

Eric Cole isn’t your traditional PGA TOUR rookie.

Be it because of Cole’s 55 Minor League Golf Tour wins, that he turned pro in 2009 or that the California native celebrated his 35th birthday in June. His story differs greatly from recent Rookie of the Year winners Cameron Young, Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler.

It’s no matter. Cole is well on his way to joining that trio as the Rookie of the Year. His regular season performance made it likely. His FedExCup Fall performance has all but locked it up.

Cole finished inside the top 5 in three of the first four fall events, highlighted by his second runner-up finish of the year at last week’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. He finished T3 at the Shriners Children's Open and fourth at the Fortinet Championship.

It’s not a small hot streak. His last missed cut came in May, and his numbers are that of a top-20 player on TOUR. He leads the TOUR in events played, total birdies made, rounds in the 60s, sub-par rounds and par-3 scoring.

He ranks sixth in birdie average, behind only Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Scottie Scheffler and Max Homa. Cole is ranked just ahead of Rory McIlroy. Cole is 15th in scoring average, just ahead of Tom Kim and Sungjae Im. He ranks inside the top 20 in Strokes Gained: Total, Approach the Green, Around the Green and Putting.

And he is the only rookie who qualified for the BMW Championship, thus earning a spot in the 2024 Signature Events.

It’s a meteoric rise for a player who reached the pinnacle of mini-tour golf but could never seem to break onto the biggest stage. It’s that past that has aided his impressive maiden TOUR season. He plays almost every week because he remembers a time when there were hardly any opportunities. And he knows he will only be a rookie once, with only one chance to win Rookie of the Year.

“It definitely is motivating,” Cole said earlier this fall.

“It's one of those things that kind of comes with continuing to do what I'm doing now. Obviously, that would be a huge honor, and it's something that I would like to win.”

Right now, Cole stands alone among the contenders. Taylor Montgomery is the highest-ranked challenger, currently 52nd in the FedExCup Fall. Ben Griffin is ranked 54th; Thomas Detry is 60th.

Young, international stars emerging

Heralded as the showcase of a new generation of Team Europe stalwarts, the Ryder Cup also provided a glimpse into the influx of new talent expected to shine on the PGA TOUR.

It served as the latest reminder of Ludvig Åberg’s ascension and introduced Nicolai Højgaard to a new, wider audience of golf fans.

Åberg has since climbed into the top 100 of the FedExCup, finishing runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship and inside the top 15 at Shriners Children’s Open. Those performances ensured he will have full status in 2024 and positioned him with an outside chance of cracking The Next 10 by fall’s end, a remarkable feat considering he turned pro in June.

Meanwhile, Højgaard’s status remains a bit more unclear. Currently playing on TOUR through Special Temporary Membership, Højgaard’s 466 FedExCup fall points project him 108th in the standings. He needs to finish inside the top 125 to earn his card. Only five players who were in the top 125 at the beginning of the fall have dropped out through four events. That bodes well that Hojgaard’s current total will be enough for him to earn his card. He made marginal gains in the standings at the Shriners Children’s Open and the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, making the cut but finishing outside the top 30 both times.

Their emergence coincides with Min Woo Lee, who is also en route to securing his card after spending most of the season playing with Special Temporary Membership. His T6 finish at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP moved him to 505 FedExCup points, projecting him 94th in the standings.

The Australian, who burst onto the TOUR scene with a T6 at THE PLAYERS Championship, rounds out the exciting triumvirate poised to hit the ground running in 2024.

Big names delivering

The fall has produced comeback stories like Luke List, Cameron Champ and Kevin Kisner. It has highlighted the stories of grinders, from Eric Cole to Beau Hossler. It has served as the arrival for young up-and-comers like Ludvig Åberg and Min Woo Lee.

But it’s also been a reminder of the star power that reigns, regardless of the season.

Three of the four fall events have been won by players already in the top 50. FedExCup points weren’t on the line for them, but each had unique motivations. From Collin Morikawa snapping a two-year winless drought at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP to Tom Kim’s sought-after title defense at the Shriners Children’s Open and Sahith Theegala’s breakthrough victory at the Fortinet Championship.

The big names have played as advertised. Maybe it’s no surprise. After all, they made the top 50 because they played the best golf of the season, so why wouldn’t that continue? There has also been freedom to come into the fall, not as the opening of another season but the continuation of an already solid year. It’s allowed them to play aggressively and push for a win.

“If I was fighting for position for next year still, it would be a very different mindset to what I've currently got,” Cam Davis said at the Fortinet Championship. Davis hasn’t won this fall, but he parlayed those relaxed feelings into three top-12 finishes, including a third-place finish in Napa.

Who has played their way into the Signature Events?

A central storyline of the Fall thus far is the jockeying for a spot in the Next 10. The golfers that finish between Nos. 51-60 in the FedExCup Fall standings after The RSM Classic will earn exemptions into two signature events in 2024 – AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational.

Here’s a look at who has moved in and out of the Next 10 since the start of the fall.

IN

Ben Griffin 63rd -> 54th

J.J. Spaun 62nd -> 56th

Luke List 119th -> 59th

OUT

Brandon Wu 57th -> 65th

Davis Riley 59th -> 62nd

Hayden Buckley 60th -> 67th

From one bubble to the next, List’s win at the Sanderson Farms Championship vaulted him from around the top 125 threshold to within striking distance of a spot in The Next 10. He’s finished in the top 25 in his three starts this fall.

Griffin’s runner-up finish to List in Jackson, Mississippi, positioned him well, while Spaun’s rise was much more gradual. A T11 finish at the Fortinet Championship and a T6 at ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP have been enough to move six spots in the standings. Buckley, Riley and Wu have yet to card a top 25 finish this fall.

Keith Mitchell (68th), Justin Thomas (72nd), Joel Dahmen (76th), Adam Scott (83rd), Shane Lowry (90th), Akshay Bhatia (97th) and Åberg (99th) highlight the golfers that remain outside the top 60.

Top 125 bubble movement

Only three events remain in the fight for 2024 positioning, none more vital than the top 125 race, which will determine who has full status on TOUR next season.

Here’s a look at who has moved in and out of the top 125 since the start of the fall.

IN

Ludvig Åberg 135th -> 99th*

Scott Stallings 128th -> 106th*

Troy Merritt 133rd -> 115th

Henrik Norlander 141th -> 117th

Erik van Rooyen 131st -> 125th

*Åberg and Stallings are already exempt for 2024

OUT

MJ Daffue 118th -> 128th

Patton Kizzire 122nd -> 130th

Zecheng Dou 123rd -> 126th

Jimmy Walker 124th -> 129th

Austin Smotherman 125th -> 132nd

More movement is expected, with less than 100 points separating van Rooyen (No. 125) and Harry Higgs (No. 137). Regardless of who sneaks in, the final three weeks will deliver a compelling finish.