The Five: Top storylines of FedExCup Fall

For more than a decade, the Wyndham Championship marked the final stop on the PGA TOUR calendar. It was a week that could make or break careers, as players battled to stay in the top 125 and keep their jobs for another year.

That drama shifted to the FedExCup Fall for the first time last year. The Fall Swing featured breakthrough victories from Sahith Theegala and Ludvig Åberg and moments of deep emotion from Erik van Rooyen and Camillo Villegas.

This week’s Procore Championship kicks off the second edition of the FedExCup Fall, an eight-event stretch that concludes at The RSM Classic in November. In between, there are plenty of interesting subplots to follow.

Here are the five biggest storylines into the FedExCup Fall.

1. Who can play their way into next year’s Signature Events?

The top 50 in the FedExCup standings secured their spot in the 2025 Signature Events, but there’s still a pathway for golfers to play their way in this fall. Nos. 51-60 in the FedExCup Fall standings after The RSM Classic will receive exemptions into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, The Genesis Invitational via the Aon Next 10.

That offers a tremendous motivator for anyone outside the top 50. Look no further than Åberg to understand the significance. Åberg entered last year’s FedExCup Fall on the top-125 bubble, but with his victory at The RSM Classic, he vaulted into the Aon Next 10. Then he played well to begin 2024 and never left the Aon Next 10 for the entire season.

That’s the blueprint everyone will try to replicate this fall.

Here’s a current look at Nos. 51-60:

51. Tom Kim
52. Mackenzie Hughes
53. Maverick McNealy
54. Patrick Rodgers
55. Justin Rose
56. Seamus Power
57. Harris English
58. Nick Taylor
59. Jake Knapp
60. Min Woo Lee

2. Top-125 bubble drama

Seventy players officially locked up their cards by qualifying for the FedExCup Playoffs. The other 55 full-status cards on TOUR will be finalized over the next two months.

Players carry over the points earned during the FedExCup Regular Season, meaning any advantage they accumulated is maintained. Those closer to the top-70 bubble are likely safe to finish inside the top 125 (i.e., No. 71 Victor Perez holds 708 points, more than 400 points clear of No. 125 Matti Schmid).

Some players outside the top 70 are also exempt for 2024 regardless of their finish after the FedExCup Fall, including No. 78 Lucas Glover and No. 10 Rickie Fowler, each with their status secure on winner’s exemptions.

The players with a real possibility of losing (or earning) their TOUR card are much closer to the top 125 threshold.

Here’s a look at the current FedExCup bubble:

115. Michael Kim
116. Joel Dahmen
117. Dylan Wu
118. Pierceson Coody
119. Jacob Bridgeman
120. Matt Nesmith
121. Vince Whaley
122. Kevin Tway
123. Matti Schmid
124. Hayden Springer
125. Sam Ryder
126. Carl Yuan
127. Alejandro Tosti
128. Alex Smalley
129. Henrik Norlander
130. Greyson Sigg

One good week is all it takes for one of these players to secure themselves a life-changing future.

3. Is Michael Thorbjornsen primed for a Ludvig Åberg run through the fall?

The biggest riser from the 2023 FedExCup Fall was Åberg, who catapulted up the rankings with a runner-up finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship and a victory at The RSM Classic. It pushed Åberg into the Rookie of the Year conversation, got him into the first Signature Events of 2024 and generated the momentum that propelled Åberg to a standout sophomore season.

Could Michael Thorbjornsen, who similarly joined the TOUR midseason after finishing No. 1 in the PGA TOUR University rankings, be primed for a similar ascension?

Thorbjornsen, 22, hasn’t matched yet Åberg’s consistency, but he’s shown flashes of high-end talent that make you believe a breakthrough is coming. Most notably, the recent Stanford grad finished in a tie for second at the John Deere Classic in July. Thorbjornsen is 135th in the FedExCup Fall standings.

It’s important to note: Thornjornsen is exempt for the 2025 TOUR season regardless of how he plays this fall, but he can improve his priority ranking and access to events. As the PGA TOUR University No. 1, Thorbjornsen is currently playing in a category lower than the rest of the top 125 fully exempt players. But if he finishes inside the top 125 by the season’s end, he will move into the top 125 category, ensuring a much more consistent schedule for 2025.

4. Can Rickie Fowler bounce back?

When Rickie Fowler put together a resurgent 2023, featuring a win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and a U.S. Ryder Cup Team berth, it was perceived as a course correction back to Fowler’s norm as one of the world’s top players.

Maybe 2023 was the outlier.

Fowler fell back this season, failing to register a top 10. He finished 108th in the FedExCup and missed the Playoffs for the third time in four seasons. He regressed in every Strokes Gained category compared to last year.

Perhaps the month break was the best thing for Fowler. Players often talk of the struggle to adjust midseason. Scottie Scheffler needed a full offseason to fully diagnose and address his putting issues. Fowler doesn’t have that long, but with his card locked up for 2025 via his victory in Detroit, the FedExCup Fall could be the perfect time to find a spark for next season. Fowler is expected to play at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, where he finished runner-up in 2022.

5. Who will earn a TOUR card through the DP World Tour?

A quick look at the FedExCup standings doesn’t fully encapsulate everyone vying for a spot on the PGA TOUR in 2025. For the second time, DP World Tour members can make it to the PGA TOUR through the Race to Dubai Rankings. The top 10 in the Race to Dubai at the end of the year, who are not otherwise exempt, will earn full status on the PGA TOUR.

It was a successful first season for the DP World Tour players who qualified for 2024. It’s how Matthieu Pavon won the Farmers Insurance Open and played the TOUR Championship.

Who will be included in the second edition of this pathway? Through the Omega European Masters, here are the 10 players in position to earn their TOUR card:

1. Thriston Lawrence
2. Jesper Svensson
3. Sebastian Soderberg
4. Niklas Norgaard
5. Rikuya Hoshino
6. Rasmus Højgaard
7. Romain Langasque
8. Guido Migliozzi
9. Matteo Manassero
10. Frederic LaCroix

There are nine events remaining on the DP World Tour calendar, including this week’s Amgen Irish Open at the historic Royal County Down Golf Club. The standings will be finalized after the DP World Tour Championship concludes on Nov. 17, 2024.