The Five: Key players to follow in FedExCup Fall home stretch

We’ve reached the home stretch of the PGA TOUR season, when you can count the remaining number of official events on one hand but would fill up a notebook trying to predict the possible scenarios for how the season concludes.

With five events remaining on the FedExCup Fall schedule, the top-125 bubble remains a close race, as does the Aon Next 10, which will decide who is exempt into two 2025 Signature Events (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational). Matt McCarty’s ascendance has shown the improbable is possible. There’s still time to recover a lost season or sink what was a promising start to the year.

As the FedExCup Fall reaches its final stretch, here’s a look at five players who will define the storylines of the season’s conclusion, all of whom have plenty of motivation to finish the year strong.

Matt McCarty

Nobody is playing better golf than Matt McCarty, who won the Black Desert Championship last week to super-charge the start of his PGA TOUR career.

It marked the fourth victory in his last 10 starts (three on the Korn Ferry Tour, one on the PGA TOUR), and by winning in just his third TOUR start, McCarty equaled the feat of Russell Henley, Seve Ballesteros and Bob Gilder. Only Garrick Higgo (second) and Jim Benepe (first) won on TOUR faster.

How long can McCarty maintain this pace? He’s locked up TOUR status for the next two seasons and punched his ticket to THE PLAYERS Championship and three of next year’s four majors (The Open Championship being the exception). The one carrot still remaining? The 2025 Signature Events.

McCarty is 95th in the FedExCup Fall standings entering the Shriners Children’s Open and still 465 FedExCup points from No. 60. He has five events to chase down a pack of players that have spent 10 months amassing what McCarty is trying to accumulate in two months. That’s an uphill battle to climb, but McCarty has blasted through bigger hurdles in the last several months. Doubt him at your peril.

Neal Shipley

The low amateur at both the Masters and the U.S. Open, the 23-year-old Shipley can complete his fast track to the PGA TOUR over the next five events, despite not holding any PGA TOUR or Korn Ferry Tour status.

How is that possible? Stick with us.

After turning pro after his showing at Pinehurst, Shipley went straight to PGA TOUR Americas and finished 20th in the Fortinet Cup standings. That was good enough to secure another year on PGA TOUR Americas, but not good enough to secure any Korn Ferry Tour or PGA TOUR status in 2025.

But that could change over the next month. Shipley made it into this week’s Shriners Children’s Open field by advancing from a 6-for-1 playoff in the Monday qualifier, revitalizing his path to the TOUR. Buoyed by some solid TOUR results this summer (all from sponsor exemptions), Shipley can earn Special Temporary Membership if he finishes solo sixth or better in Las Vegas.

That alone wouldn’t secure Shipley status for 2025. Instead, it would improve his chances for more starts in the FedExCup Fall, where he would need to amass even more points to lock up a card. The exact numbers will fluctuate depending on FedExCup point totals, but it will likely take multiple top 10s to get the job done. (Note: Special Temporary Members are not included on the Priority Ranking for the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP.)

It’s not the probable outcome, but it’s certainly in the realm of possibility, given Shipley’s pedigree. The Ohio State product had one of the most decorated amateur careers in recent memory. Along with his strong showings at this year’s majors, he finished runner-up to Nick Dunlap at the 2023 U.S. Amateur. He has quickly acclimated to life as a pro, carding three top 20s on the PGA TOUR this summer, highlighted by a T6 at the ISCO Championship.

Daniel Berger

Berger has improved his positioning this fall thanks to a solo seventh at the Sanderson Farms Championship and a T35 at the Black Desert Championship, but the American is still squarely on the top-125 bubble as the season winds down. In fact, he’s the first man out, No. 126, entering this week.

It’s been an up-and-down return for Berger, who made his first start in 18 months at The American Express back in January. Since, he’s missed 11 cuts and made 11 cuts, still working his way back to full health after battling back issues for two years. His result at the Sanderson Farms was his best since returning.

“This is probably the first time I can say I'm 100 percent,” Berger said at The Country Club of Jackson. “There is always that thought in the back of your head, ‘Am I good, can I swing as hard as I want?’ The last couple weeks I felt my best and played a bunch of golf at home with the guys and I am hitting it further and just feeling like myself more.”

It couldn’t have come at a more pivotal time. Berger is not fully exempt for the 2025 PGA TOUR season, meaning the former Ryder Cupper could be staring at a season on the Korn Ferry Tour if he doesn’t crack the top 125. Berger would be able to play on conditional status and his past winner’s exemption, but that comes with plenty of uncertainty. The path to job and schedule security is clear: Play well for the next month.

A four-time PGA TOUR winner, Berger has dealt with the pressure of a Sunday in contention. He’s dealt with Ryder Cup pressure. Now he will battle the pressure of keeping his job.

Nick Taylor

It’s been an unceremonious fall for the Canadian, who looked like a shoo-in for the Presidents Cup and an ascendant season after winning the WM Phoenix Open in February.

Flash forward eight months, Taylor wasn’t on the Presidents Cup International Team in his home country and is on the brink of missing out on the 2025 Signature Events, currently No. 58 in the FedExCup Fall.

If the season ended today, that would be good enough to crack the Aon Next 10 and secure spots for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational, but there’s still plenty of season left.

Taylor played last week and is in the field again for the Shriners Children’s Open and next week’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, hoping to firm up his standing and take a few weeks off.

“That's kind of where I'll reassess after these next few weeks to see if I've solidified my spot in that top 60,” Taylor said last week. “Yeah, get some momentum going into next year is kind of the game plan and work on a few things in the time off that I've had and test it out in competition.”

The two-time TOUR winner has just one top 10 since his victory in Phoenix. He missed the cut in all four majors and fell out of favor for Presidents Cup consideration. But Taylor finished T25 at the Black Desert Championship, his best finish since the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April.

Was that a one-week bump or the start of sustainable golf? Taylor is hoping for the latter.

Wesley Bryan

Bryan is in his best position to secure full status on the PGA TOUR since his breakthrough (and only) victory at the 2017 RBC Heritage secured a two-year exemption.

After finishing outside the top 150 in the FedExCup the last four seasons, Bryan is on the top-125 bubble after a strong start to the fall season, currently 138th in the standings. He’s made the cut in all three fall events (T13-T37-T21), while he made just three cuts before the FedExCup Playoffs.

It would be a remarkable resurgence for Bryan, who has relied on past champion and conditional status to amass a handful of starts each season but has been unable to carve a consistent schedule. In the intervening time, Bryan has grown his YouTube channel with his brother George Bryan, filling his off weeks with YouTube golf content. That content could soon be taken on the road full-time if Bryan can cap off a strong season. He’s jumped 19 spots in the standings over the first three FedExCup Fall events. He needs to improve an additional 13 spots in the final five events to crack the top 125.

Bryan made the cut on the number at the Black Desert Championship, holing a 15-foot eagle on Saturday morning to keep his week alive. It will take more clutch moments like that for Bryan to return to the TOUR full-time in 2025.