The Five: Notable names on FedExCup Fall bubble

We’ve reached the stage of the PGA TOUR calendar where a cursory look at the top of a leaderboard only shows a fraction of golfers who are playing for significant stakes.

With only two weeks left in the FedExCup Fall, a majority of the players at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and The RSM Classic will have their eyes trained on one number: 125.

The top 125 on the FedExCup Fall standings after The RSM Classic will earn exempt PGA TOUR membership for 2025, which means access to all Full-Field Events – essentially, the ability to plan a schedule. Otherwise it’s the uncertain world of conditional status, alternate lists, writing letters for sponsor exemptions and perhaps returning to the Korn Ferry Tour.

And while there is little time left to jockey for positioning in the FedExCup Fall, there remain a dizzying amount of possible outcomes.

With the penultimate event of the season on the horizon, here are five notable names that are still squarely on the top-125 bubble.

1. Wesley Bryan

Bryan might get more recognition for his YouTube persona than his PGA TOUR presence these days, but the younger Bryan has rightfully earned a spot on your pro golf radar with his late run in the FedExCup Fall.

For the first time in several years, a fully exempt TOUR card is firmly in Bryan’s reach.

Bryan began the fall 156th in the FedExCup standings, but a series of strong results have boosted him to 128th, well within striking distance of the top 125. He hasn’t missed a cut in his four fall events and has amassed three top-25 finishes, including a T6 at last week’s World Wide Technology Championship. That pushed him as close to a TOUR card as he’s gotten since he officially lost his status in 2022.

It should be noted this is easily Bryan’s best stretch of golf, statistically, since well before 2022. Bryan has finished with positive Strokes Gained: Total in each of his last four starts. It’s the first time he’s done that in four consecutive events since March of 2017. Shortly after, Bryan captured his first and only, PGA TOUR title at the 2017 RBC Heritage.

If you believe history repeats itself, a win could be in Bryan’s future. Though he would surely settle for a TOUR card. That won’t take a victory. Bryan is currently 13 points behind No. 125 Hayden Springer, the equivalent of a solo 43rd finish.

2. Joel Dahmen

He rose to Netflix acclaim for his self-deprecating humor and nonchalant personality, but make no mistake – Dahmen cares, a lot.

That was on display last week when he felt like he was in contention despite not being anywhere near the lead. He wasn’t fighting for a win. He was fighting for his card. Dahmen tied for 14th at the World Wide Technology Championship, a solid showing and his third-best result in 28 starts this season. Pivotally, it moved him from No. 124 to No. 121 on the FedExCup Fall standings with two events remaining.

“I want to keep my job out here,” Dahmen said Sunday. “My story is not finished.”

Dahmen’s job has not been in question for many years. He comfortably finished inside the top 100 of the FedExCup in each of the last six seasons, but the veteran has managed just one top-10 result all season. That lack of top-end results has put his job in jeopardy.

“I think it would mean more this year, just the grind that it's been,” Dahmen said of retaining his card. “Golf has been relatively easy for me for five years. Haven't really been in this position before … It's really hard to keep grinding when things aren't going your way.”

The next two weeks will be critical. While he’s given himself some breathing room in the standings, his card is far from locked. Dahmen is 39 points ahead of No. 126 Dylan Wu, the equivalent of a solo 23rd finish.

3. Daniel Berger

It’s been anything but a comfortable season for Berger, who before his back injury was competing in Presidents and Ryder Cups and contending in major championships. Now he’s sweating the final two weeks of the FedExCup Fall.

But that’s life for the four-time TOUR winner as he preps for the penultimate PGA TOUR event of the season. After the 2022 U.S. Open, he stepped away from competitive golf to address debilitating back pain; he consulted multiple doctors, opted not to get surgery, and spent more than a year rehabbing to let his body “heal itself.” He has steadily knocked off the rust as the season has progressed, setting the stage for a pressure-packed next two weeks with heightened eligibility implications.

Like Bryan, Berger is in good form. He’s made the cut in his last four events, including two top-20s. His latest, a T20 at the World Wide Technology Championship, moved him from No. 128 to No. 124, good enough for a TOUR card if the season ended today. Berger doesn’t have that luxury. Though he spent 18 months away from the game, so what’s another two weeks?

Berger is 20 points ahead of No. 126 Dylan Wu in the standings, the equivalent of a solo 36th finish.

4. Taylor Montgomery

While Bryan and Berger have surged, Montgomery is one of the unceremonious fallers. The second-year pro was inside the top 125 from the first Full-Field Event, the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, through the Sanderson Farms Championship in October, but a late-season slump has Montgomery’s status in peril, sitting No. 133, with three made cuts in the last eight months.

Montgomery made his lone cut of the fall at last week’s World Wide Technology Championship, but even that felt a bit disappointing. He opened in 4-under 68 (his best round of the fall) but played the final 54 holes in 1-over to finish T64.

Montgomery has maintained his normally stellar putting performance, where he’s still first in SG: Putting for the season, but has struggled greatly from tee to green. He ranks outside the top 150 in both SG: Off-the-tee and SG: Approach. He hasn’t gained strokes off the tee since THE PLAYERS Championship in March.

Montgomery is not in the field for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, leaving much on the line for the final FedExCup Fall event, The RSM Classic. Currently, he is 43 points behind No. 125 Hayden Springer, equivalent to a solo 21st finish.

5. Pierceson Coody

One of the most anticipated rookies of 2024, Coody has yet to realize his full potential in his maiden season. At lower levels, he was known to be hot or cold, rattling off a streak of missed cuts or a flurry of top results. At his peak, he possesses a game that resembles a top-10 player. He won three times in two years on the Korn Ferry Tour and nearly won the ISCO Championship this summer, finishing runner-up to Harry Hall as part of a five-man playoff.

Those are the margins on TOUR. Coody could go from nearly winning, securing a two-year exemption in the process, to losing his card and heading back to the Korn Ferry Tour.

Grandson of Masters champion Charles Coody, Pierceson Coody finished No. 1 in the 2021 PGA TOUR University Ranking. Will that pedigree shine over the final two weeks of the season?

Coody ranks 132nd in the FedExCup Fall standings. He is 42 points behind No. 125 Hayden Springer, equivalent to a solo 21st finish.