Seeking Status: Countdown to the PGA Tour Playoffs

The life of the golfer competing at the game's highest levels is determined by status, and where that status allows that player to compete. 

Each entry into an event provides a player another opportunity where his play will determine the quality of future opportunities. 

Every stroke played can make the difference between playing in future events or being pushed aside by players who played in fewer strokes. 

Points. Standings. Rankings. Categories. Reshuffles. Monday Qualifying. Sponsor Exemptions. 

Each week, the world of professional golf changes, re-ordering itself based on the previous week's results. Each week, every player's place in the professional game changes, sometimes drastically, sometimes barely at all. 

THE SITUATION: Three weeks of tournament play remain before the PGA Tour reaches its three-week playoffs. Top 70 players on the FedEx Cup standings advance to the first round, top 50 to the second, and the top 30 advancing to the Tour Championship. 

THIS WEEK: The year's final major championship, the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon has a field of 158 players, and, in the United States, the PGA Tour will conduct an opposite-field event in Truckee, CA, with 156 players competing in the Stableford scoring system.

NEWS: The PGA Tour on Monday announced its FedExCup Fall schedule for 2024 - eight events that offer players the opportunity to secure or improve their status for the 2025 season. Top 125 on the FedExCup standings provide exempt status for the PGA Tour full-field events and a berth in the 2025 Players Championship. Win a Fall event, and a player earns a two-year exemption, 500 FedExCup points and entry into the 2025 season-opening The Sentry and eligibility into the major championships that have invited PGA Tour winners in the past. 

At the conclusion of the 2024 PGA Tour playoffs, the top 50 players will be exempt into 2025 Signature events. Players ranked 51 and higher will carry their regular-season point total through the first playoff event into the FedExCup Fall, where they can continue to accumulate points that will finalize their 2025 PGA Tour eligibility. 

Players who rank from 51-60 at the end of the season will two early-season Signature events - Pebble Beach and The Genesis Invitational vai the AON Next 10.  

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Bob MacIntyre - It's easy to declare the winner of last week's PGA Tour event the player of the week, but MacIntyre's victory was so much more than that. A year after being shot down by Rory McIlroy on the 72nd hole of the event he's called the most important to him - other than majors - because it was the tournament he went to as a kid, McIntyre prevailed by a shot over Adam Scott by draining an 18-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole. His victory dance after the putt falls is worth a replay of the final round. 

It's the second victory of the season for the 27-year-old from Oban, Scotland, who has been open and honest about the loneliness and homesick feelings he's felt competing on the PGA Tour, and catapaulted him to 16th in the Official World Golf Rankings and 16th on the FedExCup standings. 

HONORABLE MENTION

Aaron Rai - The 27-year-old from England fired a final-round, 7-under-par 63 in the final round to finish T4 at the Scottish Open for his fifth straight top 20, dating back to the RBC Canadian Open in June. His last three finishes have all been top-10s, with a T2 at Rocket Mortgage and a T7 at John Deere prior to the Scottish Open close. 

Rai has climbed from 83rd to 50th in the FedExcup standings, which would assure him of a year's worth of Signature events in 2025 if he holds his place through the end of the players. He's also moved up from 75th to 45th in the Official World Golf rankings. 

STILL PLAYING AT A HIGH LEVEL

Collin Morikawa - The two-time major champion started his current run with a T3 at the Masters, and has totaled in his last nine individual tournaments (not including the Zurich team event) five top-5 finishes, including a T4 at the PGA Championship, and has not finished further back than T16. His T4 at the Scottish Open was his third finish fourth or better in his last five events. 

IRON MAN (Again!)

When Eric Cole tees it up at Royal Troon for the 152nd Open Championship, it will be his 11th straight week of PGA Tour golf.  

NEW FACES (Get Used To Them)

Luke Clanton finished T37 at the opposite-field ISCO Championship, having extended a sponsor exemption into a three-week stint on the PGA tour. He made the cut in all three events, posting a pair of top-10 finishes, including a T2 at the John Deere two weeks ago. 

Had the 20-year-old Florida State sophomore who's won four times at the collegiate level been a professional, he'd have earned $935,633 and 278 FedEx Cup points. 

Don't forget Clanton also finished T41 at the U.S. Open in June. 

Had Clanton been a professional, his four events would have netted him more than a million dollars. He did, however, move up from 1,103 on the Official World Golf Rankings, all the way up to 211th.

NAMES OF NOTE:

How about Sam Burns, Max Homa and Cameron Young all finding themselves outside the Tour Championship field three weeks before the playoffs are scheduled to begin. 

Since March, Burns has posted just two top-10 finishes - a T9 at the U.S. Open two weeks after a T10 at the RBC Canadian - in nine Tour starts. This is certainly a dip in performance for the 27-year-old who finished 9th in the 2022-23 FedEx Cup standings, and is a 5-time PGA Tour winner with more than $25M in earnings. Sam posted four top-10s in five starts to open the 2024 season. 

Max Homa looked like he'd broken through to another level when he battled Scottie Scheffler to the back nine at the Masters in April, finishing T3 for his first top-5 finish in a major championship. 

However, it's gone the other way for Homa, who also dazzled at last fall's Ryder Cup, as he has posted just one top 10 - a T8 at Wells Fargo - in his eight starts since Augusta. 

Jordan Spieth continues to struggle to rekindle the magic he displayed winning 13 PGA Tour titles, not to mention four major championships. Eleven of Jordan's victory came prior to 2018, including three majors in 2015 and one in 2017, afterwhich he won the RBC Heritage in 2022 and 2023. 

When Spieth missed the cut at the Scottish Open by two shots, it was his fourth missed cut in a string of 11 PGA Tour events without a top-25 finish.  After opening the season by finishing 3rd in The Sentry and a T6 at Phoenix in his first three starts, Spieth has posted a single top-10 finish - T10 at Valspar - since. 

While many have talked about Spieth's struggles to putt like he did from 2015-2017, his ranking in Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Around the Green have falled to 116th and 80th respectively. In 2016-17, Spieth ranked 2nd in both categories. 

LOOKING AT THE LISTS

Top 30 players (through July 14) on the FedEx Cup standings qualify for the Tour Championship

On The Bubble

Jason Day (26)

Stephan Jaeger (27)

Thomas Detry (28)

J.T. Poston (29)

Corey Conners (30)

Outside Looking In

Sam Burns (31)

Max Hooma (32)

Cameron Young (33)

Adam Hadwin (34)

Si Woo Kim (35)

Top 50 players (through July 14) earn exemption for the 2025 seasons and exemption into 2025 Signature events.

On The Bubble

Jake Knapp (46)

Billy Horschel (47)

Alex Noren (48)

Adam Scott (49)

Aaron Rai (50)

Outside Looking In

Viktor Hovland (51)

Patrick Rodgers (52)

Mackenzie Hughes (53)

Eric Cole (54)

Erik van Rooyen (55)

Top 70 players (through July 14) qualify for the Tour playoffs and exemption for the 2025 season. 

On The Bubble

Victor Perez (66)

Emiliano Grill (67)

Davis Riley (68)

Luke List (69)

Lukas Glover (70)

Outside Looking In

Lee Hodges (71)

Adam Schenk (72)

Andrew Putnam (73)

Keith Mitchell (74)

Nicolai Hojgaard (75)