Late Sunday afternoon, when the wet, gray day was surrendering what light it had left, Brian Harman walked into the evening carrying the Claret Jug, and the rest of us were left to wonder what comes next.
Structure men’s professional golf however you like – wraparound season, calendar season, 54-hole events with bumping soundtracks – but the heart of the season is made up of the four major championships, and now they are gone for another nine months.
This year, we got Jon Rahm’s passionate victory at the Masters, Brooks Koepka’s comeback at the PGA Championship, Wyndham Clark’s unlikely win at the U.S. Open and Harman’s drama-sapping dominance at the Open Championship. All in all, they were four pretty good chapters in a continuing story.
Now comes golf’s version of road work, at least for the next two weeks on the PGA Tour where this week’s 3M Open and next week’s Wyndham Championship may lack star power but have an abundance of relevance.
The FedEx Cup playoffs are two weeks away, and while they may not have the historical relevance of a major championship, they carry their own gravitas.
For years, this time on the calendar has been about finding a spot among the top 125 in points when the final putt drops at the Wyndham Championship, thereby earning a spot in the playoffs, where money practically drips off the flagsticks.
It’s not that easy this year.
At the FedEx St. Jude Championship, 70 players will be cut to 50 for the BMW Championship and finally to 30 for the Tour Championship, where the $18 million bonus to the top player will be on the line.
While being among the top 125 in points is still important – anyone who finishes No. 125 or better when the RSM Classic concludes in November will earn full tour privileges next year – only the top 70 players in FedEx Cup points after next week’s event in Greensboro, North Carolina, will qualify for the playoffs.
That’s 55 spots chopped from last year. Although no one is going hungry – Trey Mullinax, who sits at No. 125 in points, has earned $1,378,087 this year despite missing 12 cuts in his last 13 starts – getting into the top 70 is the number that matters during the next two weeks.
It goes back to the old saying that you can’t win if you don’t play, and that’s how the playoffs work. At the FedEx St. Jude Championship, 70 players will be cut to 50 for the BMW Championship and finally to 30 for the Tour Championship, where the $18 million bonus to the top player will be on the line.
The players at the top of the list – among them, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy rank Nos. 1-3, respectively – are better positioned for bigger paydays, but the opportunity to change a season, even a career, exists inside the top 70 this year.
When the 3M Open begins on Thursday at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota, K.H. Lee will be in 70th position, with Ben Taylor, Ben Griffin and Sam Ryder directly ahead of him.
Numbers 71 through 75 are, in order, David Lingmerth, Davis Thompson, Shane Lowry, Lee Hodges and Justin Thomas.
Attention seems to be focused on Thomas at the moment, not just because he’s outside the playoff number with two events remaining to qualify but because his recent struggles have thrown his Ryder Cup status into question.
It’s why Thomas added the 3M Open and the Wyndham Championship to his schedule. He doesn’t have the luxury of cruising into the playoffs like he has most years. Thomas has work to do to be in Memphis in two weeks.
Thomas has qualified for the Tour Championship in each of the past seven seasons, and he finished in the top five in the FedEx Cup in five of the past six years, dating to his 2017 season title. This year has been different, however.
He missed the cut in three of the four majors and shot 80 or higher in each of the past two majors. He has struggled on the greens, ranking 159th in strokes gained putting, but Thomas’ overall game has had a dull edge.
To his credit, he’s still chasing what’s missing, not surrendering.
“Everybody has their waves, their kind of momentum and rides and rock bottoms, whatever you want to call it. I just keep telling myself, this is it, I’m coming out of it, and I unfortunately have surprised myself a couple times with some bad rounds,” Thomas said after missing the cut at Royal Liverpool.
The next two weeks are opportunities, not obligations.
Beyond Thomas, there are other stories with endings still to be written.
Adam Scott, a playoff fixture, sits at No. 80 and, after bypassing the 3M Open, will need a big week in Greensboro to advance.
Akshay Bhatia is up to 92nd in FedEx Cup points and, having earned full tour membership by virtue of his Barracuda Championship victory, he could use two good weeks to make the playoffs in a season that began with no status.
As for the top 125, that race will continue through the fall events, but at the moment Scott Stallings, Cameron Champ and Ryan Palmer are among the familiar names outside the number.
Billy Horschel, sitting at No. 119, can turn his season around. One good week could change Austin Smotherman’s path forward, and the same goes for Chesson Hadley.
The next two weeks are opportunities, not obligations.
Now it’s time to see who seizes their chance.