The PGA Tour season officially ended this past Sunday as 125 players locked in their full-time playing privileges for the 2025 campaign.
The RSM Classic served as the FedEx Fall finale as players scrambled to get into position. Next year, this process will look different as only 100 Tour cards will be awarded for 2026—that change, along with shrinking field sizes, was recently approved by the Tour board.
If you need a refresher on how the Tour system works, I don’t blame you. It’s changed a lot over the years.
The regular season now starts in January and ends with the Tour Championship in August. The top 50 players on the FedEx Cup points list are locked into the signature events for the following season. Everyone else, however, has something to play for in the fall.
Nos. 51-70 on the points list have already secured their card but have the option to still play in hopes of gaining access to the signature events. The top two players at the end of the fall season get into all the signature events. This year, Maverick McNealy and Mackenzie Hughes were the two players.
Everyone else beyond No. 71 on the points list has to battle it out for a spot in the top 125 (and as of next year, the top 100).
If a player makes that cut, he secures a Tour card. That makes a player exempt for pretty much all of the Tour events outside of the signature events.
What happens if a player does not secure a spot in the top 125? It depends.
Nos. 126-150 on the list have conditional status, meaning they will get a certain number of starts in the lower-tier tournaments but likely not as many as those in the top 125.
All of those players can also enter into Tour Q-School. The final stage of that event happens in mid-December where the top five finishers get cards for next season.
And if a player doesn’t have conditional Tour status, it’s likely they will find themselves on the Korn Ferry Tour trying to get their card back for the following season.
In some cases, players have other levers to pull to regain full status even if they miss the top 125. For example, a player who ranks favorably on the career money list can use a one-time exemption to restore status.
Also, players who have won a Tour event automatically get two seasons of full-time status. Even if they missed out on the top 125, they are still a full-time member.
Thoroughly confused? Good! It’s a complicated system.
Here are a few of the notable players who did not make the top 125 at the end of this year’s FedEx Fall.
1. Zac Blair
Blair missed the cut by a shot at the RSM Classic, leading him to miss the top 125 cutoff by just three points. He had started the week at No. 123 but fell three spots, putting him on the outside looking in.
The man behind The Tree Farm course in South Carolina, Blair will now have to scrounge for starts next season unless he makes it through Q-School. The 34-year-old from Utah has made just shy of $8 million on Tour in his career.
2. Wesley Bryan
The YouTube golf star began the week at No. 125 in the rankings but also missed the RSM Classic cut by one stroke, pushing him to No. 128 in the final standings.
Bryan fortunately has a YouTube career to focus on outside of professional golf, but it’s still a disappointment to lose full-time privileges. The 34-year-old from South Carolina has made just over $5 million in his career. His brother George is hoping to get status through Q-School, so we’ll see if they can both play on Tour together.
3. Francesco Molinari
The 2018 Open Champion (who also lost control of the 2019 Masters before Tiger Woods won it) has been nearly invisible for a few years now. His last top-10 finish on Tour was in January… of 2022. That is almost three years of golf. He didn’t come remotely close to the top 125 this past season, even falling well short of the top 150.
Now 42 years old, Molinari has earned more than $18 million in his career. That is only 108th on the career money list, so he has no exemptions there. He could play on the DP World Tour or hope for some sponsor exemptions on the main Tour.
4. Jimmy Walker
The 2016 PGA Champion is in a similar boat to Molinari. Walker was a distant 233rd in the FedEx Cup standings and has been starting to play more on the DP World Tour with some success.
Walker considered retirement in 2022 but played the following season using a career money list exemption (he was inside the top 50 at the time). The 45-year-old has made more than $27 million on Tour and is probably nearing the end of the road in terms of being a full-time Tour player.
5. Cameron Champ
The long-hitting Champ has authored a strange career. He’s won three times on Tour but has never cracked the top 60 of the Official World Golf Ranking, now falling nearly outside the top 400 as of this writing.
Champ finished No. 175 in the FedEx Cup standings, and his last top-10 finish was more than a year ago. He won the 3M Open in 2021 and was exempt through this season, but now we’re not sure what is next for the 29-year-old who has lost his way.
6. Gary Woodland
It’s been a lot of injury and disappointment for the 2019 U.S. Open champion. Woodland finished at No. 140 in the standings and may have to use his one-time career money list exemption given his spot at No. 34 on the list.
Woodland is not as lost as some of the others on this list. He recently had a top-10 finish in Las Vegas and has been consistently making cuts in the fall. We’ll see if the 40-year-old Kansas native can get back to playing better golf in 2025.
7. Zach Johnson
The two-time major winner is still playing a full slate of events despite not recording a top-10 finish since 2021. Johnson is No. 16 on the career money list and will have opportunities to play, but the 48-year-old is probably getting ready for the Champions Tour.
8. Webb Simpson
The 39-year-old Simpson has made more than $45 million in his career, putting him at No. 19 on the career money list. He quietly won seven times and had 84 top-10 finishes.
After finishing No. 160 last season, the clock might be ticking for the North Carolinian. It’s been 15 months since his last top-10 finish and he’s down to No. 338 in the world. He’ll get starts based on his history but that access won’t last forever.
Among the players who did keep their full-time playing privileges, Joel Dahmen made a dramatic Sunday climb to finish No. 124; Matt Kuchar showed some better form to end at No. 109; and Daniel Berger has re-established himself at No. 100 on the points list.
Top Photo Caption: Francesco Molinari lost his Tour card. (GETTY IMAGES/Carmen Mandato)
Nels Paolini
2 years ago
I agree with those that see professional golf as a rich man’s sport but you gotta love their skill in getting that little ball into the cup while avoiding all the challenges built into each hole. I will also add that every sport at the top level requires world class skills including genetic superiority such as being 6’10” for basketball, hand/eye coordination second to none for baseball and the list goes on. We live in the real world and everyone needs to understand their capabilities and pursue a career that leverages those advantages. That stated, may the best of the best keep getting better and better as those of us lacking their skills turn on the TV to see their magic unfold.