GREENSBORO, NC – Swing instructor Adam Schriber says this week’s Wyndham Championship is officially when “panic mode” sets in for players on the PGA Tour.
Schriber, a top 100 golf coach whose students include 2025 U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, has been fielding inquiries from players seeking a last-minute tune-up that might help them get over the hump, but, as he put it, “I don’t like to do Band-Aids.”
This week marks the final of 34 regular-season events in the FedEx Cup and only 70 players will advance to next week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first of three playoff events that will eventually crown a season-long champion in Atlanta.
“Gotta play good golf,” said veteran pro Denny McCarthy, who enters the week at No. 84 in the FedEx Cup
standings and needs a minimum of a fifth-place finish to advance to the first playoff in Memphis. "No ifs, ands or buts about it."
Chris Kirk, who finished T-5, was the only player to move inside the top 70 following the 2025 Wyndham Championship, but just about everyone whose playoff chances hang in the balance is here otherwise – past British Open winner Shane Lowry (No. 60) is the only player ranked from Nos. 60-80 in the FedEx Cup standings who is not in the field this week but he isn't at risk of falling out of the top 70.
The heat is on for other past major champs in Aussie Jason Day (No. 75), who needs at least a two-way tie for 12th, and Keegan Bradley (No. 72), who needs a two-way T-38, both sit outside the top 70 and are seeking to extend their streak of consecutive playoffs appearances, with Day going for his 19th (since 2008) while Bradley seeks his 16th (since 2011). [Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka sits No. 86 and needs a minimum fourth-place finish.]
Contrast those streaks of longevity with that of Jackson Koivun, a 21-year-old rookie, who finished T-5 last year at this event playing as a sponsor exemption as an amateur. Two weeks ago, he won the 3M Open by three strokes over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, becoming the youngest American to win a Tour event by multiple strokes since Ralph Guldahl at the 1932 Phoenix Open. Koivun shot three bogey-free rounds and broke the 72-hole tournament scoring record with a 25-under 259, and climbed from 194th to 70th in the standings. He enters this week as the “Bubble Boy,” who would be the last man in if things were to remain as they are.
“It’s definitely in the back of my mind,” he said. “I still have a little bit of work to do. I like to tell myself that good golf takes care of everything. I always thought I had a shot at the playoffs and I could play good golf and give myself a chance.”
Should he hang on to a spot in the top 70, Koivun, who is making his sixth start this week, would tie for the second fewest starts in a season by a player to qualify for the FedEx Cup. While a win can go a long way to securing playoff status, season-long consistency is rewarded, too. Jordan Spieth, who is 55th in the standings entering this week, owns the highest rank of any player without a top 10 on Tour this season. He would become the first player since Seamus Power in 2024 to qualify without a top-10 finish.
Since the inception of the FedEx Cup in 2007, the Wyndham Championship has played host to the FedEx Cup regular season finale (since 2008 at Sedgefield Country Club). While making the playoffs comes with the guarantee of playing privileges for the 2027 season, allowing players to take off the fall portion of the schedule if they’d like an extended off-season, it isn’t the make-or-break pressure that it used to be. There still will be seven FedEx Cup Fall events for players to battle to make the top 100 and keep their card for next season.
“All making the top 70 guarantees is one more start,” said veteran pro Stephan Jaeger, who enters the week at No. 77 and needs a minimum finish of a three-way T-11. “It’s nothing new. We deal with it (the playoff pressure) every year.”
Canadian Mackenzie Hughes has his work cut out for him at the Wyndham. The two-time Tour winner is “behind the 8-Ball,” having recorded only two top-10 finishes this season – both T-10s – and sits at No. 120, which makes him the last-ranked player who can potentially make the playoffs with less than a win on Sunday. Speaking for himself as well as the rest of the players in the field who need the stars to align at Sedgefield, he said, “just hoping I can get a little magic going.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: 'Panic mode' at Wyndham Championship for FedEx Cup regular-season finale
