Who helped or hurt their cause in FedExCup standings during 3M Open? | Golf Channel Podcast

Rex Hoggard and Ryan Lavner examine how the 3M Open affected the FedExCup standings, where Kurt Kitayama and Emiliano Grillo moved inside the Top 70 while the straits get dire for Chris Kirk and Keith Mitchell. #GolfChannel #Golf #3MOpen
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Who helped or hurt their cause in FedExCup standings during 3M Open? | Golf Channel Podcast
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When you look at the top 13 players on the final leaderboard, eight of them were outside the top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the penultimate event. It will never cease to amaze me how these these players who are the very best at their craft, the best players on the planet, can somehow someway, even if they have not done much over the past couple of months, summon the goods when they absolutely need it. And it’s not just, you know, getting inside the top 100 and thus sort of securing your card for next season. It’s also the top 70 trying to get into the playoffs. It’s also the top 50 and trying to get into the signature events. It’s also the top 30 trying to get into the tour championship and and having a a chance to win the Fed Cup title. Like Sam Stevens trying to get to East Lake, Jake Knap trying to get in the top 50. William Mau trying to get into the playoffs a couple weeks after winning the Isco Championship. Chris Goddard trying to lock up a spot on the US RDER Cup. There are still plenty of of storylines, plenty of players to watch. Again, it might not resonate with the wider golf audience. Like, I don’t think the 3M is is going to draw the biggest ratings of the year, but I think if you really love this game and if you’re invested week in and week out on watching the PJ tour, I still think there’s something for everyone. And in my opinion, these sort of late season fullfield events have actually only increased in important significance and watchability. I don’t know that the 3M open has. I guess you you’d have to compare it to previous years. Certainly, you added the drama and that’s what the tour wants. I mean, this came from the Fan Forward initiative that they announced earlier this year. This was something that the tour wanted to make a point of start telling these stories on Friday afternoon. Start making it much more compelling instead of just being a random second round at TPC Twin Cities, which man, I still can’t believe you buried them that that badly. But, and I think they did a good job of that this week. I will go ahead to next week. And I know you didn’t want to jump forward to the Windham championship, but I was teasing Mark Brazzle, the tournament director, when I saw him a few weeks ago at the Scottish Open about he’s essentially become the fourth deacto playoff event because everyone will be scrambling for something. I don’t think there’s any surprise that the field that Mark has next week in Greensboro is the best ever, at least since they’ve been tracking these things because you have so many players. I think you you said it earlier, Jordan Spe will be there. Chris Kirk will be there. He made a big jump this week, but he still has to crack the top 70. every player will be playing for something and I think that’s the benefit of where these events fall. You’re right. Normally post open championship there was a law. It got kind of sleepy and there probably wasn’t a whole lot attention. I still don’t think that I’m totally on board with going from top 125 to 100 for fully exempt cards and whatever it is they’re going to do with the numbers going forward to make East Lake more compelling, but it certainly has made these two events certainly much more interesting. Yeah, I think any move that a professional tour can make to make it more competitive, to make it more cutthroat, to introduce more Jeopardy, I think is a is a stronger move. Again, I don’t think it’s that significant. You look at the the players who are sort of on that bubble now. And you you’re again, it’s it’s the shift for the first time to top 100. They’re players who have largely gone through some pretty significant lols in their season. maybe had a top 10 or two but ultimately were not as consistent as they needed to to at least secure their playing privileges as of right now. And so when you look at this Rex and sort of the the the names who are on that top 100 bubble, who are some that really stand out to you that are going to have your attention uh this coming week at the Windham Championship? Well, the two obvious ones that stand out is Kittyama. He moved from 110th to 53rd as you said, which is a huge jump that guarantees at least the first playoff event. Ameliano go. He moved from 71st to 66th. Again, probably locked up that spot. I can’t imagine he jumps out, but it was Chris Kirk who I just mentioned. He moved from 77 to 72nd and it’s still outside and he’s still on the wrong side of that cup. But at least you gave yourself a chance coming up this week at the Windham Championship where he is playing it. If you only have to move up two spots or three spots, suddenly that’s doable. Suddenly you start looking at a top 15 finish, maybe a top 10 finish. if you have to move up 10, 15, 20 spots now all of a sudden you’re looking at if I don’t win this and I’m not in the top two, it’s probably not going to happen. So, those two interest me. Keith Mitchell fell out. He was one of the two players that actually fell out of that bubble. And here’s an opportunity for Keith Mitchell to try to do something special. But if you’re not in that first playoff event, your season next year is pretty much set. You will not be playing in the signature events. Wouldn’t say that necessarily about Jordan Speed. You wouldn’t say that necessarily about every player because there’s also top 30 in the world to get you in there. But if you’re a Chris Kirk or you’re a Keith Mitchell, you either do it next week or you’re not playing the biggest events next year. And we’ve seen now we have enough of a sample size to understand how difficult it is to make up ground not playing in those events against the players who are playing in them. They’re getting more points and there’s no cut. Yeah, I I like all those names. Uh, I think back to the 54hole co-leader at the at the 3M Open, a player like The Thorbjornne Olison, who had an opportunity not just to win the golf tour, but to improve his standing, ultimately squandered it with a really poor final round. Now, uh, he’s well outside the top 100, needs to make it happen at the Windham just to secure his card. Joel Damon, it does not matter, Rex, what the what the cuto off would be. You could make it top 200, top 150, top 125, top 100. Joel Damon is always going to find his his place right around that bubble. He’s like the he’s like the chief pro uh uh chief procrastinator where he cannot he cannot do it enough early. I don’t think he wants to be there. I don’t think he enjoys being there. No. And now like if if history’s any indication he’ll probably get it done at the Windham Championship, but a late triple bogey on the 72nd hole at the 3M bouncing from 99 to now 101. A couple other names that were certainly intriguing to me, a player like Tom Kim, uh much was expected of him just a couple years ago, 89th uh in points, probably secure for the top 100 to keep his card. Uh but very but very much needs to have a good week at the Windham championship, move inside that top 70. I look at a player like Adam Scott, although his Fed’s Cup playoff streak uh was snapped in 2023, he’s 85th in the standings. Could miss again. It could have looked entirely different for these next couple years had that Sunday at Oakmont gone a little bit differently. And players like a a Nikolai Hogard uh who’s just outside top 70 71st trying to make that uh European Rder Cup team a great week at the Scottish Open in the Open Championship as well has been playing well of late. If he gets into the playoffs uh it’s it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities that he can make a deep run as well.