Rickie Fowler is perhaps playing next week’s BMW Championship—and all of the PGA Tour’s signature events next season—because of a perfectly awful shot.
On his final hole Saturday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first of three FedExCup playoff events, Fowler’s tee shot on the par-4 18th just missed falling into the water left of the fairway. So with the ball above his feet and the water one step behind him, he hit his second off-balance and shanked it off the grandstand into the fairway. Then, he chipped to about five feet for an improbable par.
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Entering the week 64th in the FedExCup standings, with the top 50 following the FedEx St. Jude moving on to the BMW, the 36-year-old moved to 49th in points after a third-round 66.
And with a 10-footer for birdie on the par-4 15th amid a final-round 69 to place T6 at TPC Southwind, Fowler solidified another tee time this season, jumping to 48th in the standings.
“I would say after—front nine I didn’t really get off to the start that we wanted,” Fowler said afterward. “A little loose here and there, a couple drives that cost me. I had to reassess a little bit going into the back nine and kind of the main or—initial goal for today was to make sure to get inside that top 50 number. Didn’t quite have—didn’t make the push I wanted on the front to put myself in position to where I could go and necessarily try and win. Just tried to manage and play as simple golf as I could.”
Down to the wire for @RickieFowler 👀
Top 50 on FedExCup after @FedExChamp advance to @BMWChamps and qualify for 2026 Signature Events!
📺 NBC pic.twitter.com/1EeEji9qxh
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 10, 2025
Fowler was one of five players who leaped from outside to inside the top 50. The others? Kurt Kitayama (No. 52 to 37), Bud Cauley (No. 53 to 46), Jhonattan Vegas (No. 56 to 49) and J.T. Poston (No. 51 to 50), nabbing the final spot.
The victory might have been out of their hands, but playing to extend their season had the same vibes. A spot in the top 50 gets a player into the field of every signature event for 2026, which boast $20 million purses.
“It’s a grind,” Poston said after a final-round 68, which yielded a T22 finish. “It felt like—I’m obviously not in contention to win a golf tournament out there, but it just felt like the same type of nerves. You just know what’s at stake getting into that top 50 and what that does for your year next year, and you’re one good week from making it to East Lake.”
Many of the players who moved up in the standings did it thrillingly. Cauley chipped in from the bunker for birdie from 46 feet on the par-4 17th. That also capped an uplifting comeback story. The 35-year-old was injured in a serious car crash in 2018 and barely played until returning last year. Now, highlighted by a T6 at the Players Championship, Cauley is in the BMW for the first time since 2017.
“I was thinking about it this morning before I played, like how I felt today is kind of how I felt starting the year, trying to fulfill my medical [status] and get in all these events,” Cauley said. “It was stressful today, but yeah, I’m happy to be in all those events.”
Kitayama, too, had a flair for the dramatic, rolling in a 37-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole. Just two weeks ago, the 32-year-old was No. 110 in the FedExCup. Then he won the 3M Open, jumping to No. 53, and a T9 in Memphis was good enough to get him over the hump.
“It’s been stressful, I guess,” he said. “But it’s been good stress. Seen a lot of progress in my game through those last couple months. So now it really seems to kind of be working.”
Jordan Spieth finishes *just* outside the FedExCup top 50 and won’t advance to @BMWChamps. pic.twitter.com/6jhfAqWEC7
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 10, 2025
Of course, there’s the flip side of the coin. Five players moving in meant five players moved out and had their seasons end at TPC Southwind. Who were the victims? Aldrich Potgieter (No. 43 to 52), Jordan Spieth (No. 48 to 54), Jake Knapp (No. 47 to 55), Wyndham Clark (No. 49 to 56) and Min Woo Lee (No. 50 to 57).
Potgieter and Lee both notched their maiden Tour wins this year. But for Lee, his victory in Houston was his only top 10 this season, and Potgieter, one of the longest hitters on Tour, had only one other top 10, a loss in a playoff at the Mexico Open. Following his win at the Rocket Classic, the 20-year-old had a withdrawal and two missed cuts before a T59 in the 69-player field in Memphis.
Clark, who won the U.S. Open in 2023, made more headlines for his temper than his play in 2025. But posting results of T17-MC-T11-T4-T12 in his last five regular-season starts got him into the playoffs. A T56 to open the postseason, though, knocked him out of the FedExCup race.
Knapp held the 54-hole lead of the Cognizant Classic after a second-round 59, but fumbled the victory with a mucky triple bogey in the final round to finish T6. With the FedExCup standings, every swing counts. And a triple in March could be the difference between advancing in the playoffs or not.
Then, there’s Spieth. After shelving the clubs for seven months due to wrist surgery, he returned to competition in late January and showed signs of his old self with four top 10s in 14 starts. However, he received a sponsor exemption to nearly every signature event, but didn’t take enough advantage of his opportunities.
Now, with a T38 at TPC Southwind, Spieth might have to rely on more exemptions if he wants to play the PGA Tour’s top-tier events in 2026.
