Who had the biggest FedExCup improvement this year?
The answer is Chris Gotterup.
The 26-year-old New Jersey native, who was the 2022 national player of the year at Oklahoma as a fifth-year senior, had a breakout season on the PGA Tour that saw him catch fire in July before making it to the Tour Championship, where he tied for 10th. That finish marked a 109-spot improvement in the FedExCup standings from last season.
Gotterup, who finished No. 119 in the FedExCup as a rookie in 2024, missed seven of his first 10 cuts this year and ranked No. 134 in points in late March. He had only improved to No. 88 when he flew to the U.K. for the Genesis Scottish Open. He stared down Rory McIlroy to win there, then added a solo third at the Open Championship to completely alter the trajectory of his season.
Bud Cauley was the only other player to improve by triple-digits. He was 105 places better. Jacob Bridgeman (+86), Garrick Higgo (+82) and Harry Higgs (+77) rounded out the top five, though Higgs failed to keep his card at No. 132 in points this season.
Here’s a look at the 80 players who have posted in each of the last five FedExCup standings, and what they’ve averaged in the points standings during that span.
On the other end, Brendon Todd saw a 156-spot decline as he dropped to No. 228. Matthieu Pavon went from No. 17 to No. 171, 154 places worst, while Sahith Theegala battled injuries, which explained how he went from No. 3 to No. 146, a drop of 143 spots.
Here is a look at the movement of all 188 players who appeared on each of the past two final FedExCup standings:
PLAYER
FEC 2025
FEC 2024
MOVEMENT
Chris Gotterup
10
119
109
Bud Cauley
47
152
105
Jacob Bridgeman
27
113
86
Garrick Higgo
53
135
82
Harry Higgs
132
209
77
Ryan Fox
43
118
75
Thorbjørn Olesen
96
170
74
Michael Kim
31
104
73
Sami Valimaki
51
123
72
J.J. Spaun
25
96
71
Rickie Fowler
32
101
69
Harry Hall
17
84
67
Brandt Snedeker
126
186
60
Michael Thorbjornsen
70
129
59
Trey Mullinax
150
206
56
Daniel Berger
45
100
55
Sam Stevens
38
91
53
Gary Woodland
90
140
50
Alex Smalley
74
121
47
Ben Griffin
10
57
47
Kurt Kitayama
35
79
44
Andrew Novak
25
68
43
Joe Highsmith
67
110
43
Camilo Villegas
155
197
42
Danny Willett
169
211
42
Harris English
13
55
42
Will Gordon
149
191
42
Justin Rose
21
62
41
Nick Taylor
19
60
41
Cameron Young
4
44
40
Jonathan Byrd
178
217
39
Corey Conners
4
39
35
Lanto Griffin
125
158
33
Matt McCarty
81
114
33
Rico Hoey
54
86
32
Matt Wallace
103
134
31
Adam Schenk
69
98
29
Matti Schmid
66
95
29
Cameron Champ
147
175
28
Maverick McNealy
23
51
28
Vince Whaley
75
103
28
Lucas Glover
36
61
25
Anders Albertson
216
239
23
Chad Ramey
93
116
23
Jhonattan Vegas
50
73
23
Mac Meissner
85
106
21
Pierceson Coody
110
131
21
Zach Johnson
141
162
21
Nicolai Højgaard
88
108
20
Jordan Spieth
61
80
19
Tommy Fleetwood
1
20
19
Brian Harman
13
31
18
Patrick Cantlay
2
17
15
Keegan Bradley
7
21
14
Akshay Bhatia
13
26
13
Dylan Frittelli
215
228
13
Davis Riley
79
90
11
Francesco Molinari
185
192
7
Justin Thomas
7
14
7
Matt Fitzpatrick
34
40
6
Min Woo Lee
59
65
6
Ryan Palmer
192
198
6
Brian Stuard
236
241
5
Emiliano Grillo
71
76
5
Sam Burns
7
12
5
Satoshi Kodaira
229
234
5
Vincent Norrman
198
203
5
Luke Donald
225
229
4
James Hahn
205
208
3
Joel Dahmen
122
124
2
Kevin Kisner
194
196
2
Russell Henley
2
4
2
Sam Ryder
123
125
2
Jake Knapp
63
64
1
Alejandro Tosti
137
137
0
Chandler Phillips
94
94
0
Robert MacIntyre
17
17
0
Taylor Montgomery
138
138
0
Viktor Hovland
12
12
0
Nico Echavarria
55
54
-1
Ryo Hisatsune
95
93
-2
Thomas Detry
44
42
-2
Harrison Endycott
204
201
-3
Scottie Scheffler
4
1
-3
Sepp Straka
30
27
-3
Tommy Gainey
224
221
-3
Hayden Springer
131
127
-4
Max Greyserman
52
48
-4
Shane Lowry
13
9
-4
Denny McCarthy
40
35
-5
Ludvig Åberg
21
16
-5
Si Woo Kim
37
32
-5
Kevin Yu
64
58
-6
Austin Cook
197
190
-7
Keith Mitchell
82
75
-7
J.T. Poston
49
41
-8
Jason Day
41
33
-8
Matt Kuchar
118
109
-9
Patrick Rodgers
62
53
-9
David Lipsky
107
97
-10
Ben Martin
179
167
-12
Webb Simpson
172
160
-12
Henrik Norlander
133
120
-13
Hayden Buckley
170
156
-14
Rory McIlroy
23
9
-14
Nick Watney
210
195
-15
Collin Morikawa
19
2
-17
Erik van Rooyen
87
70
-17
Chan Kim
130
112
-18
Joseph Bramlett
164
146
-18
Zac Blair
144
126
-18
Scott Piercy
201
182
-19
Taylor Pendrith
33
14
-19
Tom Hoge
48
29
-19
Hideki Matsuyama
29
9
-20
Mackenzie Hughes
72
52
-20
Sungjae Im
27
7
-20
Ben Silverman
140
115
-25
Stephan Jaeger
68
43
-25
David Skinns
148
122
-26
Eric Cole
76
50
-26
Lee Hodges
101
74
-27
Nick Hardy
175
147
-28
Patrick Fishburn
109
81
-28
Russell Knox
235
207
-28
Andrew Putnam
114
85
-29
Bill Haas
234
205
-29
Greyson Sigg
136
107
-29
Mark Hubbard
92
63
-29
Aaron Baddeley
196
166
-30
Chris Kirk
57
27
-30
Cody Gribble
233
200
-33
Aaron Rai
58
23
-35
Dylan Wu
168
132
-36
Beau Hossler
104
66
-38
Trace Crowe
186
148
-38
Xander Schauffele
42
4
-38
Matt NeSmith
183
143
-40
Tyler Duncan
211
171
-40
Carson Young
129
88
-41
Doug Ghim
113
71
-42
Padraig Harrington
230
188
-42
Brice Garnett
154
111
-43
Nate Lashley
162
117
-45
Ben Kohles
145
99
-46
Davis Thompson
80
34
-46
Kevin Streelman
190
142
-48
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
78
29
-49
Tom Kim
108
59
-49
Cam Davis
86
36
-50
Martin Laird
195
145
-50
Justin Lower
120
69
-51
Chesson Hadley
202
150
-52
Taylor Moore
121
67
-54
Chez Reavie
218
163
-55
Byeong Hun An
77
21
-56
Wyndham Clark
65
8
-57
Troy Merritt
207
149
-58
Max Homa
105
46
-59
Tony Finau
83
23
-60
Seamus Power
117
56
-61
Charley Hoffman
158
92
-66
Luke List
160
89
-71
Robby Shelton
212
141
-71
Austin Eckroat
119
45
-74
Adrien Dumont de Chassart
214
139
-75
Kevin Chappell
230
155
-75
Adam Svensson
167
87
-80
Wesley Bryan
208
128
-80
Nick Dunlap
134
49
-85
K.H. Lee
191
105
-86
Kevin Tway
219
133
-86
S.H. Kim
217
130
-87
Brandon Wu
232
144
-88
Alex Noren
128
37
-91
Carl Yuan
227
136
-91
Adam Hadwin
139
47
-92
Billy Horschel
116
23
-93
C.T. Pan
200
102
-98
Patton Kizzire
180
77
-103
Adam Scott
112
4
-108
Peter Malnati
188
78
-110
Rafael Campos
193
82
-111
Will Zalatoris
153
38
-115
Sahith Theegala
146
3
-143
Matthieu Pavon
171
17
-154
Brendon Todd
228
72
-156
