Pierceson Coody buries 40-foot birdie putt on No. 9 at Farmers
Written by Paul Hodowanic
The final round of the WM Phoenix Open will have broader implications than who will emerge as the next PGA TOUR winner. The results directly impact who will play in next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the first Signature Event of 2026.
Five spots in next week’s field remain up for grabs through the Aon Swing 5, a collection of the top five players, not exempt via a higher category, who accumulate the most FedExCup points during the tournaments leading into Signature Events. And in this case, whoever the top-five finishers are will get a spot at Pebble Beach next week and The Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club the following week.
The Aon Next 10 was finalized for the next two Signature Events at the end of the FedExCup Fall. Those standings will reset for future Signature Events following The Genesis Invitational. So the only other way to ensure a spot for the next two weeks is through the Aon Swing 5.
There’s a host of big names on the outside looking in, from Brooks Koepka and Max Homa, to Sahith Theegala and Adam Scott. So who is in a position to play their way into the two biggest events of the year thus far? Here are the five players currently projected to qualify.
The talented Texan stumbled out of the gates in his rookie campaign back in 2024, but after one season back on the Korn Ferry Tour, Coody is righting his wrongs early in the new year.
The former world No. 1 amateur notched three straight top 20s to begin 2026, including a distant runner-up finish at last week’s Farmers Insurance Open. Coody was never a threat to beating Justin Rose; nobody was, but he managed to shoot 16 under across four rounds at Torrey Pines. That would have been good enough to win the previous six Farmers Insurance Opens.
Coody was expected to be the breakout star of the 2024 rookie class. It didn’t come to fruition then, missing his first five cuts and never fully recovering, but he’s beginning to realize all that untapped potential in his second stint on TOUR.
“I just felt like every week was so important, almost overly important,” Coody told PGATOUR.COM last November, reflecting on that rookie year. “You know, I didn’t have any meaningful points through the first nine or 10 events. It felt like I only played 17 or 18 events because I started so poorly.”
Coody is up to sixth in the FedExCup and sits No. 1 in the Aon Swing 5 standings. If he qualifies, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am will be his first start at a Signature Event.
The smooth-swinging lefty had a solid but inconsistent 2025, which left him outside the Signature Event mix in the new year. In fact, McCarty is a weird case of a recent TOUR winner who has not played in a Signature Event other than The Sentry.
That is poised to change as McCarty finished runner-up at The American Express, a result sandwiched in between two made cuts in Hawaii and San Diego.
McCarty, 28, struggled in the early goings of last season, putting him well behind the eight ball for Signature Event qualification. Through the end of March, McCarty was outside the top 100 and strung together several top finishes just to get to 74th by the end of the year. As he looks to improve in his second full season on TOUR, consistency is a top priority. McCarty was 12-of-21 for cuts made during the FedExCup Regular Season a year ago. He’s already shown improvement, finishing second in La Quinta and T18 at the Farmers Insurance Open, tournaments he missed the cut at in 2025.
Rodgers finds himself in familiar territory as one of the players who have consistently used the Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5 to gain access to Signature Events. Rodgers did not have automatic access to the Signature Events last year, but still ended up making five Signature Event starts, gaining starts through the pathways. He took full advantage, finishing T3 at The Genesis Invitational, which moved him up 85 spots in the FedExCup.
Rodgers is once again in a position to play himself into the biggest events. He finished third at the Sony Open in Hawaii and add a pair of made cuts in the last two events. The 33-year-old has carved out a consistent career on TOUR, even as he continues to search for win No. 1.
Hisatsune narrowly kept his PGA TOUR card last fall, but just three months later he is in line to play in the top two events of the early season slate.
Hisatsune finished runner-up alongside Coody at the Farmers Insurance Open, shooting a final-round 69 to elevate into fourth on the Aon Swing 5 standings. Hisatsune is in his third full season on TOUR, still only 23 years old. The Japanese native earned his TOUR card via the DP World Tour in 2023, following a breakout season that earned him Rookie of the Year on the European circuit. Hisatsune has flashed in spurts in his two-plus seasons on TOUR, but he’s played just one Signature Event (2025 RBC Heritage). That may change with another good week in Phoenix.
Putnam holds an incredibly small edge over Sahith Theegala for the fifth and final spot in the Aon Swing 5. The two are separated by just two points and both will likely need a strong performance in Phoenix to assure a spot in the top five.
That seems likely for Theegala, who has two top fives in four appearances. Putnam has twice finished in the top 25, but has missed the cut in his other five appearances.
Putnam opened his season with a runner-up at The American Express, then missed the cut last week at the Farmers Insurance Open. Putnam played in every Signature Event in 2024, but went without any starts in the top events a year ago. Meanwhile, Theegala finished T8 at The American Express and T7 at the Farmers Insurance Open.
So who will win the battle between the two? Or could another player rocket up the leaderboard at the WM Phoenix Open and usurp them?
Feb 2, 2026
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