With just one event left in the regular season schedule, the pressure is mounting for those players on the PGA Tour’s FedExCup bubble. The top 70 will advance to the first round of the FedEx Cup Playoffs after this week’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, NC. Those left outside the top 70 will then fight in the FedEx Fall Series to secure their PGA Tour cards and status for the 2027 season.
Who’s In The Playoffs And Who’s On The FedEx Cup Bubble?
The FedExCup’s top 12 in the standings is a who’s who of PGA Tour superstars. Among those firmly in are World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Rory McIlroy. Others include Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, and last year’s FedExCup Champion, Tommy Fleetwood.
McIlroy secured his place in the top 12 back in April after he won his second consecutive Green Jacket at the Masters. The rest of the season has been a bit lackluster for McIlroy, whose limited appearances and inconsistency with his ball striking and putting have kept him out of genuine contention at the rest of the majors.
Scheffler, meanwhile, is having a phenomenal year by any standard except wins. His lone victory on the PGA Tour came back in January at The American Express. He does have five runner-up finishes, two third-place finishes, and 11 top fives, enough to put him in contention for PGA Tour Player of the Year, despite just the one win.
Star power is great, but the real fun for fans leading up to the playoffs is who is on the bubble and who needs a strong finish this week to secure their spot in the first FedExCup Playoff event. A name to look out for is Jackson Koivun, who sits directly on the bubble at 70th in the FedExCup standings. The young phenom already has a win on Tour despite having just four starts as a professional. He’ll need a strong week at the Wyndham to guarantee a spot in the first playoff event.
Some notable names just outside the cutoff include Keegan Bradley (72nd), Jason Day (75th), and Brooks Koepka (86th). This is Koepka’s first season back on the PGA Tour since returning from LIV Golf. He’ll also need a strong showing at the Wyndham Championship, possibly a win, to pop that bubble and earn his way into the Playoffs.
The FedExCup Playoffs Need A Format Change
The FedExCup is in its 20th iteration, and the PGA Tour has tried to navigate setting up a playoff format for a sport that isn’t typically designed for a playoff format. This has become obvious in recent years, as demonstrated in 2025 when McIlroy skipped the first playoff event in Memphis, and is likely to do so this year, too. The PGA Tour needs to tweak its format going forward to help generate more volatility, more interest (from players and fans), and more excitement.
One way to do this is to change the format of at least one of the three playoff events. The obvious choice is the final playoff event, the Tour Championship at East Lake. All three playoff events are simple stroke-play events. What if, instead of straight stroke play, the PGA Tour made the final event some combination of stroke play and match play?
The USGA does this at several of its championships, and it appears to work well for them in creating excitement and a fair test of golf. Not everyone is going to be happy with whatever playoff format the Tour decides on, but something needs to change, and a match-play style where the best players in the world go head-to-head is just the ticket.
