The PGA Tour’s most profitable lower simply occurred. Who missed out?

An important lower of the 2024 PGA Tour season occurred on a Sunday.

Actually.

I know you, pricey reader, which implies I do know you don’t care very a lot concerning the typical, run-of-the-mill, 70-down-to-50 FedEx Cup Playoff cutline. However you should care about this typical, run-of-the-mill, 70-down-to-50 cutline, as a result of the implications of it are many, many thousands and thousands of {dollars}.

Sure, this week’s cutline decided the official High 50 of the 2024 FedEx Cup standings, which implies it decided the 50 golfers who will probably be granted automated entrance into every of the PGA Tour’s eight Signature Occasions in 2025. Those that missed the lower gained’t be completely left within the lurch, however their skilled lives will change. Now their schedule will probably be dependent upon sponsors exemptions; their placement in issues just like the Swing 5, the Subsequent Ten and the OWGR; and their variety of seasonlong victories (gamers with a win are granted an exemption into the remainder of the yr’s occasions).

So, who’s on the successful aspect? Who’s on the dropping aspect? And what does all of it imply for you, the golf fan sincerely hoping to see the best variety of must-watch golf tournaments in 2025? We break all of it down beneath.

Who’s In

The whole record

The Stars

Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas — these are the names you by no means wish to see fall out of the Signature Occasions, as a result of with out names like these, the Siggies could be … nicely, not very signature.

Fortunately, the system has ensured that every one however a number of superstars have discovered their method into automated qualification standing for 2024. If the primary purpose of the brand new system was to multiply the variety of instances the celebrities competed towards each other, then, nicely, mission achieved.

The Subsequent Gen

You wouldn’t make an inventory of the celebrities you’d most wish to watch at the moment with out names like Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland and Sahith Theegala. Fortunately, every of these members of professional golf’s Subsequent Gen stars made it safely into the highest 50.

Particular Kudos to Nick Dunlap, who made it into the highest 50 regardless of having factors from his first profession victory on the American Categorical not rely in the direction of his FedEx Cup standing for this yr. Dunlap was an beginner when he gained that occasion, however he scraped his method into the highest 50 after a late-season surge that featured a second profession victory on the Barracuda. Dunlap isn’t only a title to look at; he’s a reputation on the rise.

The Captain

We are able to admit now that it could’ve been awkward if Keegan Bradley had missed out on the highest 50. As U.S. Ryder Cup captain, a flood of sponsor’s exemptions was positive to come back his method within the largest occasions of ’25, setting off a secondary spherical of critiques concerning the ethicality of sponsor handouts.

Fortunately, Bradley made it in on the quantity, grabbing the coveted slot No. 50. He’ll have a front-row seat from every of the Siggies in ’25 as he gameplans the American roster in Bethpage, leaving not less than a number of extra openings for Webb Simpson.

The Wounded Warriors

Max Homa most definitely didn’t assume he’d be battling for FedEx Cup relevance on the night he completed T3 on the Masters in April. The arrow on his sport was pointing immediately up, and though he’d misplaced to Scheffler at Augusta, he didn’t appear all that upset about it.

Three months later, he stood soberly on the lectern on the Open Championship as he mentioned the “battle inside” that had threatened to swallow his golf sport entire over the summer season. He may not be thrilled with forty third place within the FedEx Cup standings, however Homa will dwell to combat one other day with full Signature Occasion eligibility.

He’ll be enjoying in these occasions alongside Will Zalatoris, who charged into thirty sixth place with a powerful end to his season. Again accidents are notoriously tough terrain for golfers, and Zalatoris’ was unusually tough even on condition that customary. His sport by no means fairly returned to its 2022 kind, however after staring down his personal {golfing} mortality final yr, we’re betting he’ll take one other yr of professional golf relevancy gladly (for now).

The Turnovers

The 50 auto-qualifiers for the Signature Occasions in 2025 aren’t wholly totally different from 2024, however they’re totally different sufficient. A glut of latest additions, like Max Greyserman, Stephen Jaeger and Aaron Rai dot the record. That ought to be a sigh of reduction for the PGA Tour’s working class: the ivory tower Siggies aren’t all that unimaginable to achieve.

Who’s out

Jordan Spieth

Wait, severely?

Sure, severely. Spieth crash-landed to a 66th-place end within the FedEx Cup standings in ’24 on Sunday on the FedEx St. Jude Championship. He doubled down on the severity of that information by asserting his choice to bear surgical procedure “ASAP” for a long-standing wrist situation, which can seemingly hold him out of aggressive golf till the start of 2025.

Together with his standing, Spieth’s attendance on the PGA Tour’s largest occasions won’t be assured for the primary time in his professional golf life. Fortunately, he’s very prone to obtain all method of sponsor exemptions in ’25, so it might not matter a lot if he isn’t within the FedEx High 50. Nonetheless, Sunday’s information was a shock for the man who lassoed the golf world within the mid-2010s. It was additionally a reminder of how way back that now feels.

Tom Kim

There was no extra painful top-50 miss on Sunday than that of Tom Kim, who stumbled down the stretch on the FedEx St. Jude Championship to complete T50 within the match, and within the ever-unenviable spot of 51st within the FedEx Cup standings.

Kim is one other simply marketable sponsor exemption candidate, and his sport has already secured him a handful of Tour wins, however Sunday’s end was a uniquely painful finish to a uniquely painful few weeks.

The Poors

Oh, you don’t play golf twelve instances a yr for a chunk of $20 million? Couldn’t be the blokes within the prime 50.

Honey, it’s time to purchase that boat!

Min Woo Lee

It appeared for some time like we had been getting ready to a Min Woo Lee breakout season in ’24, however the signature victory by no means fairly arrived. A handful of top-3 finishes will probably be a pleasant place for him to hold his hat, however a Sixtieth-place FedEx Cup end will depart his 2025 schedule wanting barely totally different.

Jake Knapp

Who knew a PGA Tour win, a T4 end and a solo Eighth-place end in a single month wasn’t sufficient to clinch a spot within the following yr’s Siggies? Properly, now Jake Knapp is aware of. He completed in 59th place.

The Presidents Cup

Fortunately, Signature Occasion eligibility isn’t a prerequisite of Presidents Cup roster standing, in any other case the Internationals could be with out a pair of very priceless Canucks. Mackenzie Hughes (No. 52) and Nick Taylor (58) sit on the skin wanting in on the ultimate stretch of the postseason, and subsequent yr’s Signature Occasions, though each gamers determine to kind the core of an Worldwide Presidents Cup workforce hoping to make huge waves in Montreal in September.

Staff golf occasions appear to form our perspective of which gamers are trending every year. Whereas giving freely FedEx Cup factors would show its personal quagmire (European gamers can not compete within the occasion, which might successfully quantity to a punishment), it appears unusual that the occasion would exist exterior of the PGA Tour context.

James Colgan

Golf.com Editor

James Colgan is a information and options editor at GOLF, writing tales for the web site and journal. He manages the Scorching Mic, GOLF’s media vertical, and makes use of his on-camera expertise throughout the model’s platforms. Previous to becoming a member of GOLF, James graduated from Syracuse College, throughout which period he was a caddie scholarship recipient (and astute looper) on Lengthy Island, the place he’s from. He might be reached at james.colgan@golf.com.