The race for the top 100 in the FedEx Cup points list reaches a climax this week at the RSM Classic as numerous PGA Tour players fight to keep their cards.
The RSM Classic field is a mixture of exciting young stars and experienced journeymen, with the vast majority of them all aiming for the same thing – a PGA Tour card in 2026.
This year, the PGA Tour have reduced the number of fully exempt cards to 100 players, down from 125 last season.
Numerous big name players are in precarious positions, with the likes of Brandt Snedeker and Matt Kuchar in danger of losing their PGA Tour cards.
If you are unlucky enough to finish outside the top-100, you will still get starts on the PGA Tour next season, but you WILL NOT be fully exempt.
Varying levels of conditional status will be handed out to those finishing up in the 101-110, 111-125 and 126-150 spots on the FedEx Cup points list.
Justin Lower fumes at the direction the PGA Tour is going in at the RSM Classic
Justin Lower posted rounds of 69 and 68 to finish at five-under par for two rounds at the RSM Classic.
However, that wasn’t enough to make the cut, with seven-under the number needed to make the weekend.
Do you think the PGA Tour reducing the amount of cards for 2026 to 100 is a good thing?
After his missed cut at the RSM Classic in Sea Island, Georgia, Lower looks set to drop down to 118th in the rankings.
That means he won’t have fully exempt status on the PGA Tour next year.
And Lower was seriously unhappy after his second round at the RSM Classic, understandably so.
He said: “I don’t know. I’m just pretty pissed off, to be honest. I don’t really have anything else to say. Anything I seem to say or anytime I speak my mind, people tend to not like it, so I’m just not going to say a whole lot.
“There’s a whole lot I could say about the changes and everything, but obviously in the situation I’m in, I feel threatened by that, which I totally get.
“I totally get the need for the changes. Do I agree with them? No. I don’t think our product is that bad to where we have to blow everything up, which is what it seems like.
“But obviously I had a s––––y year. I mean, I missed a lot of cuts, I missed a lot of cuts by a shot. I shot 27 over at the U.S. Open for two days.
“Like, did I have my best stuff this year? Absolutely not. But I worked my ass off this fall and to come up this short, it sucks. Like, did I need like an awesome weekend, like an awesome day, an awesome weekend to absolutely have a chance at the top-100? Yeah, I did. I think I needed to finish solo seventh for everything.
“To get a top-10 just like that? I mean, unless you’re Scottie or Tiger or one of the really, really good players, like it just doesn’t happen just like that. I played OK for the past couple days. My putting’s been s––––y all year.
“But it just really sucks, the situation that I’m in and the situation other guys are in. I just, I don’t like the direction the Tour’s going.“
Lower obviously won’t be able to plan his 2026 schedule now, because he won’t know which event he’ll be playing in.
PGA Tour told to be even more ruthless when it comes to exempt status
As mentioned earlier, if you finish outside the top-100 on the FedEx Cup points list, you will still get plenty of starts next season.
And golf journalist Ryan Lavner wasn’t happy at all about that.
Just last month, he explained how he thinks the PGA Tour need to be more ruthless when it comes to giving players conditional status moving forward.
“One of the things that I think people really gravitate to with individual or professional sports is the cutthroat nature. You either make it or you don’t,” he said.
“And I think for so long on the PGA Tour, there are either handouts and you’re gifted exemptions into tournaments, or there’s conditional status, there’s former winner status, there’s other opportunities for you to get in the field where you continually are extended lifelines.
“And I think having a little bit more drama, a little bit more tension, a little bit more do or die nature to the proceedings would be really beneficial.
“Because right now, if you’re selling the Fall series, you’re like yes, these are guys jockeying for their livelihood, for their playing cards in 2026. You are trying desperately to get inside that top 100. But if I’m understanding you correctly, all of a sudden, if you finish let’s say 101, you just narrowly miss by a fraction of a FedEx Cup point over the duration of a PGA Tour season, you’re going to wind up with three to five fewer opportunities for playing starts in 2026.
“To me, that’s sort of dilutes the Fall product, which is a dilution of the PGA Tour regular season.
“I don’t like that. I like drama, I like tension, I like churn and burn. I like to have some sort of immediacy to the proceedings, and it just seems like they’re dragging it out and extending too many lifelines to these guys.”
It’s a fair point from Lavner, but one that Justin Lower definitely doesn’t agree with, following his comments at the RSM Classic.
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