RSM Classic

The 10 players with the most to gain—and lose—on a wild Sunday at the RSM Classic

November 23, 2024
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Mike Ehrmann

With all the changes happening on the PGA Tour, you could be forgiven for not being up to speed on the current state of affairs in the FedExCup Fall. If that describes you, here's the quick primer:

—Starting this year, the top 125 on the FedEx Cup points list after this week's season-ending RSM Classic will have full tour status (at least until 2026, when that number goes down to 100). Previously, that race for tour cards concluded at the Wyndham Championship, prior to the playoffs.

—Everyone below 125 will get conditional status, but as the PGA Tour's Paul Hodowanic wrote earlier this week, "conditional status isn’t what it used to be, promising only a topsy-turvy campaign, contingent on others to decide your schedule."

—Although the top 50 for next season have been locked in since the playoffs, there are 10 spots available in the so-called Aon Next 10, which confers a spot into two early signature events next season (AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational). Not only does that mean guaranteed money and FedEx Cup points, but it's also critical for longer-term goals like making the playoffs and securing entry to future signature events.

With that established, there are a few players with a whole lot at stake entering Sunday at the RSM Classic, a true last chance saloon for the men on the bubble. Here are the 10 with the most to gain and lose in Sea Island.

1. Daniel Berger

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Carmen Mandato

Remember this guy? Won a few tournaments, played on a Ryder Cup? He's back and playing great golf after a serious back injury sidelined him for part of 2022 and all of 2023. After a rough summer, he earned his first top-10 finish in ages at the Sanderson Farms Championship this fall, made five straight cuts, and came into the week just outside the bubble at 127th in the FEC standings. He needed a great week, and he's had it—at 12 under, following a Saturday 63, he's tied for third in the tournament and projected to finish 108th in the points standings. With players like Wesley Bryan and Zac Blair missing the cut from the good side of the bubble, he's positioned nicely, and only needs to avoid disaster Sunday to secure his card.

2. Joel Dahmen

The Netflix darling, and one of the most pleasant, funny people in professional golf, is walking a complete tightrope. He made a stressful five-footer to make the cut on the number Friday, keeping his hopes at remaining inside the top 125 alive, but did himself no favors with a pedestrian 70 on Saturday. Dahmen came in at 124th, but despite making the cut, he's fallen in the projected standings to 128th. That means he and Geno Bonnalie need a monster Sunday to fight back to the right side of the bubble. Running in place won't do it—Dahmen needs to close with a fluorish. If he can pull it off, it would make a hell of a "Full Swing" episode.

3. Vince Whaley

Let's state the obvious—winning is a career-changer. Vince Whaley, one of the classic guy-so-unheralded-he-doesn't-even-have-his-own-Wikipedia-page set, is tied for first with Maverick McNealy at 14 under. He has never won a PGA Tour event, and while his performance this week is plenty to secure his card—he began at 123rd in the standings—to really gain something, he needs to go all the way. As in, second place doesn't get him any more than 10th place would, beyond a different paycheck this week. Now, unfortunately for Whaley, even with a win the highest he's going to rise is 64th in the standings, which won't get him into the Aon Next 10. He would, however, get into the Sentry, and he'd also get into Pebble due its slightly larger field. More importantly, you could argue, he would get his two-year exemption that would catapult him through the first year of the structural changes, and of course a Masters berth. For Whaley, 29 years old, it truly must feel like all-or-nothing on Sunday.

4. Maverick McNealy

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David Cannon

Here we have another 29-year-old who hasn't won on tour, but the difference between him and Whaley is that he's already secured his Aon Next 10 status. For McNealy, a former national college player of the year who has seemed like a man on the verge for some time, this is a golden opportunity to step into that next tier of tour players just in time for some seismic structural shifts. With a fairly unintimidating top 10 staring at him, he may not get a chance this good for a long time.

5. Henrik Norlander

Norlander is one of the class of players who has fought his way from outside the top 125 to inside just this week. He's T-12 at the RSM after three rounds, and is projected 121st after coming in at 126th. but he needs to hold his position with a solid Sunday or the wrong side of the bubble could come calling.

6. Michael Thorbjornsen

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Mike Ehrmann

Similar story, except a bit one-sided—Thorbjornsen came in at 138th, but is projected at 120. For him, though, none of it matters, because his card for next season is already secured through PGA Tour U. So why does he matter? Because as it stands, he's playing spoiler for everyone below him. The good news for everyone else is that he's projected to win a bunch of points that could vanish pretty quickly, and all it would take is a handful of bogeys or even just running in place. There will be plenty of players begging for that to happen so they don't lose their cards. Of course, none of this means Thorbjornsen has nothing to gain—at 12 under, just two off the lead, he could make a huge early leap if he can win the thing. The 23-year-old is already off to a fast start in his career, but this would be supersonic.

7. Hayden Springer

We're going to start sounding redundant here—after Berger, Norlander and Thorbjornsen, Springer is the fourth and final player who has made the projected leap into the top 125 from the outside, standing right now at 122nd after beginning at 128th. He's at eight under starting Sunday, in a tie for 12th, and while his position is slightly more secure than others, he still can't afford to lose very much on Sunday. Slip up, and gravity's waiting to drop you right back down from whence you came.

8. Sami Valimaki

Here's a weird one—alone among the bubble boys, Valimaki, the 26-year-old Finn, isn't actually playing in Sea Island. In fact, he hasn't played since the Zozo Championship, and he's seen his spot in the standings drop accordingly. As of now, he's 125th, down from 121st, still on the right side of the bubble but just barely, and as the tour's Kevin Prise pointed out, the fluctuations happen quickly, and he's already been down to at least 126th this week. It's going to be a nervous Sunday, even from a continent away. (Unfortunately, as of press time we couldn't figure out why he's not playing.)

9, 10. Sam Ryder, Zac Blair

Our last two on the list did play at Sea Island, but failed to make the cut. As things stand, though, they're the first two below the cut, ranked 126th and 127th, respectively. It's not the best position to be in, but it's not certain doom, either. To climb back into the top 125, Ryder and Blair need a few things to happen. First, they need Dahmen, currently below them, to go out with a whimper, and there are a couple other players beneath their spot that can't go crazy on Sunday, including Matt Wallac, Kevin Tway, and S.H. Kim. That's all pretty doable, but here's where it gets hard—they need one or two players currently above them to slip. The only ones who can save them now are Berger (highly unlikely), Thorbjornsen (their best bet), Norlander, and Springer. It's certainly not impossible, but it's a safe bet that both of them would rather be controlling their own destiny on the most nervous Sunday of the year.