This is it, the last official PGA Tour event of 2025, and when it is done, many players will be joyous because they have earned playing status for 2026. Others will be crying in their beverage of choice, trying to figure out how to fix what didn’t work in 2025.
More than half the field at the RSM Classic is outside of the top-100 standing that is needed to earn a PGA Tour card for 2026. There are only 44 players at Sea Island Golf Club who do not have to worry about their status for 2026 at all. Everybody else is in jeopardy, all 112 of them
Most surprising is Matt Kuchar, who is currently 127th in FedEx points. However, at age 47 and with more than $61 million already won on the PGA Tour, he might be a candidate to request a one-time exemption on the all-time career money list because he is 13th in that category. Maybe he doesn’t want to keep playing at all, although golfers seem to like the life. As a friend of mine once pointed out, it’s hard to quit.
Then there are those who must be on guard all week. They are the seven in the top 100 who must not relinquish their place to other golfers this week in order to remain there: Chad Ramey, Chandler Phillips, Mark Hubbard, Ryo Hisatsune, Thorbjorn Olesen, Danny Walker, and Takumi Kanaya.
Joel Dahmen, who became famous for his golf travails on Netflix, needs at least a sixth-place finish this week, as sixth or better would kick someone else out of the top 100, and he’d get a card. Somehow, the Paul McCartney song, “Let ‘Em In,” runs through my brain when I think about that. You know: “Someone knocking at the door, someone ringing the bell…”
Several others are over the 100th-place FedEx Cup point cutoff, but return for 2026 because they won a tournament this year or last, or have another exemption.
That includes players like Matthieu Pavon, who won the 2024 Farmer’s Insurance Open; Austin Eckroat, who won twice in 2024; Sahith Theegala, still exempt for his victory at the Fortinet (now called the Procore); Brice Garnett, for winning the Puerto Rico Open in 2024; David Ford, who finished first in the PGA Tour University Rankings for 2025; Patton Kizzire, who won the Procore Championship in 2024; Luke Clanton, who earned his 2026 card through the PGA TOUR University Accelerated Program; Rafael Campos, who won the 2024 Butterfield Bermuda tournament; Gordon Sargent, who also received his 2026 card because of the PGA TOUR University Accelerated Program; and Adrien Dumont de Chassart, who was first on the points list on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour.
Interestingly, this group includes players like Pierceson Coody, grandson of past Masters champ Charlie Coody, who earned his card for 2026 by finishing in the top 20 on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Now, there are 43 golfers who cannot gain their cards for 2026 unless they win. Others must finish from solo second place to solo 43rd place, depending on their standing on the points list coming into the RSM Classic.
In short, it’s going to be tough for the majority of players in the RSM Classic field to get on the PGA Tour with full status for 2026. Because no one knows how the categories beyond exempt players will work out this time around, it’s going to be difficult to anticipate where those over the 100 mark can play. Some, particularly those from 101 to 120, may actually be able to get in a fairly full season of professional golf.
We haven’t seen anything remotely like it since 1982, before the all-exempt Tour.