PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoff Race: Justin Thomas lingering on the cut-line
Playing Through will assess the playoff race each Monday leading up to the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, which begin Aug. 10 in Memphis.
With the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic now in the rearview mirror, the FedEx Cup Playoffs are just one month away.
Three tournaments comprise this year’s playoffs, with the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis being the first event. It will take place from Aug. 10 to Aug. 13.
Only the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup Standings will make it to Memphis.
Then, those who finish within the top 50 will advance to the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club in Illinois.
Olympia Fields, located about 25 miles south of Chicago, has hosted two U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships, with the most recent major being the 2003 U.S. Open won by Jim Furyk.
From there, the top 30 players will advance to Atlanta for the Tour Championship, as East Lake Golf Club will again determine the FedEx Cup Champion.
The Tour Championship is scheduled for Aug. 24 to Aug. 27.
With these details in mind, let us now get to the FedEx Cup Playoff bubble:
Last Five In: Players Ranked 66th to 70th
66. K.H. Lee - South Korea (564 FedEx Cup Points)
K.H. Lee has just two career PGA Tour victories, as he won the AT&T Byron Nelson in 2021 and 2022.
He tied for 50th there this year and has trended in the wrong direction since.
Lee has missed four straight cuts, including the U.S. Open, as he has carded just one sub-70 round since the Charles Schwab Challenge—his last made cut—at the end of May.
The South Korean must get his game back together down the stretch in July, or else his season will end early.
67. Davis Thompson - United States (559)
The former Georgia Bulldog has yet to break through on the PGA Tour but did finish solo second at The American Express in Southern California in January.
Thompson picked up 300 FedEx Cup points at that lone event, accounting for over half of what he has earned all season.
He will need to make some cuts in July to make it to Memphis, something he has not done consistently as of late. Dating back to the PGA Championship, Thompson has missed three cuts in six events, including the U.S. Open and the Travelers Championship.
68. Beau Hossler - United States (553)
Hossler, who played collegiately at the University of Texas, recently tied for 26th at the John Deere Classic. In the two weeks before that, he missed the cut in both Detroit and Connecticut.
Before that, however, Hossler made eight straight cuts, which included a third-place finish at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Players only earn FedEx Cup points when making cuts, so failing to make any weekend hinders playoff hopes. Hossler will need to consistently make cuts over the next few weeks.
69. Ben Griffin - United States (549)
The Chapel Hill, North Carolina native has just one top-ten finish during the 2022-23 season, which came at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship last October.
Since then, Griffin has just three top-20 finishes, with the Arnold Palmer Invitational being the most recent. He tied for 14th at the famed Bay Hill Club & Lodge.
Dating back to the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in late April, The 27-year-old has missed six of eight cuts and is trending towards missing the playoffs altogether.
70. Justin Thomas - United States (541)
Justin Thomas has struggled throughout 2023, as he has not won a tournament since his triumph at Southern Hills for the 2022 PGA Championship.
The former Alabama star has three top-tens since the calendar flipped to 2023, including a tie for 9th at the Travelers Championship.
But prior to that, he missed the cut at the Memorial and the U.S. Open, as Thomas shot an atrocious 81 at the Los Angeles Country Club to send him home early.
He felt like he found his game in Connecticut the week after the U.S. Open, but that feeling quickly disappeared. He then missed the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
That means Thomas has missed three of his last four cuts. He will need to get his game together, or else Thomas might be the biggest name to miss the Playoffs altogether.
Needs Help: Players Ranked 71st to 75th
71. Cam Davis - Australia (535 FedEx Cup Points)
Cam Davis has made the cut in 11-of-21 events this season on the PGA Tour, with his best finish coming at the PGA Championship, where he tied for fourth.
The Australian most recently finished in a tie for 17th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, which gave him a much needed 48 FedEx Cup points. That vaulted him into 70th place in the standings for the first time since October 2022, but since he skipped last week’s John Deere Classic, he slid back to 71st.
72. Justin Suh - United States (525)
Justin Suh’s best stretch of golf took place during the PGA Tour’s ‘Florida Swing,’ where he tied for fifth at the Honda Classic, finished 24th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and then tied for sixth at The Players Championship.
His best finish since then was a tie for 16th at the Charles Schwab Challenge in late May.
He has routinely made cuts throughout 2023 but does not contend in tournaments often, hence his current standing outside the top 70.
For Suh to make the Playoffs, he must find the consistency he had in Florida in the early Spring.
73. J.T. Poston - United States (519)
J.T. Poston won the 2022 John Deere Classic and played well again there this year, tying for sixth.
He also finished in a tie for sixth at The American Express in January and then tied for ninth at the Dell Technologies Match Play in March.
Those are the only three instances in which Poston cracked the top ten on the PGA Tour this season.
Before the John Deere, Poston missed back-to-back cuts, so he will need to improve his game over the next few weeks to have a solid chance of playing in Memphis.
74. Matt Wallace - England (517)
The Englishman won the Corales Puntacana Championship in March—the same weekend the top players in the world squared off at the Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin.
Despite the lack of top-tier talent within that field, Wallace arrived in the Dominican Republic in good form, having finished in a tie for seventh at the Valspar Championship the week before.
Since his victory in the Caribbean though, Wallace has struggled. He has missed six cuts.
Of the four tournaments that he made the weekend, Wallace’s best finish was a tie for 28th.
He needs to right the ship quickly, or he, too, will miss the Playoffs.
75. S.H. Kim - South Korea (515)
S.H. Kim, just 24 years old, rounds out the Playoff Bubble for the week of Jul. 10.
His best finish of the 2022-23 season came in October when he tied for fourth at the Shriner’s Children Open in Las Vegas.
The young South Korean has shown flashes of brilliance since, tying for 13th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and 15th at the Valero Texas Open.
But he has missed two of his last three cuts and is trending in the wrong direction.
Perhaps fatigue is wearing on him, as he has already played 28 events on tour this season.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.