Rickie Fowler, PGA Tour players lurking for survival, spot in playoffs
The FedEx Cup Playoffs are seven events away. Let’s look at Rickie Fowler and other PGA Tour players fighting for a Top 70 spot.
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There are six normal events, a major championship and the Olympics until the FedEx Cup Playoffs are here. Only the Top 70 get into the Aug. 15-18 FedEx St. Jude Championship.
While there is still plenty of time to gain much-needed FedEx Cup points, the clock is ticking for some of these guys.
Last year, the PGA Tour moved the playoff number from 125 to 70 for its first event. From there, only the Top 50 survive to play in the BMW Championship. To cap off the three-week playoff, the top 30 make it to the Tour Championship in Atlanta, where a FedEx Cup champion will emerge.
Let’s take a way too early look at those on the outside looking in that need a solid finish to the regular season so they can live to fight another day in the playoffs.
Notable PGA Tour Players outside the Top 70
*as of July 1, 202
— Nicolai Højgaard (No.74)
— Justin Rose (No. 75)
— Keith Mitchell (No. 76)
— Nick Dunlap (No.87)
— Rickie Fowler (No. 93)
— Joel Dahmen (No. 103)
— Daniel Berger (No. 123)
— Webb Simpson (No. 131)
— Matt Kuchar (No. 140)
These are just a handful of players that will currently not make the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Rickie Fowler could miss the playoffs if he does not go on a solid run in the next few weeks. He has just two Top 25s on the season and has missed five cuts in 18 starts.
The former Oklahoma State Cowboy finished T31 last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Fowler finally got his second Top 25 at the Travelers as he was T20.
His best finish came at the RBC Heritage, a T18.
Nicolai Højgaard is another name that is interestingly outside the Top 70. He has a runner-up finish, a top 10, and two top 25s. The former Ryder Cup member has missed five cuts this season, though.
He has not completed a tournament inside the Top 20 since the Masters, where he was T16. Since that week, Højgaard missed three cuts, and his best finish came at the RBC Canadian Open in a T35.
However, he is still close enough with a strong stretch of golf and could see himself in Memphis for that first playoff event.
Justin Rose, who is ranked No. 75, is another who could make the playoffs.
It has not been the Englishman's best season, with just one Top 10 and two Top 25s. He did finish T6 at the PGA Championship but missed the cut at the U.S. Open.
There is a lot of golf left for players to earn FedEx Cup points and a spot in the playoffs. Nonetheless, time is not on these golfers’ side, as they need a momentum boost to push their way into the Top 70.
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Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.