The offseason for professional golf, especially after the Ryder Cup, is relatively quiet.
The superstars are at home or playing abroad. The FedEx Fall is a different kind of chase, with players looking to battle their way into Signature Events, find a form that has eluded them, or keep their card and full playing privileges until 2026.
Three FedEx Fall events have come and gone. Scottie Scheffler won the Procore Championship, Steven Fisk won the Sanderson Farms and Xander Schauffele triumphed in Japan at the Baycurrent Classic.
The fall season can be described as sleepy for fans and media alike, but there are still notable storylines to follow during the final month of the “extended season.”
Most of the drama will revolve around guys fighting to keep their card and fully exempt status in 2026. Joel Dahmen, who is ranked No. 103, headlines a cast of bubble players who must play through the next four events to get to the right side of the line and remain fully exempt on the PGA Tour.
In pro golf’s “offseason,” a rare, grueling pursuit takes place every weekend
By means of:
Josh Schrock
That’s where the intrigue for the fall finale begins.
Fighting to keep their card
Joel Dahmen (no. 103): Dahmen retained his PGA Tour card on the final day of the season at last year’s RSM Classic. That was when the cutoff was 125. Now, with the cut-off at 100, Dahmen is once again on the brink with just four tournaments to go.
Now 37 and ranked number 187 in the world, the next four weeks could prove crucial to the trajectory of his career. The top 100 players will be guaranteed spots in next year’s full field events and the Players Championship. With the field size decreasing to 144 (the number of players dropping to 120), the difference between finishing at 100 and just outside will be huge.
Dahmen started the FedEx Fall ranked No. 93, but he missed the cut at Procore and Sanderson Farms before finishing T69 in the 78-man, no-cut Baycurrent Classic. He has now missed nine cuts in his last 14 starts and will have to find something to keep his full playing privileges over the next month.
Isaiah Salinnda (no. 101): One of several PGA Tour rookies hoping to stay on the top circuit this fall, Salinda has a fascinating story and personality.
The Stanford product is the son of immigrants from the Philippines. He has a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which requires him to watch his heart rate during workouts. Salinda also wants to be a new type of professional golfer, someone who breaks the mold.
“Too many guys here are just kind of cookie-cutter, vanilla shortbread cookies, you know what I mean? I’m trying to be different,” Salinda said during the rookie breakfast at the Players.
“Buddy, I talk too much,” Salinda said later. “To the point where I don’t think many people like me here.”
Salinda wants to stand out. He finished third at the Mexico Open and T11 at the Houston Children’s Open. But a tough summer has left him on the wrong side of the top 100 with four events to go.
Harry Higgs (no. 118): Higgs, one of professional golf’s characters, had just one top-10 finish this season at the Myrtle Beach Classic. He missed the cut at the Procore Championship and finished T55 at Sanderson Farms, moving him to 118 with four tournaments remaining.
Lanto Griffin (no. 108): If it hadn’t been a Ryder Cup year or the Ryder Cup hadn’t been in America, Lanto Griffin might have already been given a two-year exemption this fall.
He finished third at the Procore Championship, behind Scottie Scheffler and Ben Griffin, both of whom were alone in the field in preparation for the Ryder Cup. That performance moved Lanto Griffin to the right side of the bell, but a missed cut at the Sanderson dropped him to 108.
“Obviously you want to win, but keep your job… I went to Q-School last year and somehow won and extended life [of my career]” said Lanto Griffin at the Procore. “This week it all came together somehow. Will come up a bit short. I wish Scottie wasn’t there, but I know all the fans enjoyed it. Just proud of myself. … Good golf is so much fun and bad golf is pretty hard on your psyche. I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work over the last five weeks since Wyndham, so it’s quite nice to see it coming together.
Griffin medaled at Q-School last fall to stay on the PGA Tour. He’ll need similar magic over the next month to break out of the bubble.
Sam Ryder (No. 106): The 35-year-old had a tough year on the trail. Ryder finished T14 at the Players and T25 at the Farmers Insurance Open, but has not been in the top 10 of any tournament this year. His best post-Players finishes came at the Myrtle Beach Classic (T13) and Barracuda (T14). He missed the cut at the Procore, but went T29-T20 in Mississippi and Japan to get close to the 100 cutoff.
“I think the right answer is let the chips fall where they may and focus on what you can control,” Ryder said at Sanderson Farms about fighting to keep his card. “I can’t control how people play. Basically, I just know, it’s really more process-oriented stuff. I’m very aware of where I stand. You know it all year long. You get a text every week that tells you exactly where you are at FedEx. You can’t hide from it.”
Ryder has finished between Nos. 101 and 125 in six of his seven seasons on the PGA Tour. He’ll have to find a way to do better than average to stay on the grand tour.
Lanto Griffin’s interview after Procore Championship
The Siggy Hunters (looking for a top 60 finish)
Garrick Higgo (current rank: 57): The left-handed South African is exempt from the Tour for 2026 thanks to his win at the Corales Puntacana Championship. But a T7-2-T4 run through the first three FedEx Fall events has pushed Higgo into the top 60 and put him on track to earn a ticket to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am and the Genesis Invitational through the AON Next 10.
The 26-year-old Higgo already has two victories in his PGA Tour career, but he could turn his fall success into a breakthrough in 2026, as Ludvig Aberg and Maverick McNealy have done in recent years.
Higgo is currently the only player who started the fall season outside the top 60 and is on the other side of the cutoff.
Wyndham Clark (No. 59): The 2023 US Open champion had a 2025 to forget, which included destroying a locker at Oakmont Country Club during the US Open and being suspended by the club for his actions.
Clark showed signs of life late in the summer, going T11-T4 at the Scottish and Open Championships. He’s already ruled out of Pebble Beach for his 2024 win, but he wants to make sure he stays in the top 60 to reach Riviera. Clark finished T48 at the Baycurrent Classic and is out of the field this week in Utah. However, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him play in one of the final events to secure his spot as he looks for a bounce-back in 2026.
Michael Thorbjornsen (no. 72): The former world No. 1 amateur, who has gone from T13-T29-3 in three falls, is starting to jump to No. 72 and lock in his 2026 card. After a shaky start to 2025 that saw him miss five of his first seven cuts, Thorbjornsen has missed just one cut since mid-April and appears to be on the verge of making a leap. A strong finish to the fall should allow him to do that in 2026.
Rasmus Hojgaard (no. 74): The talented Dane has achieved a lot in his young career. He is a multiple DP World Tour winner, finished second in the Race To Dubai last season, earned his PGA Tour card and made his Ryder Cup debut at Bethpage Black this fall.
Playing in the Ryder Cup has led to many breakthroughs, and Hojgaard hopes his experience at Bethpage Black will lead him to a better 2026 on the PGA Tour.
So far, so good.
Hojgaard left Bethpage and competed in the Sanderson Farms Championship, where he finished T3. He backed that up with a T14 at the Baycurrent Classic in Japan and has gone from 87 to 74 in the FedEx Fall standings. He said he would play as much as possible this fall to secure his card, but a few more good results could put him in the top 60. Either way, Hojgaard has all but blocked his card for next season.
Big names looking for form
Max Homa (no. 100): Homa is exempt through 2028, but the six-time PGA Tour winner is trying to find something during the fall that can get him back to the heights he previously enjoyed during the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Homa’s only top-10 finish of the season came at the John Deere Classic. He’s gone from T19-T18-T40 in three fall starts, so maybe the arrow is starting to trend upward. He’ll do it this week in Utah as his search continues.
Tom Kim (no. 94): Kim’s card is blocked until 2026, so he is not at risk of losing his fully exempt status. But the 23-year-old hoped to use the fall season to reach a top 60 ranking, but was left at No. 94 after running 72-T11-T56 through Napa, Mississippi and Japan. Kim is not in Utah this week.
Billy Horschel (no. 112): This is Horschel’s first start on American soil since undergoing surgery on his right hip in May. Horschel missed the cut at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and then finished T54 at the Baycurrent Classic in Japan. His card is safe for 2026, but Horschel can still try to work his way into the top 60 or at least tighten his form as the new year approaches.
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