Regular season finales rarely feel calm on the PGA Tour, and this week's Wyndham Championship is a perfect example of why. Every player sitting near the FedExCup playoff bubble is playing with next week's FedEx St. Jude Championship hanging in the balance. Only the top 70 in the standings advance to Memphis, so for the names clustered in the 60s and 70s, Sedgefield isn't just another stop. It's the whole season on the line.
Inside the Margins of the FedExCup Playoff Bubble
The most fascinating aspect of the FedExCup playoff bubble that takes place this year is the fact that a small margin exists between safety and elimination. The range between 65th to 80th in the rankings (around 100 points) can be dissolved in a single hot round or a single expensive stretch of bogeys. That list of names is comprised of players with long tenures in the league who have the experience of making a career out of putting in a full shift in the pressure weeks, as well as young players looking to savor their first taste of the postseason.
It is a band of singularly separate resumes with the same joint interests. An old, 40s Ryder Cup veteran might find himself in the same must-perform scenario as a 22-year-old who just under two to three minutes ago made his first breakthrough and won a trophy. This is one of the differences make Bubble Week at Sledgehammer a must-watch golf even for those who are not habitual FedExCup point-trackers.
Current Standings on the FedExCup Playoff Bubble (as of August 6)
Early Movers Reshaping the FedExCup Playoff Bubble
Some of the players have already shifted their attitude towards the FedExCup playoff bubble within a round. A single competitor started the week in the low 120s and shot up to a predicted top 55 spot with a scorching first-round mark, the type of eruption that automatically takes the stress off heading into the weekend. Another competitor had crawled to the point of skipping over a fairly recent back-to-back victor in Tour that provides a reminder of how the math can turn in a short time.
The new breeds have also been the movers. When a PGA Tour rookie who had entered the tour long after the cutoff point, he gained a lot of ground on day one, even though he still has actually some work to do to be able to claim the bubble as being settled in his favor.
All this is not fixed down yet. As there are still several rounds ahead, it will force the players who are near the cutoff to do their best to maintain their foot on the gas, as at Sledgefield this week, standing still is synonymous to going backwards.
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