2025 PGA Tour midpoint check-in: These 12 have seen their FedEx Cup stock rise in first half

USA Today

22-04-2025

2025 PGA Tour midpoint check-in: These 12 have seen their FedEx Cup stock rise in first half
The PGA Tour's 2025 FedEx Cup season is making the turn this week. Half of the 36 regular-season events, which conclude at the Wyndham Championship in early August, concluded last week with the RBC Heritage and Corales Puntacana Championship.
Allow me to quote two of the great philosophers, first being my dad, who always could be counted on to say, "Half the fun is over, half is still to come." Indeed, while it may be hard to fathom that the season is already halfway over, we are just getting to the good stuff. Three of the four majors remain to be played so there's still plenty of time for players to make their move — and for Scottie Scheffler to chase a fourth consecutive PGA Tour Player of the Year title. But with only 30 pros making it to the Tour Championship, 50 securing entry to the signature events in 2026, 70 clinching a berth in the playoffs and a card next season and 100 cards available — down from 125 — it's getting late early as that other great philosopher, Yogi Berra, once said.
MVP: Rory McIlroy
We're not really counting him in this list because, c'mon, it goes without saying that McIlroy has been a juggernaut this season. He's won at Pebble Beach, TPC Sawgrass and Augusta National. Even if he doesn't crack an egg the rest of the way, his season is a home run ... dare we call it a Grand Slam? The burden of expectation has been lifted after winning the Masters and the sky is the limit in the second half. This could be the greatest season of his Hall of Fame career and it should be fun to see what Rory will do next.
Justin Thomas
He's officially back. Even before ending his nearly three-year winless drought on Sunday at the RBC Heritage, Thomas was trending. He has a total of four top-4 finishes, including two runner-ups, and also has matched 18-hole scoring records with 62 at TPC Sawgrass and 61 at Harbour Town Golf Links. The putter is behaving and the confidence is back. At second in the FedEx Cup, Thomas could make a serious run at winning his first season-long points crown since 2017.
Sepp Straka
If you had Straka, the burly Austrian via Valdosta, Ga., ranking fifth in the FedEx Cup on your Bingo card, you're sitting in the catbird's seat. Straka won early at The American Express and while he's slowed down a little bit of late, he's reeled off eight top 25s in 12 starts and is poised to make a second straight appearance on the European Ryder Cup team.
Corey Conners
The Canadian finished T-8 at the Masters Tournament for his fifth top-10 this season, the most of any player on Tour. He recorded three of them consecutively for the first time in his career earlier this season. His secret has been great ballstriking. The Canadian sits inside the top 20 in both driving accuracy and greens in regulation entering the week, which has him sitting at No. 6 in the FedEx Cup.
Michael Kim
He's still looking to validate his lone victory at the 2017 John Deere Classic but Kim, who once missed 23 cuts in a row, is having his most consistent season as a pro. He's made nine of his last 10 cuts and recorded three top-10 finishes this season, including a T-2 at the WM Phoenix Open. He ranks 17th in the FedEx Cup and improved to No. 50 in the world, a career best, to earn a berth in the Masters earlier this month.
Andrew Novak
Despite his playoff loss to Justin Thomas on Sunday at the RBC Heritage, Novak has been almost as good as Novak Djokovic – minus the Ws. Novak, the 30-year-old golfer, ranks 15th in the FedEx Cup – he was a career-best 68th last year – and has recorded a third at the Farmers Insurance Open and a T-3 at the Valero Texas Open and five top 25s. Victory has eluded him so far, but he's getting more comfortable in the cauldron of the back nine on Sunday.
Daniel Berger
Berger is back, too. Since missing cuts in two of his first three starts this season, he's reeled off a string of eight starts in a row with a weekend tee time. He finished T-2 in Phoenix and T-3 last week at Harbour Town. All that's missing is his first win since the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He ranks ninth in SG: Total, which calculates the strokes gained across all four main categories: off-the-tee, approach-the-green, around-the-green, and putting. In other words, Berger represented Team USA at Whistling Straits four years ago, and his game is rounding into form just in time to be part of another U.S. Ryder Cup team on home soil later this year.
Joe Highsmith
After a furious rally as a rookie last season to keep his card during the FedEx Cup Fall, Highsmith broke through with his maiden victory at the Cognizant Classic. He became the first player on Tour to win after making the cut on the number (5-under) since Brandt Snedeker (2016 Farmers Insurance Open) and the sixth player to accomplish the feat since 2003. That victory lifted him to No. 30 in the FedEx Cup standings – and would be the last man into the Tour Championship – at the season's midway point and a vast improvement over being No. 115 this time a year ago.
Jacob Bridgeman
The 25-year-old out of Clemson University tied for second at the Cognizant Classic with a closing 64 and finished third at the Valspar Championship after a 68 on payday. It sure helps that he ranks fifth in Strokes Gained: putting for the season. He's sitting pretty at 34th in the season-long standings.
Ryan Gerard
The 25-year-old North Carolina Tar Heel has status for the first time on the PGA Tour and looks at home, making 10 of 11 cuts this season. He's cleaned up in Texas so far – a ninth in Houston and second in San Antonio. He ranks 15th in SG: putting and 14th in SG: Total this season.
Brian Campbell
The 32-year-old rookie out of Illinois delivered with one of the most surprising wins of the first half of the season, notching a playoff victory at the Mexico Open. He ranks 173rd in SG: Off the Tee, but he's 10th in SG: Around the Green. He hasn't finished better than T-32 in his other nine starts, so he still has a lot to prove in the second half but will have entry into the Signature events to play for big coin.
Bud Cauley
Cauley would have to be a top contender for comeback player of the year this season. Injuries endured during a single-car crash in which he broke ribs among a myriad of injuries forced him to undergo multiple surgeries and miss close to four years of his career. But he satisfied his medical extension with an impressive T-6 at the Players Championship and followed with a T-4 at the Valspar Championship and T-5 at the Valero Texas Open. He's sitting No. 36 in the FedEx Cup. Even when he was healthy, his best finish in the season-long points race was No. 65 in 2016-17, so this has to feel especially satisfying.
Honorable Mentions
Gary Woodland threatened at the Valero Texas Open, finishing third just 18 months after having a tumor removed from his brain. He's 50th in the standings and would be the last man to qualify for all the Signature events; Aldrich Potgeiter nearly won the Mexico Open and the long-hitting rookie from South Africa is sitting inside the top 70 at No. 61; Danny Walker had an unforgettable week at the Players Championship going from alternate to T-6. That's where he earned the bulk of his points to sit at No. 67, which is a lot better than when he was eking out a living as a golf pro and paying the bills at a Bahama Breeze in Orlando.