Max Homa, Sahith Theegala show how quickly fortunes can change on PGA Tour
The Wyndham Championship is the last chance for players to qualify for the PGA Tour's postseason. It's also a reminder that so much in golf still must be earned.
Sahith Theegala and Max Homa are two examples, both of them part of the winning American team at the Presidents Cup last year in Montreal.
Theegala, who finished at No. 3 in the FedExCup last year and picked up a $7.5 million bonus, had not finished in the top 10 until running into neck trouble in May. He withdrew from three tournaments, including the PGA Championship, to rest it.
He returned at The Open and missed two straight cuts. Now he is No. 144 and needs nothing short of a victory at the Wyndham Championship to qualifying for the postseason.
Homa has been in a slump for 15 months, and he started this year with a new coach and new equipment. He feels progress in his swing, but not his results. Now he's at No. 106, and likely needs a runner-up finish to have any hope of extending his season.
Adding to the stress for Homa is his wife is due with their second child next week. He was not eligible for the U.S. Open or British Open. He is still grinding.
'My wife is very, very pregnant right now so really like to win one of the next two so I could skip an event coming up just so I could keep the stress level low in our household,' he said at the Barracuda Championship, held opposite The Open.
He tied for 45th at the Barracuda, and he tied for 39th in Minnesota.
Three players from the International team in the Presidents Cup are outside the top 70 going into the final regular-season event — Adam Scott, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Tom Kim.
Brentley Romine,
The FedExCup standings going into the Wyndham Championship show some 20 players who were in the playoffs a year ago now outside the top 70. That includes Billy Horschel and Will Zalatoris, both out with injuries.
Among the players in the top 70 who missed the postseason last year are U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, two-time winner Brian Campbell and Chris Gotterup. They are among nine players who have won on the PGA Tour this year and are inside the top 70. Winning always helps.
Scottie Scheffler, meanwhile, will pick up $18 million without playing this week.
The PGA Tour has redistributed the FedExCup bonus money so the leader of the FedExCup after the regular season gets $10 million, along with $8 million from the Comcast Business Top 10. He is assured of both.
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USA Today
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- USA Today
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USA Today
an hour ago
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FedEx St. Jude Championship matchup, prop picks: Justin Thomas or Russell Henley?
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