FedEx Fall Season is coming to an end and 12 players have a chance to fight for it

The offseason in professional golf, especially after the Ryder Cup, has been relatively quiet.

Superstars either play at home or abroad. The FedEx Fall Season is a different kind of chase, with players looking to either make it to the signature event and find the form they eluded to, or retain their cards and full tournament privileges through 2026.

Three FedEx fall events have come and gone. Scottie Scheffler won the Procore Championship, Steven Fisk won the Sanderson Farms Championship and Xander Schauffele won the Baycurrent Classic in Japan.

The fall season has been lethargic for fans and media alike, but there are still noteworthy storylines in the final month of the “extended season.”

Much of the drama will revolve around people’s fight to keep their cards and fully exempt status in 2026. No. 103 Joel Dahmen headlines a group of bubble players who will need to struggle through the next four events to get right on the PGA Tour and remain fully exempt.

This is where the intrigue of the fall finale begins.

Try to keep your card

Joel Damen (No. 103): Dahmen kept his PGA Tour card on the final day of last year’s RSM Classic season. The cutoff at that time was 125 points. Now, the cutoff is 100 points and Dahmen is once again on the edge with just four games left.

Now 37 years old and ranked 187th in the world, the next four weeks could be crucial to his career. The top 100 players will be guaranteed a spot in next year’s All-Tournament and Players Championship. With the field size reduced to 144 (and the number of players reduced to 120), the difference between a final 100th place finish and a mere 100th place finish will be huge.

Damen started the FedEx Fall season in 93rd place, but he missed the cut at Prokore and Sanderson Farms before finishing tied for 69th at the 78-man, no-cut Baycurrent Classic. He has now missed nine of his last 14 starts and will need to find something next month to retain his full playing privileges.

Isaiah Salinda (No. 101): Salinda is one of several emerging players hoping to stay on the top circuit this fall, and she has a compelling story and charming personality.

The Stanford product is the son of Filipino immigrants. He suffers from a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which forces him to watch his heart rate during exercise. Salinda also wants to be a new kind of professional golfer—one who breaks the mold.

“Too many people here are just the same vanilla shortcake, you know what I mean? I’m trying to be different,” Salinda said at the Players’ rookie breakfast.

“Man, I talk too much—” Salinda said later. “I don’t think there are too many people here who like me.”

Salinda wanted to stand out. He finished third at the Mexico Open and tied for 11th at the Houston Children’s Open. But a rough summer has left him on the sidelines of the top 100 line with four games remaining.

Harry Higgs (No. 118): One of the biggest names in professional golf, Higgs has just one top-10 finish this season at the Myrtle Beach Classic. He missed the cut for the Procore Championship and finished tied for 55th at Sanderson Farms, which dropped him to 118th with four games remaining.

Lanto Griffin (No. 108): If it hadn’t been a Ryder Cup year or if the Ryder Cup hadn’t been held in the United States, Lanto Griffin might have locked up a two-year exemption this fall.

He finished third in the Procore Championship behind Scotty Scheffler and Ben Griffin, both of whom were just preparing for the Ryder Cup. The performance moved Lanto Griffin to the right side of the bubble, but a miscue by Sanderson brought him back to 108.

“Obviously, you want to win, but you also want to keep your job… I went to Q-school last year and somehow won and lived longer [of my career]” Lanto Griffin said on Procore. “This week, somehow, it all came together. It will be a little short. Kind of wish Scotty wasn’t here, but I know all the fans loved it. Just be proud of yourself. …Playing golf well is fun, golfing bad is very cruel to your psyche. I’ve put a lot of effort into it over the past five weeks since the Wyndham, so it’s nice to see it come together. “

Griffin went on to play on the PGA Tour after winning a medal at Q-School last fall. He’ll need similar magic to escape the bubble over the next month.

Sam Ryder (No. 106): The 35-year-old has had a difficult year on the pitch. Ryder tied for 14th at The Players Championship and tied for 25th at the Farmers Insurance Open, but has yet to finish in the top 10 at any tournament this year. His best results after The Players came at the Myrtle Beach Classic (T13) and the Barracuda Tournament (T14). He missed the cut at Procore, but posted T29-T20s at Mississippi State and Japan to get close to the 100-place cutoff.

“I think the right answer is to let the chips fall where they can and focus on the things you can control,” Ryder said at Sanderson Farms about fighting to keep his card. “I can’t control how people play. Really, I just know – it’s really more of a process-oriented thing. I know exactly where I am. You know that all year long. You get a text every week telling you exactly where you are on FedEx. You can’t hide it.”

Ryder has been ranked between 101 and 125 in six of his seven seasons on the PGA Tour. He needs to find a way to be better than average to stay in the Grand Tour.

The Siggy Hunters (hoping to be in the top 60)

Garrick Shego (current ranking: 57): The left-handed South African earned immunity from the 2026 tour with his win at the Corrales Punta Cana Championship. But T7-2-T4 results in the first three FedEx Fall events put Higgo in the top 60 and on course to win tickets to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational via AON Next 10.

The 26-year-old Shego already has two wins in his PGA Tour career, but he could turn fall success into a breakout 2026, much like Ludwig Aberg and Maverick McNeely have done in past years.

Shego is currently the only player on the other side of the cutoff who was not ranked in the top 60 when the fall season began.

Wyndham Clark (59th): The 2023 U.S. Open champion had a 2025 to forget, which included vandalizing a locker at Oakmont Country Club during the U.S. Open and being suspended by the club for his actions.

Clark showed signs of life in late summer, finishing tied for 11th through fourth at the Scottish Open. He already has an exemption to Pebble Beach with his win in 2024, but he wants to make sure he stays within the top 60 before heading into the Riviera. Clark finished tied for 48th at the Baycurrent Classic and is sitting out this week in Utah. However, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him take one final game and lock in his spot as he looks to bounce back in 2026.

Michael Thorbjornsen (72nd): The former world No. 1 amateur shot T13-T29-3 in three events to start the fall, jumping to No. 72 and locking in a spot in 2026. After a shaky start to 2025 that saw him fail in five of his first seven promotions, Thorbjornsson, who has missed just one promotion since mid-April, appears poised to make a leap. A strong performance in the fall should allow him to achieve that goal in 2026.

Rasmus Hojgaard (74th): The talented Dane has achieved a lot in his young career. He is a multiple DP World Tour winner, finished runner-up in Dubai last season, earned a PGA Tour card and made his Ryder Cup debut this fall at Bethpage Black.

Competing in the Ryder Cup has led to many breakthroughs, and Hoggard hopes his experience at Bethpage Black will propel him to even better results on the PGA Tour in 2026.

So far, so good.

Hoygaard left Bethpage and competed in the Sanderson Farms Championship, where he tied for third. He tied for 14th at the Baycurrent Classic in Japan and moved from 87th to 74th in the FedEx Fall Series standings. He said he will compete in as many races as possible this fall to ensure his eligibility, but with another good finish, he could finish in the top 60. Regardless, Hoygaard has effectively locked up his spot for next season.

Looking for big names in form

Max Homa (100th): Homa is exempt until 2028, but the six-time PGA Tour champion is trying to find something in the fall to get him back to the heights he previously enjoyed in the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

Houma’s only top-10 finish this season came at the John Deere Classic. He went T19-T18-T40 in three fall starts, so maybe Arrowhead is starting to trend upward. He is scheduled to play this week in Utah as the search continues.

Tom King (No. 94): Kim’s card will be locked until 2026, so he’s not in danger of losing his fully exempt status. But the 23-year-old was hoping to use the fall season to break into the top 60, but he’s stuck at No. 94 after going 72-T11-T56 in Napa, Mississippi State and Japan. King did not play in this week’s game in Utah.

Billy Horschel (No. 112): It was Horschel’s first start on American soil since having surgery on his right hip in May. Horschel missed the cut at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and then tied for 54th at the Gulfstream Classic in Japan. His 2026 card is already set, but Horschel can still try to crack the top 60, or at least hone his form as the new year approaches.