Battle for the bubble heats up during first weekend of FedExCup Playoffs

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – When the PGA Tour revamped its playoff points distribution, the entire idea was to add more volatility to the postseason. Based on the leaderboard and projections through three rounds at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, that plan has delivered.

Five players are poised to play their way into the top 70 and earn a spot at next week’s BMW Championship. Tyler Duncan, Wyndham Clark, Andrew Putnam, Hayden Buckley and Adam Scott are all projected inside the top 70 after starting the week outside that benchmark.

Duncan is leading the group after starting the week 118^th on the postseason points list. He’s tied for sixth and projected to move to 57^th. Clark, Putnam and Buckley are all tied for eighth place and Scott is tied for 25^th.

Full-field scores from FedEx St. Jude Championship

Conversely, five players are poised to drop out of the top 70, including Brendon Todd, who is tied for 52^nd and is projected to drop to 74^th on the points list. Alex Smalley, Anirban Lahiri and John Huh all missed the cut at TPC Southwind and are set to drop out of the top 70, while Lanto Griffin is missing the playoffs with an injury.

Just on the outside of the playoff bubble is Ryan Palmer, who began the postseason 112^th on the points list and is currently projected 71^st.

“Top 70 is huge, you get to play the CJ Cup, of course the invitationals. With the new world ranking system, that’s even more points as well, which is huge,” Palmer said. “That’s what I love about what we do out here, there’s always somewhere to go up, and there’s always something to play for. That’s what’s good about the PGA Tour is there’s somewhere to go. We’re not playing for just money.”