The Wyndham Championship marks the end of the regular season leading into the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and for two players, the tournament holds tremendous weight.
Recently turned professional and college phenom Jackson Kouvin needs to finish 30th or better this week to qualify for his first FedEx Cup Playoff series. Kouvin turned professional following the NCAA Championship and U.S. Open. His Auburn Tigers won the national title at Omni La Costa.
Kouvin missed the cut at the John Deere Classic but has since shown fortitude and an incredible golf game, winning the 3M Open and placing T-10 at the ISCO Championship and T-31 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
In an interview with Yahoo Sports, Kouvin discussed the pressure of being on the playoff bubble: “Yeah, I mean, I’ll just try not to think about it too much. At the end of the day, it’s an uncontrollable, and if I go play well, I can hopefully be inside of that top 70.”
Kouvin is tied for 15th place heading into the final round and sits in 70th place in the FedEx Cup standings—the last man in. Mac Meissner sits in 71st place, 12 FedEx Cup points behind Kouvin. After Meissner missed the cut, Kouvin is guaranteed a playoff position.
Returning to the PGA Tour this year, major champion Brooks Koepka has a chance to make the playoffs in his first season back.
“Yeah, I gotta play well this week. I feel like I’ve always done a pretty good job, like back’s against the wall, and done pretty well,” Koepka said in an interview published by Yahoo Sports. “And hopefully take that this week. I think it’d be—it’s a good opportunity to go out and go play well.”
Koepka’s path into the FedEx Cup Playoffs seemed unlikely after withdrawing from the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He currently sits 86th in FedEx Cup points. This is Koepka’s first tournament back since the Open Championship, where he tied for 28th.
His lack of participation in tournaments following the event may have been his downfall in his attempt to make the playoffs. He will need a solo fourth-place finish at the Wyndham Championship, but that seems unlikely after a four-over-par third round left him well outside the leaders.
Timothy is a founding member of Break80 Golf and a contributing golf and sports writer for Forbes with PGA Tour and LIV Golf media credentials. Timothy can be reached at [email protected] for inquiries or story leads.