Professional golf’s off-season, especially after the Ryder Cup, is relatively quiet.
The superstars are either at home or playing abroad. The Fall of FedEx it’s a different kind of pursuitwith players either looking to play their way into Signature Events, find the form that has eluded them or keep their card and full playing privileges for 2026.
Three FedEx fall events have come and gone. Scottie Scheffler won the Procore ChampionshipSteven Fish won Sanderson Farms and Xander Schauffele triumphed in Japan at the Baycurrent Classic.
The fall season can be described as sleepy, both for fans and the media, but there are still important stories to follow during the final month of the “extended season.”
Much of the drama will center around the guys fighting to keep their card and fully exempt status in 2026. Joel Dahmen, who sits at No. 103, leads a cast of bubble players who will need to make the next four events to get on the right side of the line and remain fully exempt on the PGA Tour.
That’s where the intrigue for the fall finale begins.
Fighting to keep their card
Joel Dahmen (No. 103): Dahmen retained his PGA Tour card on the final day of last year’s season in the RSM Classic. That was when the limit was 125. Now, at 100, Dahmen is back in the lead with just four overs to go.
Now 37th and ranked 187th in the world, these next four weeks could be critical for his career trajectory. The top 100 players receive guaranteed spots in next year’s full-field and Players Championship events. With the field size reduced to 144 (Players will be reduced to 120), the difference between finishing 100 and just out will be monumental.
Dahmen started the FedEx Fall at No. 93, but he missed the cut at Procore and Sanderson Farms before finishing T69 in the 78-man Baycurrent Classic, with no cut. He has now missed nine cuts in his last 14 starts and will have to find something over the next month to retain his full playing privileges.
Isaiah Salinnda (No. 101): One of several PGA Tour rookies hoping to stay on the circuit this fall, Salinda has a fascinating story and an engaging personality.
The Stanford product is the son of immigrants from the Philippines. He has a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which forces him to watch his heart rate during workouts. Salinda also wants to be a new kind of professional golfer – one who breaks the mold.
“A lot of the guys here are just kind of vanilla cookie cutters, you know what I mean? I’m trying to be different,” Salinda said during the opening breakfast at the Players.
“Dude, I talk a lot,” Salinda said later. “To the point where I think I don’t like a lot of people here.”
Salinda wants to stand out. He finished third at the Mexico Open and T11 at the Houston Children’s Open. But a difficult summer has him on the wrong side of the top-100 line with four events remaining.
Harry Higgs (No. 118): One of pro golf’s greats, Higgs had just one top-10 finish this season, which came at the Myrtle Beach Classic. He missed the cut at the Procore Championship and finished T55 at Sanderson Farms, which has dropped him to 118 with four rounds to go.
Lanto Griffin (No. 108): If it wasn’t a Ryder Cup year or there wasn’t a Ryder Cup in America, Lanto Griffin may have already closed a two-year exemption this fall.
He finished third in the Procore Championship, behind Scottie Scheffler and Ben Griffin, who were both only in the field as a tune-up for the Ryder Cup. That performance moved Lanto Griffin to the right side of the bubble, but a missed cut on Sanderson dropped him to 108.
“Obviously, you want to win, but keeping your job … I went to Q-School last year and kind of won and extended the life (of my career),” said Lanto Griffin at Procore. “This week, in a way, it all came together. I’d say a little short. I wish Scottie wasn’t here, but I know all the fans loved it. Just proud of myself. … Playing good golf is a lot of fun and playing bad golf is very brutal on your psyche. I’ve put in a lot of hard work these last five weeks since Wyndham has been like that.”
Griffin medaled at Q-School last fall to stay on the PGA Tour. He will need similar spells over the next month to get rid of the bubble.
Sam Ryder (No. 106): The 35-year-old had a tough year on the course. Ryder finished T14 at the Players and T25 at the Farmers Insurance Open, but has not cracked the top 10 at a tournament this year. His best back-to-back finishes were at the Myrtle Beach Classic (T13) and Barracuda (T14). He missed the cut at Procore, but went T29-T20 in Mississippi and Japan to close in on the 100 mark.
“I think the correct answer is to let the chips fall where they may and focus on what you can control,” Ryder said at Sanderson Farms to fight to keep his card. “I can’t control how people play. I really just know — it’s really more process-oriented stuff. I’m very aware of where I am. You know that all year. You get a text every week that tells you exactly where you are at FedEx. You can’t hide from it.”
Ryder has finished between Nos. 101 and 125 in six of his seven seasons on the PGA Tour. He will have to find a way to do better than average to stay in the majors.
Lanto Griffin’s interview after the Procore Championship
The Siggy Hunters (seems to end up in the top 60)
Garrick Higgo (current rank: 57): The South African left-hander is banned from the Tour for 2026 thanks to his victory at the Corales Puntacana Championship. But a T7-2-T4 in the first three FedEx Fall events has pushed Higgo inside the top 60 and has him on track to earn a ticket to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am and the Genesis Invitational via the AON Next 10.
The 26-year-old Higgo already has two career wins on the PGA Tour, but he could parlay his fall success into a breakthrough in 2026, as Ludvig Aberg and Maverick McNealy have in years past.
Higgo is currently the only player who started the fall season outside the top 60 to move to the other side of the border.
Wyndham Clark (No. 59): 2023 US Open Champion had a 2025 to forgetwhich included destroying a locker at Oakmont Country Club during the US Open and being suspended from the club for his actions.
Clark showed signs of life late in the summer, going T11-T4 at the Scottish Championship and the Open. He is already banned from Pebble Beach because of his win in 2024, but he will want to ensure he stays inside the top 60 going into Riviera. Clark finished T48 at the Baycurrent Classic and is not in the field this week in Utah. However, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him play in one of the final events to seal his spot as he looks for a comeback in 2026.
Michael Thorbjornsen (No. 72): The former amateur World No. 1 has gone T13-T29-3 in three autumn starts to climb to No. 72 and close out his card for 2026. After a poor start to 2025 that saw him miss five of his first seven cuts, Thorbjornsen has missed just one cut since mid-April and appears to have made a stride down the line. A strong finish to the fall should see him do just that in 2026.
Rasmus Hojgaard (no. 74): The talented Dane has achieved a lot in his young career. He is a multiple DP World Tour winner, he finished runner-up in the Race To Dubai last season, earned his PGA Tour card and made his Ryder Cup debut this fall at Bethpage Black.
Playing in the Ryder Cup has led to many breakthroughs, and Hojgaard hopes his experience at Bethpage Black will propel him to a better 2026 year on the PGA Tour.
So far, so good.
Hojgaard left Bethpage and made it to the Sanderson Farms Championship, where he finished T3. He backed that up with a T14 at the Baycurrent Classic in Japan and has gone from 87th to 74th in the FedEx fall rankings. He said he would play as much as possible this fall to secure his card, but a few more good finishes could push him inside the top-60 mark. In any case, Hojgaard has practically closed his card for next season.
Max Homa (no. 100): Homa is banned until 2028, but the six-time PGA Tour winner is trying to find something during the slump that could propel him back to the heights he previously enjoyed during the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Homa’s only top-10 finish of the season came at the John Deere Classic. He’s gone T19-T18-T40 in three autumn starts, so maybe the arrow is starting to rise. He will do so this week in Utah as his search continues.
Tom Kim (No. 94): Kim’s card is closed until 2026, so he is not in danger of losing his fully exempt status. But the 23-year-old was hoping to use the fall season to make a run at the top 60, but has settled for 94th after going 72-T11-T56 in Napa, Mississippi and Japan. Kim is not on the court this week in Utah.
Billy Horschel (No. 112): This is Horschel’s first start on American soil since undergoing right hip surgery in May. Horschel missed the cut at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and then finished T54 at the Baycurrent Classic in Japan. His card is secure through 2026, but Horschel could still try to play his way into the top 60 or at least sharpen his form as the new year approaches.
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