Justin Lower’s eyes went straight then he shook his head. He looked away. His legs shook. His face grimaced.
He had been asked what he was thinking and his body reflected the thoughts that soon followed.
The disappointment? It was that Friday afternoon at RSM Classic. As the final event of the PGA Tour season, the tournament has a unique finale. The year is over and with that, the chance to secure game status is over. There is one last shot to win. There is one last chance to move up the points standings during the Tour season, which grants full playing privileges for the next year only to those in the top 100.
The low was above that mark on Friday. And after rounds of 69 and 68, he also missed the cut and had no chance to improve his condition.
Lower knew. The what-if thoughts began.
“Obviously I’ve had it like ** a year,” he said. I mean, I’ve missed a lot of cuts, I’ve missed a lot of cuts in one fell swoop.
“Like, did he have my best stuff this year? Absolutely not. But I finished this fall and to come up short, it’s bad. Like, did I need like a great weekend, like a great day, a great weekend to absolutely have a shot at the top 100? Yeah, I did. I think I had to finish seventh.
“To get a top-10 like? I mean, if you’re not Scottie (Scheffler) OR Tiger (Woods) or one of the really, really good players, as if it doesn’t happen that way.
“I played OK the last two days. My putting has been good all year.”
Down got angry too.
A year ago, he likely would have kept his tournament card through the points standings, but, as part of a series changes for the 2026 seasonthe cutoff number moved to 100, from 125. Lower, of course, was aware. He had even talked about the moves before.
However, the feelings were the same.
“I’m just upset, to be honest,” he said. “I don’t have anything else to say really. Anything I seem to say or whenever I speak my mind, people tend not to like it, so I’m just not going to say much.
“There’s a lot I could say about the changes and everything, but obviously in the situation I’m in, I feel threatened by it, which I totally do.
“I fully understand the need for the changes. Do I agree with them? No. I don’t think our product is so bad that we have to blow everything up, as it seems.”
About halfway through a four-minute interview, Lower also became emotional.
The rounds he had just played? He loved them. And will continue to want them. Grinding. He will play sometime in 2026. He has also been on a journey. Lower played his college golf at the NAIA level. When he was 15, his father and younger brother died in a car accident on their way to pick him up from golf.
Thinking about all this, he began to choke.
“Going four years here,” Lower said, “I don’t know what to say really.
“I mean, I love it here. I love it here. I love everybody here, I love everybody involved in the tour. Are there certain people that hold me back? Yes, absolutely, there are. Are there certain things that hold me back? There are.
“I’m human, I don’t know what else to do, but God, I’m so mad right now. I wish I could somehow turn this year around, but obviously I couldn’t. This game is so hard. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to say. I have to figure out how to get better.”
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