19th Hole
5 big names in danger of missing the Tour Championship and what they need to do to make it

As we roll into the penultimate FedEx Cup playoff event, several big names are currently outside the bubble and in need of a big week in Chicago if they want to make it to the tour’s finale at East Lake.
The likes of Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson all saw their seasons end prematurely at the Northern Trust, and here’s a look at 5 big names who won’t want to follow their fate at Olympia Fields CC this week.
Patrick Cantlay – 37th
A surprising name to be sitting outside the top-30, Patrick Cantlay’s consistent form has deserted him as of late.
The 28-year-old began the now condensed season with seven straight top-20 finishes to sit comfortably inside the bubble. But poor form over the last few weeks culminating in a missed cut at the opening playoff event now see him sitting precariously outside looking in, and likely needing a top-7 finish to reach the tour finale.
Projected Finish Needed: Top-7
Adam Scott – 38th
Despite winning the Genesis back in February, Adam Scott will need a big week in Chicago to extend his season. The Australian’s T58 finish in the opening playoff event didn’t do his chances much good, and it was a familiar story for the 40-year-old who saw his progress stifled by dreadful putting in round three where he lost over five strokes on the greens.
Can the Adelaide native get the putter to behave for four rounds at Olympia Fields this week?
Projected Finish Needed: Top-7
Gary Woodland – 39th
The current U.S. Open champ has also fallen foul of poor form at the wrong time. Woodland suffered a costly missed cut at the Northern Trust and has now failed to finish inside the top-50 in his last three events.
He’ll likely need to crack the top-7 in Chicago this week, a feat he has achieved twice in 2020.
Projected Finish Needed: Top-7
Jason Day – 50th
Jason Day had all the momentum heading into the Northern Trust, but then hit a brick wall at TPC Boston, and will now need a huge week to make the tour finale.
The Aussie had four straight top-7 finishes before the opening playoff event, where he inexplicably lost 6.5 strokes with his irons in just two rounds – one week after he gained almost 8 over the field at the PGA Championship.
Projected Finish Needed: Top-4
Tiger Woods – 57th
Tiger’s win at the Zozo back in October has kept his hopes alive, in what has otherwise been a disappointing season for the 15-time major champion. Woods has failed to finish better than T37 since the PGA Tour’s return, and if he wants to make it to East Lake, then he will need his form on and around the greens to improve drastically.
For his last 24 rounds, Woods ranks 65th in this week’s 70 man field for Strokes Gained: Putting, and 64th for Strokes Gained: Around The Green.
Projected Finish Needed: Top-4
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.
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