With the regular season coming to a close after last week’s Wyndham Championship some big names will be scraping for starts next season after finishing outside the top 125 on the points list. Players that finished between 126 and 150 are guaranteed some limited status in 2020, but it might be a good back up plan to enter the Korn Ferry Finals, a three-tournament event that combines the 75 players from 125-200 on the PGA Tour and the top 75 players on the Korn Ferry Tour money list fighting it out for 25 PGA Tour cards.
- Martin Kaymer (150th)
The enigmatic German – famed for his clutch winning Ryder Cup putt of 2012 and winner of two Major titles – made just 14 starts on the PGA Tour with his best result coming at the Memorial where he missed out to a charging Patrick Cantlay to take third place. That week aside it was a poor year and after failing to meet the minimum 15 starts for conditional membership, Kaymer could be back on the European Tour (where he is a life-time member) for the foreseeable future if he doesn’t go the Korn Ferry route.
- Daniel Berger (131st)
A two-time winner on Tour in Memphis and a Presidents Cup player two years ago, Berger has been abject this year with his only top-ten coming at an opposite field event in Puerto Rico. However, he is set to receive a medical exemption for 2020 after missing a lot of the wrap-around season last autumn/winter through injury.
- Hunter Mahan (184th)
The 37-year-old had a wretched year after winning his tour card back through the Korn Ferry Finals (T2) in 2018. A former WGC-Match Player Winner (2012 – when he beat Rory McIlroy in the final) and three-time Ryder Cup player, Mahan missed the cut at the Wyndham to end a miserable campaign and is set to return to the Korn Ferry shootout.
- Bill Haas (140th)
The former FedEx Cup champion had been playing on conditional status for this year after being injured in a fatal car accident prior to last year’s stop at Riviera CC in Los Angeles. He posted only two top tens this season and will remain on conditional status in 2020 unless he can improve his position with a good showing at the Korn Ferry Finals.
- Harris English (149th)
With a swing as smooth as silk it’s a surprise to see English struggle, but he has, mightily, finishing outside the top 125 in the Strokes Gained: off-the-tee; approach and tee-to-green categories. He’s been a regular on Tour since his rookie campaign of 2012 but will need a good performance at the Korn Ferry to regain full status once again.
Other notables who face a hard slog to get back to where they want to be include: Beau Hossler (145th); Ollie Schniederjans (180th) and Curtis Luck (175th).
