The Five: Big-name FedExCup bubble boys midway through PGA TOUR season

As the calendar turns to May, the stakes for the rest of the PGA TOUR season have come into clear view. Players are battling for various levels of access and accomplishment, some trying to qualify for upcoming major championships and Signature Events, while others are just trying to find their footing and avoid a stressful summer sweat to keep their TOUR card.

The top 100 players at season’s end will keep their PGA TOUR card. The top 70 make the FedExCup Playoffs. The top 50 will earn exemptions into Signature Events. And there is more at stake than FedExCup standing, as implications abound around the year’s final three major championships and the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black this fall.

So, let’s level set where we are and take a look at big names who are on the edge of different status and eligibility bubbles.

1. Jordan Spieth

Injuries cost Jordan Spieth a chance to crack the top 50 of the FedExCup last year and secure spots in all the Signature Events this season. Spotty form in his return to the TOUR this year may jeopardize his place in the events going into 2026.

Currently No. 50 in the FedExCup, Spieth is right on that all-important top-50 bubble. The top 50 after the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August will earn exemptions into the eight 2026 Signature Events. There’s still plenty of time for things to change. Spieth is gearing up for a busy stretch. He told PGATOUR.COM after the RBC Heritage that he planned to play five weeks in a row, beginning with THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson this week. That also indicates he expects to receive a sponsor exemption into the Truist Championship.

If he plays well in that stretch, Spieth can quell concerns of missing out on any big events next year.

“I feel like it’s pretty close, but close doesn’t necessarily mean it’s on. It’s probably still a couple weeks away,” Spieth told PGATOUR.COM of his form after the RBC Heritage.

The only thing holding Spieth back has been the lack of top-end results in the biggest events. Spieth has received three sponsor exemptions into Signature Events this year and has finished T69-CUT-T18 in those starts. Add in a disappointing finish at THE PLAYERS (59th), and that has offset his strong weeks (T4 at WM Phoenix Open and T9 at Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches).

2. Wyndham Clark

Wyndham Clark has finished inside the top 10 of the FedExCup in each of the last two seasons, making it to the TOUR Championship and contending at East Lake.

Right now, though, he’s on the bubble just to make the FedExCup Playoffs. At No. 71 in the FedExCup, Clark is projected as the last man out of the FedExCup Playoffs, which includes the top-70 players after the Wyndham Championship in August.

Clark’s talent and recent history are enough to suggest it shouldn’t be an issue for the major winner to crack the top-70 by season’s end, but the same was said about Justin Thomas in 2023, who ultimately missed the FedExCup Playoffs for the first time in his career. For now, Clark’s standing is just something to monitor.

Clark has the benefit of time and access to help push him along. Clark is exempt into the remaining majors and Signature Events, the events that give out the most FedExCup points. Clark is also a past winner at Quail Hollow Golf Club, the site of this year’s PGA Championship, giving him a great opportunity to jumpstart his season.

Clark finished T15 at The Sentry in January, but has just one top 15 since – a T5 at the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

3. Michael Thorbjornsen

Thorbjornsen was far from any bubble just two weeks ago, without a top-30 finish through the first four months of the year. But back-to-back top-five finishes – T2 at Corales Puntacana Championship and T4 at Zurich Classic of New Orleans – suddenly have the talented Thorbjornsen back in the mix.

At No. 99 in the FedExCup, Thorbjornsen is just inside the career-defining top-100 line. New this year, the number of players who will retain their card for 2026 has been reduced from 125 to 100. So, traditionally, Thorbjornsen would now have some breathing room. Instead, he’s still battling to keep his card.

It would be a disappointing twist to Thorbjornsen’s promising pro career if he were to lose his card. He earned his card last summer by finishing No. 1 in the 2024 PGA TOUR University ranking and notched three top-10s over the final six months of the season, including a runner-up at the John Deere Classic. He struggled to begin 2025, missing six of his first nine cuts, but his recent form indicates Thorbjornsen may be turning a corner.

Among the others fighting the top 100 bubble: Adam Hadwin (No. 102), Max Homa (No. 106), Adam Scott (No. 112), Rickie Fowler (No. 120)

4. Andrew Novak

Andrew Novak has burst through most of the bubbles that his peers are worried about. His win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans secured him TOUR membership for the next two years and pushed him to No. 6 in the FedExCup, all but locking his spot in the FedExCup Playoffs, the BMW Championship and next year’s Signature Events. The bump in his world ranking from his runner-up at the RBC Heritage (up to No. 32) will be good enough to get him into the rest of the majors this year.

So what’s left? Well, after his loss to Justin Thomas at the RBC Heritage, Novak specifically called out the Ryder Cup. That might seem rich, given Novak was outside the top 150 in the world to begin the year, but it’s becoming more and more plausible by the week. Novak now ranks No. 9 in the U.S. Ryder Cup points list. The top six in the standings will automatically qualify, and that’s where Novak will hope to get, avoiding any possibility of a captain’s pick snub.

Here’s a look at the current top 10:

1. Scottie Scheffler
2. Xander Schauffele
3. Collin Morikawa
4. Bryson DeChambeau
5. Russell Henley
6. Justin Thomas
7. Maverick McNealy
8. Brian Harman
9. Andrew Novak
10. J.J. Spaun

It will take more good golf to get there, but Novak is playing as well as any American at the moment.

5. Cameron Young

Cameron Young burst onto the scene in 2022 based on his prowess in major championships, finishing T3 at the PGA Championship and runner-up at The Open Championship a few months later. It appeared he would be the next American breakthrough with PGA TOUR wins and consistent major contention in his future.

Instead, he’s not currently exempt into any of the final three major championships of 2025.

A spot in the PGA Championship for Young is likely. The PGA of America traditionally exempts the top 100 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, even if it’s not an explicit criterion. At No. 65 in the OWGR, Young is safely within that threshold, but exemptions into the U.S. Open and The Open are severely in doubt.

To qualify for the U.S. Open, Young will need to be inside the top 60 of the OWGR after the PGA Championship or the RBC Canadian Open. That puts him firmly on the bubble. It gets even more stringent for The Open. Young will need to be inside the top 50 after the Charles Schwab Challenge next month.

After a strong T8 at The Sentry to open the season, Young has not notched another top 10. He’s missed the cut in five of his last eight starts, with only one top 50 in that time (T18 at the Valero Texas Open).

Often, it’s been one disaster round that sunk his chances. Young shot 78 in the first round of The Genesis Invitational, 82 in the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, 81 in the third round of THE PLAYERS Championship and 79 in the second round of the Masters Tournament.

Young is not in the field at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, so he will need to rely on big weeks at the Truist Championship and PGA Championship to revive his major championship hopes.