GREENSBORO, N.C. – For all the number-crunching, head-scratching and scenario-wrangling at the Wyndham Championship, there was just one player to move inside the top 70 on the FedExCup at the PGA TOUR Regular Season finale and punch his ticket to the postseason.

That player stood a distant No. 130 on the FedExCup standings two months ago and seriously considered not playing the U.S. Open (for which he was qualified) because he was so disenchanted with the state of his game.

That player celebrated with a four-and-a-half-hour journey home from North Carolina to Georgia on Sunday evening, eager to take his kids to their first day of school on Monday.

Chris Kirk

Kirk was that player. Kirk, 40, finished T5 at the Wyndham Championship, making two birdies and 16 pars on a steady Sunday at venerable Sedgefield Country Club, to move from No. 73 to No. 61 on the season-long FedExCup standings and earn a spot at the first Playoffs event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis., Tennessee. The only player to fall outside the top 70 this week was Kirk’s fellow veteran Byeong Hun An, who missed the cut and fell from No. 69 to No. 74.

Kirk’s job here is not done, of course. Far from it. The top 50 on the FedExCup after the FedEx St. Jude Championship (which offers quadruple FedExCup points) will advance to the BMW Championship and, crucially, qualify for next season’s Signature Events. Kirk needs a strong showing in Memphis to meet that threshold, and he plans to rest up before he arrives there on Tuesday evening; the good news is that he’s plenty familiar with FedEx St. Jude Championship host venue TPC Southwind, a course that he loves.

“I think I knew that nothing was like so far off, but I just felt kind of hopeless,” Kirk said of his mentality two months ago. “My putting felt terrible and my swing just felt kind of mediocre, so there was a minute there where I was just like, man, I played a few events at Oakmont, like do I really want to put myself through that right now with how my game feels. But thankfully, I went and started working with Tim Overton that week on my putting and it's really made a big difference.”

As he said, that’s golf in a nutshell. Kirk finished T12 at the U.S. Open, took runner-up in a playoff at the Rocket Classic, and added a T14 at the 3M Open in the week preceding the Wyndham. He has now finished top 15 in four of his last six starts, making him a prime contender to make another jump next week and crack the top 50 after Memphis.

Kirk felt plenty of pressure into the final round at Sedgefield, he admitted Sunday, and he knows he’ll likely feel more next weekend. But that’s a problem for another day. For now, he’ll enjoy the knowledge that he came up clutch under pressure at the Regular Season finale and extended his season.

“I knew I was in great position to have a good week and move on to next week, but there's the pressure of that and then also trying to not try to think forward too much but try to get yourself in position to possibly make it to the BMW,” Kirk added. “Didn't quite get as many points as I would have liked, but overall very happy with my game.”

Although Kirk was the only player to move inside the top 70 at the Wyndham, there was no shortage of bubble drama on the final afternoon of the PGA TOUR Regular Season. Here’s a capsule look at how the drama unfolded Sunday at Sedgefield …

Mark Hubbard

Hubbard entered the week at No. 98 on the FedExCup, and as it turned out, he needed a two-way T2 at minimum to advance to the postseason. He was in a solid position with rounds of 63-66 to begin the week, but a third-round 73 meant that he needed something seriously low Sunday for a chance to crack the top 70. He almost did it. Hubbard found a rhythm that he carried all day, and he regained his early-week confidence on the greens after spending an hour on the putting green Saturday evening; the result was a bogey-free, 7-under 63 that matched Sunday’s low round.

But Hubbard finished in a two-way T3, ultimately a single shot shy of where he needed to be. It wasn’t for a lack of opportunities; he closed with five straight pars, three of which were two-putts from inside 20 feet. After signing his card, he stood in a two-way T2 but knew his spot was tenuous. He was ultimately surpassed by Mac Meissner, who made birdie at the par-5 15th and made three straight closing pars to finish at 16-under, one clear of Hubbard’s 72-hole total.

Hubbard finished at No. 77 on the FedExCup. With one more birdie, he would have finished No. 67.

“That was the best maybe I've ever felt with my tempo, which is something that I struggle with from time to time,” Hubbard said afterward. “I don't know what happened or what I did to make that feel so good. I'm going to think long and hard about it because I want to replicate that as often as I can.

“I'm just really proud of myself after yesterday. Yesterday sucked real bad and I could have easily thrown in the towel since it didn't look like it was going to be possible to get into that second place … Right now I'm just going to go chill and relax and take in what I just did.”

It wasn’t enough, but Hubbard will take those good vibes into the FedExCup Fall and beyond.

Matti Schmid

Schmidentered the week at No. 70 on the FedExCup, knowing he likely needed to make the cut and then some to solidify his Playoffs position. He shared 13th place into the final round and was comfortably projected to maintain his top-70 spot and qualify for his first FedExCup Playoffs. But strange things can happen on this Sunday, and Schmid fell well off the pace after playing his first 12 holes in 5-over, drifting below 50th place on the leaderboard and projecting outside the top 70. It was a jarring development for the normally even-keeled University of Louisville alum, but he rallied with four birdies in his last six holes – including three consecutive closing birdies – to finish T31 for the week and ultimately hold onto his Playoffs position.

Schmid did it with flair, draining a 24-footer at the par-4 18th for a final-round 71. As it turned out, he needed to make two birdies in his final three holes to make the Playoffs, and he made all three.

“I obviously didn't play too well today. I struggled a bit with my game but hung in there and putts finally started to drop towards the end,” Schmid said after his round, before his Playoffs position was finalized. “Yeah, just grinded out, I was pretty positive today trying to have a good finish. Yeah, maybe with a bit of luck.”

While awaiting his postseason fate, Schmid spent some time with fans, even giving his hat to a young fan and signing a shoe. After the dust settled, he received some good news: The luck broke his way, and he’s headed to Memphis.

Davis Thompson

Schmid punched his ticket to the FedEx St. Jude Championship largely by way of Thompson, the odd man out of the Schmid-Thompson de facto duel that unfolded late on Sunday afternoon. Thompson entered the week at No. 78 on the FedExCup, needed something special to advance to the postseason, and nearly made it happen. The University of Georgia alum entered the final round in seventh place, projected to move inside the top 70, and he hung around a FedExCup Playoffs position for most of Sunday.

Thompson drained a 48-foot birdie at the par-5 15th hole, punctuated by an enthusiastic high five with his caddie (maybe the most emotion the mild-mannered Thompson has shown inside the ropes on the PGA TOUR) that moved him to 3-under for the round. After back-to-back pars at Nos. 16 and 17, he arrived at the par-4 18th hole needing a par to finish the week T8 and advance to the Playoffs at No. 69 on the FedExCup. But he pushed his tee shot into the right rough and eventually missed a 6-footer for par, with his bogey dropping him to T11 on the leaderboard and to No. 71 on the FedExCup.

Thompson finished a mere five points behind Schmid and was ultimately the first man out of the FedExCup Playoffs. To his credit, Thompson met the media afterward to assess the day that was. He was blunt in his assessment, as well.

“It sucks, but it is what it is,” Thompson said. “Just got to move on and get ready for the (FedExCup) Fall.”

Patrick Rodgers

Rodgers closed in 5-under 65 to finish T15 at the Wyndham and move from No. 68 to No. 63 on the FedExCup, and the significance extended far beyond one’s run-of-the-mill top-15 finish. Rodgers entered the week on a skid of six straight missed cuts, the pressure mounting to advance to the postseason, and he stood five strokes off the cut line with 15 holes to play in his second round. He answered the bell with nine birdies in his last 15 holes for a 7-under 63, and he again rallied from a third-round 71 with just one bogey in a final-round 65 that punched his ticket to Memphis.

The mental tug-of-war wasn’t easy for Rodgers, who occupied a large part of his time this week by hiking some nature trails and visiting college campuses. After signing his final-round scorecard, he was thankful for those who have remained in his corner through his struggles – namely his wife – and beamed as he considered what it meant to deliver in a pressure situation.

“This was a real gut check, maybe more so than being on the bubble another way,” Rodgers said afterward. “Like I played really crappy golf to get myself on the bubble, so I needed to generate some momentum from absolutely nothing. When your recent golf that you look back on is just a lot of feeling down and a lot of failures, it's hard to find that resilience. So, I'm really proud of the fact that I was able to pick myself back up and keep going and have some self-belief. It was really difficult at times, but it's definitely something I'm going to carry forward into next week.”

Cam Davis

Rodgers was secure in his FedExCup Playoffs position after completing his final round at Sedgefield, but Davis had no such luxury. The affable Australian rallied from a triple bogey at the par-4 11th hole Sunday with three birdies in his final seven holes to post a respectable 1-over 71 (ultimately good for a T44 finish), but at the time, he had no way of knowing if he would be safe. Having entered the week on a skid of three straight missed cuts, Davis was grateful to right the ship and bolster his Playoffs chances on the weekend; he entered the week at No. 67 on the FedExCup and was nowhere near a lock. Davis had no intention of following the projections as Sunday afternoon wore on, saying he planned to drive to Nashville (where his caddie lives) and wait for the TOUR’s notification that relayed his FedExCup position.

It was tenuous at times, but Davis ultimately held onto the No. 69 spot on the FedExCup (roughly 11 points clear of No. 71) and punched his ticket to Memphis.

“I'm not going to ride that emotional rollercoaster,” Davis said after signing his card early Sunday afternoon. “I've been on the cutline every year I feel like since I've been on TOUR, whether it's for the 50 (after the FedEx St. Jude Championship) or for this. No, it's too stressful to keep your eyes on it or try to follow too closely what's going on. I'm going to get a text message at the end of the day that tells me where I sit, and I'm flying to Nashville tonight and I'm either driving to Memphis from there or I'm flying home. Either way, we'll find out.

“I feel tired. I've pushed really hard for the last few months and it's not led to any better golf. I've had a couple of little bright moments, but you can probably count on one hand since April. So I'm almost pretty much ready to put the clubs away for a little bit and just rest my brain and work on that as well because I would say that more than anything else has been the thing that I've found the hardest to get on top of.”

He won’t be able to rest quite yet, as he has a chance to play his way inside the top 50 (and secure a spot in next year’s Signature Events) at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Gary Woodland

Woodland has faced ample adversity in recent years – he had surgery in fall 2023 to remove a lesion on his brain, and he received the PGA TOUR Courage Award earlier this year as a testament to his resilience. In the grand scheme, fighting to make the Playoffs was small potatoes for the Kansas alum, but he felt the inevitable nerves and embraced the bubble pressure throughout the week in North Carolina. Woodland entered the week at No. 75 on the FedExCup standings and was projected No. 70 into the final round at T9 on the leaderboard, squarely on the Playoffs bubble.

Woodland justifiably has a more difficult time maintaining his energy levels at this point in his career, with all he has overcome in his health, and the season caught up to him Sunday at Sedgefield as he struggled to an even-par 70 and eventual T23 finish. It wasn’t enough to keep his season alive, as he ultimately finished No. 72 on the FedExCup – but it wasn’t all bad. Far from it.

Woodland looks forward to next month’s Ryder Cup, where he’ll serve as a vice captain for U.S. Team Captain Keegan Bradley, and he fully believes that his game is trending in the right direction. He’ll be back.

“A lot of positives from this season. It stinks to not move on, but I'm excited for some rest, I need it,” Woodland said afterward. “Rest up, spend some quality time with the family, try to get a little healthier and then get ready for the Ryder Cup now. It was a good year in a lot of ways, but I have a long way to go in a lot of ways. The best part's my game's in a really good spot and I'm happy with that.”