What should be remembered from the FedExCup Fall?

The seven-event circuit began in Napa in September and ended when Sami Valimaki cozied his birdie putt next to the pin on the 72nd hole and tapped in for his maiden TOUR victory last week at The RSM Classic. In between, the top 100 was solidified, determining who will have fully-exempt status in 2026 and who will be grinding to get back there. Alongside that race, 20 Korn Ferry Tour players locked up a promotion to the TOUR and another 10 DP World Tour players earned dual membership across both major pro tours. Now, only five cards remain up for grabs next month at Q-School presented by Korn Ferry.

Among it all, what will matter most as the calendar turns to 2026 and a new season begins? Last year, the fall proved to be a training ground for numerous breakouts, big and small. Maverick McNealy won his first event and compiled a career year. Ben Griffin snuck into Signature Events with solid play and parlayed that added confidence into a three-win season and a Ryder Cup appearance. Luke Clanton nearly won The RSM and racked up valuable PGA TOUR University Accelerated points that enabled him to earn a TOUR card months later.

So what moments from this fall will reverberate through the next calendar year? Here’s a look at five revelations that should be remembered as we turn the page from the fall and look toward a new season that will begin in less than two months.

Michael Thorbjornsen’s rise

Michael Thorbjornsen began his PGA TOUR career in the shadow of Ludvig Åberg, who finished No. 1 in the PGA TOUR University rankings the year prior and immediately contended on TOUR, won on the DP World Tour and played in a Ryder Cup – all within four months of turning pro.

By those unrealistic expectations, Thorbjornsen’s arrival was tepid. He showed flashes of brilliance that were too often drowned out by inconsistency. Yet now, a little less than 18 months since officially turning pro, Thorbjornsen is starting to show the potential that had many believing he would be in the same conversation as Åberg.

Thorbjornsen, a Stanford alum and former world amateur No. 1, made 15 of 16 cuts to close his season and vaulted from 168th to 70th in the FedExCup, quickly erasing any concerns of losing his TOUR card and transforming them into newfound hype toward what’s next. Along with a top-15 finish at the Procore Championship, Thorbjornsen added two top 10s, including a solo-third at the Baycurrent Classic.

The talent was always there; Thorbjornsen just needed to refine it to work on TOUR. He spent the last several months ironing out his swing mechanics and built upon the growing comfort level of being a TOUR pro.

"Right after college going into TOUR life, you can never prepare for it because you don't know what you're getting yourself into until you actually experience it for yourself," Thorbjornsen said.

Could Thorbjornsen be the next player to use the fall as a springboard, just like Åberg did? It might’ve come a year later than Åberg, but with that experience in hand, Thorbjornsen projects as one of the most exciting young players entering 2026.

Rico Hoey’s putting

Outside of those who won an event this fall, no player improved their stock – and confidence – more than Rico Hoey.

Hoey began the FedExCup Fall on the edge of losing fully-exempt status, ranked 106th in the standings. He ended it 54th to secure a spot in the first two 2026 Signature Events, and with a long-term solution to the one part of his game that held him back: the putter.

Hoey compiled the best ball-striking year of anyone not named Scottie Scheffler. The 30-year-old Filipino ranked second in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, behind only the world No. 1. And he did it by excelling both off the tee and on approach, ranking third and eighth in the categories, respectively. In most circumstances, that would be enough to churn out consistently great results. Except Hoey was one of the worst putters on TOUR, losing nearly a stroke per round on the greens.

That is, until he made a putter switch this fall, discarding his conventional-length putter for a long putter that unlocked his game. A cursory glance at the stats this fall doesn’t do the switch justice, mostly because several of the fall events don’t have the same statistical measuring as FedExCup Regular Season events.

But asked how he managed to notch two top fives, another top 10 and just one finish outside the top 25 this fall, Hoey gave all credit to the putter.

“The good days are good and the bad days aren’t as bad as before,” Hoey told PGATOUR.COM last week. When paired with elite ball-striking, that’s all he needs.

The RSM Classic’s closing moments

The PGA TOUR season offers ample time for players to separate. Forty-six events were played over 47 weeks in 2025, all culminating at The RSM Classic. Yet, despite the thousands of holes played across the TOUR this year, so much was still on the line when Max McGreevy stood over his birdie putt on the 72nd hole at Sea Island Resort.

McGreevy, who a week earlier secured his status on TOUR with a top finish in Bermuda, poured in the putt and pumped his fist. It had major implications for McGreevy, pushing him into sole possession of second place and just enough FedExCup points to get to 60th in the standings and secure the last spot in the Aon Next 10.

It also reverberated throughout the standings, costing several others. Jordan Spieth dropped from 60th to 61st and will have to rely on a sponsor exemption to get into The Genesis Invitational (he will likely still get into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which fills the back end of their 80-man field according to the previous year’s standings). It also had an outsized impact on rookie Ricky Castillo, who fired a Sunday 62 to push himself into contention. He held a share of the lead with McGreevy and Valimaki on the front nine Sunday. Had McGreevy missed his putt and remained in a tie, Castillo would have earned enough points to finish in the top 100. But his solo-third finish only got him to 102nd – narrowly losing out on fully-exempt status.

Elsewhere, Lee Hodges narrowly missed a birdie putt of his own on the 18th. That was the difference between keeping his card or finishing No. 101 as the first man out.

"I made so many putts out there today of distance," said Hodges after his round. "To miss one [on No. 18] and say it's [the putter's] fault, that's unfair to my putter.

Both Hodges and Castillo will earn starts next season, given they have the best conditional status of anyone. Yet if they struggle in those starts, they will both wonder what could have been if one putt fell or stayed out on Sunday at Sea Island. Likewise, for McGreevy, who could use those Signature Event starts as a launching point to an even higher ascent. If he does so, his putt on the 72nd hole will be the origin story.

Rookies struggle in debut of top-100 era

The reduction in PGA TOUR cards this season took a toll on this year’s crop of rookies. Only six of the 35 rookies maintained full status and nobody cracked the top 50 to secure a full year of Signature Event starts.

Aldrich Potgieter led the way, winning the Rocket Classic and finishing 56th in the standings. Steven Fisk, William Mouw and Karl Vilips all won to secure status, while Danny Walker and Rasmus Højgaard snuck into the top 100 to get another year on the PGA TOUR.

Is this a one-year anomaly? Or will the decrease in fully-exempt players have a long-lasting impact on rookies’ ability to maintain full status? It’s something that will take more than one year to make a judgment on, but it should be on the radar as a new crop of rookies reach the PGA TOUR in 2026.

Johnny Keefer’s sneak preview

The crown jewel of next year’s class of rookies gave the world a sneak peek of his talent at The RSM Classic. Johnny Keefer finished T7 while playing the season finale on a sponsor exemption, contending into the final round.

It’s hard to reach the PGA TOUR with more accolades than the Baylor grad, who finished first in points on PGA TOUR Americas in 2023 and first in points on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024. The latter season earned him the Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards, becoming the first player since Scheffler in 2018 to sweep the distinctions. In the process, Keefer pushed himself into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking despite limited action on TOUR, another indicator of how dominant he has been.

Keefer, 24, should start 2026 with plenty of deserved hype. His week at The RSM Classic only further cemented the buzz.