With the 2025 PGA TOUR season’s eight Signature Events in the rearview, the time is ripe for PGA TOUR rookies to make their case for FedExCup Playoffs berths in the coming weeks.

Including this week’s Rocket Classic at historic Detroit Golf Club, there are just eight events remaining before the FedExCup Playoffs. The top 70 on the FedExCup after the Wyndham Championship in early August will qualify for the three-event Playoffs. The top 50 on the FedExCup after the first Playoffs event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, will qualify for next season’s Signature Events and advance to the BMW Championship. The top 30 after the BMW Championship will qualify for the TOUR Championship, where all players will start at even-par, on a level playing field, after the elimination of the FedExCup Starting Strokes format.

Entering the Rocket Classic, there’s just one rookie inside the top 70 on the FedExCup and projected to qualify for the Playoffs. The good news, though? This week is the first of several opportunities for the newest TOUR pros to rack up high finishes and ascend the season-long standings.

Here’s a look at the five highest-performing rookies thus far in 2025:

Karl Vilips (No. 70). Vilips wasted no time in making his presence felt on the PGA TOUR, winning the Puerto Rico Open in his third start as a TOUR member after being sidelined to begin his rookie campaign with a back injury. With that victory, Vilips qualified for THE PLAYERS Championship and PGA Championship, and he secured PGA TOUR membership through 2027. It was a meteoric rise in less than 12 months after graduating from Stanford in spring 2024 and finishing No. 10 on that year’s PGA TOUR University Ranking to earn KornFerry Tour membership.

Vilips, 23, went through a slower period after his breakthrough victory, but he finished T4 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans alongside his former Stanford teammate Michael Thorbjornsen and added a T11 at the Charles Schwab Challenge in late May. Now Vilips, who hails from Australia and moved to the United States at age 11 to pursue his golf dreams, holds the final projected FedExCup Playoffs berth into the Rocket Classic.

The good news: He’s projected to make the Playoffs with eight events remaining before spots are finalized. The bad news: He doesn’t have much wiggle room.

Aldrich Potgieter (No. 73). Like Vilips, Potgieter made a quick impact early in his rookie campaign that set him up to chase a FedExCup Playoffs berth. The South African finished runner-up at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld in February, falling to Brian Campbell in a playoff, thus introducing himself to TOUR fans as an intriguing young talent at age 20 – after becoming the second-youngest player to earn a PGA TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour (behind Jason Day).

Also like Vilips, Potgieter hit a rough spell after that early success; he missed the cut in seven of his next eight starts and drifted to the precipice of the top-70 bubble. Potgieter found form in his most recent start, finishing T6 at the Charles Schwab Challenge with four rounds in the 60s. It’s a good time for him to continue that momentum in the next few weeks, maximizing the prodigious length (cultivated through wrestling in his younger years) that places him atop the TOUR in driving distance at 326.6 yards.

Rasmus Højgaard (No. 76). After earning his first PGA TOUR card via the top 10 on the 2024 DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking (top 10 on season-long Race to Dubai, not otherwise exempt), Højgaard has acquitted himself fairly well on TOUR this season. The Dane has notched four top-25 finishes in 14 starts, and he hasn’t missed a cut since the Valspar Championship in March.

Højgaard is playing on TOUR alongside his twin brother Nicolai, who currently stands No. 87 on the FedExCup. The Højgaards teamed for a runner-up finish at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April that significantly bolstered their spots on the season-long standings –and has them within striking distance of FedExCup Playoffs berths.

Danny Walker (No. 77). The University of Virginia alum didn’t reach the TOUR until his eighth year as a pro, but it was worth the wait. After narrowly clinching his card at last year’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance, he broke onto the scene with a tie for sixth at THE PLAYERS Championship in March – after gaining a spot in the field at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday morning as an alternate.

Overall, Walker has made eight cuts in 15 starts this season; aside from his breakout at THE PLAYERS, his best showings are a T12 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (alongside Ryan Gerard) and a T13 at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld. Walker’s path in professional golf hasn’t always been linear, as epitomized by a brief stint as a waiter at a Bahama Breeze in Jacksonville, Florida – but he’s happy he stuck it out. With a few more solid showings this summer, he’ll have a legitimate chance to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs.

Isaiah Salinda (No. 82). Salinda will play the remainder of the 2025 season with a heavy heart after the recent passing of his mom, Debbie. “Thank you Mom for a lifetime of lessons and love. You’re the strongest person I’ll ever know. Will miss you everyday & will make you proud always,” Salinda wrote on Instagram on June 4.

As a PGA TOUR rookie, Salinda has fared well with nine made cuts in 13 starts, highlighted by a third-place finish at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld. Salinda grew up in a close-knit family in the San Francisco Bay Area – his parents immigrated from the Philippines in the late 1980s – and he had an acclaimed college golf career at Stanford before earning his first TOUR card via the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour at age 27. Salinda’s mom was on-site in southern Indiana as he received his TOUR card at last fall’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance, a memory he’ll always cherish. She’ll be with him in spirit as he chases a FedExCup Playoffs berth this summer – and for the rest of his life.

Click here for a look at how all rookies have fared to date in 2025.