Yahoo Sports Top 50 is set: Who's in, who's out for 2024 BMW Championship
The 70-man field at the FedEx St. Jude Championship was winnowed down to 50 who advance to the BMW Championship in Castle Rock, Colorado, for the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Also on the line: the top 50 finishers qualified for eight Signature events in 2025. Brian Harman sent a text to Kevin Kisner that summed it up best: "The top 50 is life."
There was plenty of Sunday drama with some players going low, others hanging on by a thread as well as an epic collapse. As Nick Dunlap, who jumped from No. 67 to No. 48 put it, "I was a train wreck. I'm not going to lie to you. I was arguably the most nervous I've ever been... I just didn't want the season to end."
Here's is more on top names who got in and some who fell short, ending their seasons.
Viktor Hovland
It’s been a disappointing year for Hovland, who had recorded just one top-10 finish this season. He needed to jump from No. 57 into the top 50 this week to advance to the BMW Championship otherwise he would’ve been the first player not to defend his title at the BMW. He nearly claimed the title in Memphis, taking the lead late until he made a bogey at 17 and missed a 9-foot birdie putt in his bid to win a third straight FedEx Cup Playoff event dating to last year. Still, he vaulted to No. 16 in the FedEx Cup season-long standing and will have a chance to defend his title at the Tour Championship in two weeks.
Eric Cole
Cole started the week at No. 54 in the season-long points race and shot 72 in the third round and had his work cut out for him on Sunday.
"I did not play well yesterday at all tee to green," he said. "Didn't have too high of expectations for today."
Indeed, he booked a flight home to Florida for 2 p.m. figuring his playoffs would be coming to an end.
Those flight plans have been rerouted. He started birdie-birdie-eagle and posted 30 on the front nine. He tacked on three more birdies at Nos. 13, 15 and 16 but found the water at 18 to put his chances of advancing in jeopardy. He bounced back and drained a 15-foot bogey putt that he had to make. He closed in 63, tying for the low round of the day.
"I think it's a cool thing that this FedEx Cup kind of provides. There's drama. You don't really know where you're going to be. It's going to be kind of fun to sit back in the AC and watch them come down the final stretch."
He finished T-18 for the tournament and improved to No. 46 and moving on to the Rocky Mountain state for the BMW.
“Fantastic 63 today! You can tell you’ve put in the hard work – way to go!!” wrote Cole’s mother, former LPGA pro Laura Baugh on social media.
Max Greyserman
Greyserman, who shot up to No. 47 with his second-place finish last week at the Wyndham Championship, had struggled in Memphis and was sitting T-62 entering the final round and projected to fall to No. 53.
Greyserman delivered in a big way in the final round. He shot a bogey-free 7-under 63, tying for the low round of the day at TPC Southwind. He was the leader in Strokes Gained: putting in the final round, and made a clutch 11-foot par putt at 18 when he knew he needed it. Greyserman improved to T-33 and jumped to 47th in the FedEx Cup. Making the top 50 is a terrific accomplishment for the rookie.
Nick Dunlap
Dunlap vaulted from No. 67 to 48th in the season-long race and booked his trip to Denver with a T-5 finish. He closed in 69 and shot four rounds in the 60s.
"I was a train wreck. I'm not going to lie to you. I was arguably the most nervous I've ever been, to be honest," said Dunlap, who won twice this season but didn't earn the 500 points for his first win because he was an amateur and non-member at the time. "I just didn't want the season to end."
Cam Davis
Davis had to sweat it out on Sunday to the end.
The winner of the Rocket Mortgage Classic last month, started the week at No. 44 in the season-long points race but was even par and T-53 through 54 holes, which had him projected to fall to No. 52.
In the final round, he made bogey at the first but reeled in six birdies in his first 16 holes to put him in a good spot. But he made a mess at 18, tugging his second shot in the water and missing a 14-foot bogey putt. Double bogey at the last dropped him to 3-under 67. He tossed his ball in the water when it was over and seemed resigned to the fact that he wouldn't make it. However, it turned out he played just well enough as he improved to T-40 and snuck in at No. 49 in the season-long standings.
“I've done it every year for the last three years,” Davis said. “I feel like I'm constantly in this position where you've had a good season but still a little low missing next year, which doesn't feel right, and it's extra frustrating right now that I finished the way I did after playing the way I did all the way up until that point.”
Keegan Bradley
Bradley, the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, needed a good final round and did just enough to survive and advance. He struggled this week and stood T-62 with 18 holes ago, which sent his ranking at the start of the tournament plummeting from No. 39 to 51st and the first man out of the BMW field.
He made four birdies on Sunday and two bogeys to shoot 2-under-par 68 and finish as the Bubble Boy.
Tom Kim
If Dunlap felt like a train wreck, Kim endured a train-wreck finish, going bogey, double, double to shoot 71 and tumble to No. 51. For more on his epic meltdown, click here.
Mackenzie Hughes
Hughes, who started the week at No. 48, must have experienced a feeling of déjà vu. He slipped to 51st last year but ended up with the perks of top 50 when Jon Rahm jumped to LIV. He entered the final round T-58, which had him projected as No. 54 in the standings. He shot even-par 70 but that wasn't enough and he got bumped to No. 52 and along with Kim and Jake Knapp were knocked out of moving on to Castle Pines.
Maverick McNealy
McNealy didn't go down without a fight. He made an eagle at 16 and a birdie at 17 and nearly chipped in for birdie at 18. He shot a final-round 64 and was at No. 50 when he tapped in at 18. It turned out it wasn't enough as he finished 53rd.
"There's something about having your back against the wall that lets you do things that you can't normally do under normal circumstances. It narrows your focus. It heightens your awareness. It does some pretty fun stuff, and it's a feeling that you really chase as a professional athlete," he said. "When I holed that bunker shot on 16, it was a do or die. I needed to hole it to have a chance. That was pretty cool. I was like, this is a chance for something special. Might be one shot short, might be just enough. We'll see. But either way, I'm really proud of my effort today."
Patrick Rodgers
Rodgers was the Bubble Boy last year and reaped the benefits of playing in all the Signature events. This time, he came up short. He started the week at No. 53, shot 67 on Sunday but finished T-33 and slipped one spot to No. 54.
Justin Rose
Justin Rose’s late-season rally from outside of the top 70 prior to finishing T-2 at the British Open last month fell short on Sunday. The 2018 FedEx Cup champion started the week at No. 55 and entered the final round in T-9, which had him projected to improve to No. 46 and on to Castle Pines.
But on Sunday, Rose ran into trouble on the front nine, playing Nos. 4-6 in bogey-bogey-double bogey. He righted the ship with back-nine birdies at Nos. 12 and 16 but it wasn’t enough. He needed a birdie on 18 but drove into the right fairway bunker, where no one had made birdie all day, and hit the lip with his second shot and made bogey to finish T-22 for the week and 55th in the standings.
Harris English
Harris English laid an egg on Sunday. Needing a good day to secure a spot in the top 50, he shot 40 on the front nine and made three doubles for the day and shot 76.
Nick Taylor
Nick Taylor was stuck on the struggle bus too on Sunday. He made bogeys on four of the first six holes and posted 77.
Jake Knapp
Knapp won the Mexico Open earlier this season and was the Bubble Boy at the start of the week. But he picked a bad week for his game to go south. He finished 67th in the 70-man field and tumbled from No. 50 to 59.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Top 50 is set: Who's in, who's out for 2024 BMW Championship
