Playoff scenarios: Hojgaards, Rickie Fowler among those battling for postseason berths at Wyndham

We’ve reached the Wyndham Championship, the final week of the PGA Tour’s regular season.

While the task of keeping one’s job extends through the fall, the big storyline this week at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, is which players will qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs.

Entering Wyndham, every player from No. 1 Scottie Scheffler to No. 57 Stephan Jaeger are mathematically guaranteed to finish inside the top 70 in points come Sunday evening. Players outside of that still have work to do, some more than others.

For example, at No. 58 in points, Aaron Rai surely is safe through to next week’s playoff opener, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, but there is a rare, albeit unlikely, scenario that could keep him out. Rai only needs a solo 50th to qualify on his own.

No. 59 Mac Hughes is the only player ranked Nos. 58-96 not slated to tee it up at Wyndham. No. 97 Billy Horschel is still recovering from hip surgery. No. 110 Ale Tosti is the next highest-ranked player not already qualified for the postseason not playing Wyndham.

Matt Schmid is the current bubble boy, at No. 70 and just four points and change clear of fellow European and No. 71 Nicolai Hojgaard. Schmid is just behind No. 69 Ben An (595.434 points), but there is a bigger gap between An and No. 68 Patrick Rodgers (615.592 points).

Here is a quick look at Nos. 60-70:

60. Tony Finau
61. Rickie Fowler
62. Davis Riley
63. Kevin Yu
64. Erik van Rooyen
65. Nico Echavarria
66. Emiliano Grillo
67. Cam Davis
68. Patrick Rodgers
69. Ben An
70. Matti Schmid

Finau and Fowler can clinch without help with solo 23rd- and 12th-place finishes, respectively.

As for the players outside the top 70, here are the minimum finishes needed to qualify for the playoffs, though it could require better results:

RK PLAYER MIN FINISH MIN PTS
71 Nicolai Hojgaard 2-way T-63 4.221
72 Keith Mitchell 2-way T-58 5.295
73 Chris Kirk 43rd 12.547
74 Christiaan Bezuidenhout 36th 19.504
75 Gary Woodland 27th 32.471
76 Kevin Roy 23rd 38.852
77 Alex Smalley 22nd 40.789
78 Davis Thompson 21st 42.979
79 Eric Cole 18th 48.354
80 William Mouw 11th 67.912
81 Ryo Hisatsune 3-way T-6 90.417
82 Rasmus Hojgaard 3-way T-4 114.799
83 Karl Vilips 4th 123.66
84 Matt McCarty 3-way T-3 139.385
85 Adam Scott 2-way T-3 149.068
86 Sami Valimaki 2-way T-3 152.288
87 Michael Thorbjornsen 2-way T-3 156.222
88 David Lipsky 2-way T-3 161.738
89 Tom Kim 3rd 169.088
90 Andrew Putnam 3rd 171.412
91 Danny Walker 3rd 183.249
92 Matt Wallace 3rd 185.44
93 Garrick Higgo 3rd 188.596
94 Taylor Moore 3rd 189.437
95 Vince Whaley 3-way T-2 192.94
96 Beau Hossler 3-way T-2 193.892
97 Billy Horschel 3-way T-2 195.879
98 Mark Hubbard 3-way T-2 199.531
99 Max McGreevy 3-way T-2 203.262
100 Isaiah Salinda 2-way T-2 211.61
101 Joel Dahmen 2-way T-2 213.982
102 Lee Hodges 2-way T-2 216.982
103 Rico Hoey 2-way T-2 221.943
104 Austin Eckroat 2-way T-2 223.94
105 Jesper Svensson 2-way T-2 231.839
106 Max Homa 2-way T-2 243.121
107 Victor Perez 2-way T-2 243.173
108 Patrick Fishburn 2nd 251.301
109 Chan Kim 2nd 260.408
110 Alejandro Tosti 2nd 261.167
111 Sam Ryder 2nd 270.186
112 Henrik Norlander 2nd 271.506
113 Jackson Suber 2nd 274.103
114 Chad Ramey 2nd 275.692
115 Harry Higgs 2nd 286.851
116 Thorbjorn Olesen 2nd 287.353
117 Justin Lower 2nd 289.924
118 Kris Ventura 2nd 290.169
119 Hayden Springer 2nd 290.841
120 Zach Johnson 2nd 296.4

Everyone else in the field below No. 120 needs a win to get into the playoffs. No. 176 Cristobal del Solar is the first player in the field who is already eliminated from the postseason.

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