This article is part of our The Reshuffle List series.
The final reshuffle of the 2013-14 PGA Tour season was this week. And with only a month left until the regular season is complete, it's a mad dash for two groups of Reshuffle List players: the first are those looking to clinch their tour cards for the 2014-15 season. The other is made up of those just looking to make the Web.com Tour Finals to have a fighting shot to keep it.
Safe and Sound - Players who clinched PGA Tour cards for 2014-15 (minimum FedEx points necessary between 390-400):
1. Will MacKenzie 919.900 points
2. Russell Knox 845.066
3. Ben Martin 746.333
4. Ryo Ishikawa 679.880
5. Billy Hurley III 624.209
6. Andrew Svoboda 579.970
7. Troy Merritt 467.500
8. Danny Lee 445.500
9. Tim Wilkinson 436.450
10. Kevin Kisner 434.583
11. Brice Garnett 431.280
12. Ricky Barnes 407.413
To clarify: these players have FedEx Cup rankings between 36th and 118th. Whether one keeps his card is judged by the FedEx Cup points list ranking (125th or better), and NOT total points. It is believed, however, that with six regular-season events left, somewhere around 400 points should be good enough to keep the card. The caveat is with this being the first year of the wrap-around season and with more FedEx Cup points available than ever, there is a chance that that prediction could be incorrect. So it's always good to check the rankings when making fantasy choices over the next five weeks.
The recent big movers on this
The final reshuffle of the 2013-14 PGA Tour season was this week. And with only a month left until the regular season is complete, it's a mad dash for two groups of Reshuffle List players: the first are those looking to clinch their tour cards for the 2014-15 season. The other is made up of those just looking to make the Web.com Tour Finals to have a fighting shot to keep it.
Safe and Sound - Players who clinched PGA Tour cards for 2014-15 (minimum FedEx points necessary between 390-400):
1. Will MacKenzie 919.900 points
2. Russell Knox 845.066
3. Ben Martin 746.333
4. Ryo Ishikawa 679.880
5. Billy Hurley III 624.209
6. Andrew Svoboda 579.970
7. Troy Merritt 467.500
8. Danny Lee 445.500
9. Tim Wilkinson 436.450
10. Kevin Kisner 434.583
11. Brice Garnett 431.280
12. Ricky Barnes 407.413
To clarify: these players have FedEx Cup rankings between 36th and 118th. Whether one keeps his card is judged by the FedEx Cup points list ranking (125th or better), and NOT total points. It is believed, however, that with six regular-season events left, somewhere around 400 points should be good enough to keep the card. The caveat is with this being the first year of the wrap-around season and with more FedEx Cup points available than ever, there is a chance that that prediction could be incorrect. So it's always good to check the rankings when making fantasy choices over the next five weeks.
The recent big movers on this list are Kisner and Garnett. While Kisner's first big jump came in May, his T20 finish last week at the John Deere Classic gave him 50 FedEx Cup points and put him over the magic number. With his card believed to be secure and a game that has him ranked seventh in putting from inside five feet, Kisner can now go after his first PGA Tour win.
Garnett, meanwhile, has been quietly chugging along and has seen some noteworthy recent results. And in a season that saw Reshuffle List players controversially get fewer starts than some would have liked, Garnett took advantage of his opportunities. Although he missed the cut when he got into Bay Hill when Tiger Woods withdrew, he followed that the next two weeks with finishes of T31 and T7 in San Antonio and Houston and has kept it going since. He has missed some cuts and had some rocky finishes in between, but results of T29-T30 at the Byron Nelson and Colonial and T35-T45 at Greenbrier and John Deere means he's clinched his card and has a place on the PGA Tour for 2014-15. Not bad for a guy with just one top-10 in 24 starts and ranks no better than 73rd in any key statistical category.
On the Cusp - Players who rank 130-137 on FedEx Cup points list:
13. Bud Cauley 357.230 points
14. Tyrone Van Aswegen 354.580
15. Jim Renner 345.797
16. Trevor Immelman 344.473
Cauley's recent rise was capped by an ace on the 72nd hole at the Greenbrier Classic that was shown over and over again around the sports world because it won someone a free year of mortgage payments courtesy of Quicken Loans. That moment capped off a strong month's worth of play that included a T11 in Hartford and T4 in Greenbrier on the back of that ace. Cauley ranks 33rd in greens in regulation and is one solid finish away from locking up his card for 2014-2015.
Barely Inside the Top 200
The PGA Tour portion of the Web.com Tour Finals is made up of players who rank 126-200 in FedEx Cup points at the conclusion of the regular season (the other half is the top 75 on the Web.com Tour money list as they come together to battle for 25 cards, looking to join the top 25 on the Web.com Tour money list who have already attained one). Here's who is holding on for dear life:
33. Miguel Angel Carballo 86.910 points, 191th in standings
34. Lee Williams 73.750, 197th
35. Alex Prugh 72.400, 199th
Carballo made a leaderboard last month when he finished T18 at the Travelers Championship. However, his eight missed cuts in just 12 starts have put him in a hole, requiring an extremely strong finish to ensure he makes it to the Finals.
Fighting for a Shot - Players just outside the top 200
36. Kevin Foley 60.790 points, 205th in the standings
37. Mark Anderson 54.848, 207th
38. Will Claxton 52.340, 208th
39. Patrick Cantlay 47.970, 211th
This list features two players - Foley and Anderson - who we've chronicled all year in terms of their ability to get into tournaments (see below).
But for now we'll focus on Cantlay, who missed most of the season due to a back injury. He has a couple things in his favor. First, he's played decently since returning, making two cuts in four starts and finishing T23 at Greenbrier. One strong finish in the next month completely changes his plight. Second, when he sat out most of the year, his team acknowledged that it was looking long term and didn't want him to rush back only to see the injury reoccur. So with the acceptance that a step back (as in a guaranteed trip to the Web.com Tour for 2015) may come before a step forward, you may see a more relaxed Cantlay the next several weeks in his remaining PGA Tour appearances.
Will They Ever See a Tournament Update
This is an update of the golfers profiled in our initial 2013-14 Reshuffle List column, and how the new system and its flaws - specifically with placement on the Reshuffle List following the Web.com Tour Finals - might have decided some of their fates before the season even started (ranks are where they started this season).
35. Alex Aragon, -10, 15 starts, two made cuts (T77, T71)
43. Mark Anderson, +6, eight starts, three made cuts (T68, T17, T81)
44. Kevin Tway, +17, 20 starts, seven made cuts (T40, T37, T48, T65, T60, T26, T52)
45. Kevin Foley, +9, 12 starts, four made cuts (T72, T35, T42, T75)
47. Will Wilcox, +25, 13 starts, eight made cuts (T8, T64, T43, T34, T57, T78, T19, T4)
48. Benjamin Alvarado, +7, six starts, one made cut (T53)