Schupak: FedEx Cup Fall needs to be more cutthroat. It could be with this simple fix

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The RSM Classic has carved out a nice niche as the last-chance saloon to retain gainful employment for the following year, for those pros who like to play in the big leagues and be able to plan out their schedule (to some extent).

But the drama that always emerges on Sunday – someone goes home happy, someone is going to be heartbroken – could be even better with a slight tweak. It’s time to make the FedEx Cup Fall points increase in value.

It doesn’t have to quadruple the way they do in the FedEx Cup Playoffs leading up to the Tour Championship, but they should be jacked up to 1 ½ or 2 times the regular season. What the FedEx Cup Fall needs is volatility. It needs to be cutthroat, it needs to feel like life or death every week and not until the finale. Players had the whole regular season to secure a place in the top 70 and lock up a card for next year.

For the rest of the players, they should get a head start if they were No. 71, for instance, but it shouldn’t mean they are a lock to stay inside the top 100 if they don’t bother to play in the seven events (this year) on the fall slate. 

The need to do something different is best told when reviewing the Aon Next 10, an eligibility pathway that awards access into signature events, recognizing the top 10 players, not otherwise exempt, from the FedExCup standings. Nos. 51-60 in the final FedExCup Fall standings at the conclusion of the RSM Classic will serve as the Aon Next 10 for the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational. Most of the players who flamed out of the playoffs in August after the BMW Championship in the Nos. 51-60 range on the standings should be motivated to make sure they stay there but the facts tell a different story.

Chris Kirk was the odd man out at No. 51. He’s playing for the first time this week but only because Sea Island is one of his happy places, site of his former home and a tournament that he won in 2014 and hasn’t missed since. He’s only fallen to No. 54 and there’s no chance he will drop out of the top 60 even if he misses the cut. Aldrich Potgeiter, who started at No. 52 fell to No. 53, played twice – sort of – including the no-cut Baycurrent Classic before later withdrawing from the Bank of Utah Championship. 

That's still more starts than Aaron Rai, who was 53^rd and has slipped just two spots without playing. Jordan Spieth entered the fall at No. 54 and has been off almost as long as when he was injured last year, which, of course, is his right to do so. Now? He’s No. 58 and still didn’t bother to sign up for RSM. Jake Knapp was No. 55 but given that he’s inched closer to the hot seat at No. 59, he signed up to play this week. On Monday, he withdrew and while he may have extenuating circumstances for not playing, the reality is in each of the first two years, only one player has moved in and out at the RSM Classic and that likely won’t change this year either.

Rico Hoey, who has vaulted from No. 105 to No. 57 while playing all six events so far and recording three top-10s including a runner-up at the Bank of Utah Championship, and Garrick Higgo, who leaped from No. 99 to No. 52 with a T-7, runner-up, T-4, T-4, are vying for the Mr. FedEx Cup Fall award. Hoey has one more shot at the winner's circle as he is the only other player between Nos. 51-60 entering the week besides Kirk in the RSM field.

But in this “fan-first” era of the PGA Tour, it sure would be fan-friendly if Spieth, Kirk and others who have been resting on their couches (Rai was busy winning on the DP World Tour) had more reason to tee it up in the fall. Somebody please let the Tour's Future Competitions Committee know that creating some more volatility to the Fall series standings would create some juice, and the FedEx Cup Fall portion of the schedule could produce a better squeeze.