Max Homa was in front of his grounds to play the first Austin Championship.
“I shouldn’t have played this week,” he said Friday at Omni Barton Creek. “To be honest, I really didn’t want to. I’m gassy and old and everything hurts.”
Homa is not alone; 11 months into the season, plenty of road-weary Tour pros are hanging on by a thread. But much of the status of the pros for next season is still hanging by a thread. Next week’s RSM Classic is the final event of the FedEx Fall; that’s when the points will be finalized. What does it mean? this week in Austin it’s the last chance to improve (or stick to) your current situation.
Brian Harman, who is currently No. 71 in the rankings, said the pros are used to this pressure; it always is in one form or another.
“You’re always trying to do something. You’re trying to win a major, you’re trying to keep your card, you’re trying to finish top-50 or you’re trying to finish top-30 or you’re trying to make a team,” he said. “You just get used to dealing with that kind of anxiety all the time, and the better you manage it, the more successful you end up being.”
However, as the number of remaining tournaments decreases, the value of the remaining available points increases. A large round number is 100; this is the number of professionals who will have full PGA Tour status for the 2027 season.
Through three rounds, many competing pros need a high finish to jump over that limit. At one point Chad Ramey, who started the week at No. 136, was tied for the lead with No. 172 Sami Valimaki. Even in the mix? Erik van Rooyen (No. 140), Trace Crowe (No. 117), Zac Blair (No. 121), Will Gordon (No. 184), John VanDerLaan (No. 156), Rafa Campos (No. 174) and more. A win pushes any of them into the magic number; a superior finish would very significantly improve its partial status.
Billy Horschel, who entered the week at No. 98 but is projected to drop out of the bubble, said it’s not completely black or white. “It’s been a long time since I lost a card, but at the end of the day it’s not the end of the world,” he said. “I’m going to a few tournaments next year.”
Horschel would love to finish in the top 100 to guarantee himself a start at the Players Championship, for example, but finishing near the top 100 cutoff will still get him into a handful of 2027 events.
Van Rooyen, on the other hand, needs a high finish to earn meaningful starts next year. “I don’t know where I’ll play next year,” he said. “I’d like to get a win here and just be settled, right? But if that means Korn Ferry next year, that means Korn Ferry and I’m clawing my way back to where I know I belong. I know I’ve done things right and you just have to tell yourself.”
It’s not just that number 100 that matters. Every player who finishes in the top 60 of the fall season enters the first two Signature events for 2027 – at Pebble Beach and Riviera – which are massive tournaments with massive payouts. They also represent massive opportunities for professionals to advance for the 2028 season, when everything is changes. (And simplify. Mostly.)
Back to Homa, then. His reason for playing? He dropped right down to 61st in the rankings. After a third round 68 he is T24 at 8 under par – and still projected at No. 61.
“I don’t want to have to apply for sponsor exemptions,” he said. “LA (the Genesis Invitational) means the world to me, so I’d love to play in that event. Pebble, didn’t get to play last year which was a pain, just always loved being up there. For me the whole West Coast is just home event after home event.”
Homa just missed the original top 50 cutoff in the FedEx Cup playoffs in August, which would have guaranteed him spots in every 2027 Signature Event and allowed him to skip the fall; he finished 53rd. It seemed unlikely that his team told him he would slide out of the top 60. But then, as he said, “he looked really good about two weeks ago and then all the wrong ones played well.” Now he is on the shore again.
“You assume somebody’s going to win every week and you’re going to pass,” Homa said, referring to last week’s win by teenager Blades Brown, who climbed to No. 59, just ahead of Homa. “I didn’t expect it – Mexico, especially, it was like five points.”
Homa wasn’t complaining about the trip itself; he jumped at the chance to visit Austin, where his wife has family. He praised the center, the food, the people. But he’s been through it this year — “my body’s pretty beat up,” he said — so he’d like to make this trip worthwhile.
“I love competition so it’s nice to have another week. We’re going to have a long break so it’s nice to have another week to compete.”
As for the pressure of the moment? The best approach, a ° 99 Kevin Yu said, is to pay no attention.
“If you think about it, it’s definitely a lot of pressure,” he said. “But on the golf course, pressure won’t do you any good.”
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