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Rickie Fowler watches a shot during Thursday’s first round of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club.
Times-News
Luke Johnson / USA TODAY Sports
GREENSBORO — Rickie Fowler missed the cut and didn’t reach the weekend at the Wyndham Championship, the PGA Tour’s regular-season finale, but still was left standing on increasingly shaky ground during the closing stages of Sunday’s final round.
Fowler held on, barely, to his tenuous position in the FedEx Cup Playoffs and thus advanced to the St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tennessee, where he’ll play in the approaching postseason opener.
Joohyung “Tom” Kim’s finishing 9-under-par 61 and breakthrough victory at Sedgefield Country Club to cap the Wyndham dipped Fowler to No. 125 in the FedEx Cup standings, the very make-or-break line for moving on and gaining entry to the playoffs.
Tour rookie Max McGreevy made a significant jump, rising from the wrong side of the bubble at No. 126 to No. 104 on the strength of tying for fifth place at the Wyndham. McGreevy shot 65 on Sunday and carded 13-under for the tournament, with his fiancée, Belle, and dog, an 8-pound Chihuahua, rooting him on among the Sedgefield spectators.
“Felt good to put four good rounds together, for sure,” McGreevy said. “Game feels really, really good and I feel like I could have popped off and played better than I did this week. Just super excited to have got it done, but just that hard work I’ve kind of put in these last couple months has actually shown.”
Kim, the 20-year-old rising star, gained temporary PGA membership recently and played the Wyndham on a sponsor exemption. He had to win to qualify for the playoffs, and he delivered in first-class fashion while claiming the Sam Snead Cup, the trophy given to the Wyndham champion.
“Actually, I wanted to go home next week, I was looking forward to that,” Kim said. “I’ve been home two weeks this year, so I was like, ‘Secure my PGA Tour card for next season, I can go back and relax for a week,’ but I guess that’s not going to happen.
“I would love to play three weeks in a row again. It’s going to be my eighth week in a row if I make it to the Tour Championship. It’s a lot of golf, but I’m enjoying it and I’m honored to play on the PGA Tour, it’s incredible.”
Kim’s victory bumped Matt Wallace out of the playoffs. Wallace entered the Wyndham at No. 124 in the standings, slipped to No. 125 in the projections by Sunday, and then fell to the wrong side of the postseason bubble when Kim won and leapfrogged into the playoffs.
Austin Smotherman had his playoff bubble status burst. The rookie Smotherman entered the Wyndham at No. 125 and dropped one spot, from inside the postseason field to outside. He made double bogey on his final hole of the second round here and missed the cut for the weekend by two strokes.
Adam Smith is a sports reporter for the Burlington Times-News and USA TODAY Network. You can reach him by email at asmith@thetimesnews.com or @adam_smithTN on Twitter.
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