{"id":870377,"date":"2026-08-27T15:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T15:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870377\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T15:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T15:18:16","slug":"five-major-champions-whove-missed-the-fedex-cup-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870377\/","title":{"rendered":"Five major champions who\u2019ve missed the FedEx Cup finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tGetting to the Tour Championship is a sign of a consistent season on the PGA Tour, but these golfers prove that winning a major doesn\u2019t guarantee you a spot in the field\u2026<\/p>\n

The PGA Tour introduced the Tour Championship in 1987. Until 2006, the field was made up of the top 30 money winners on the PGA Tour. Since 2007, the field has been comprised of the players who have accrued the most points for their performances in qualifying events. Pre and post 2007 totals include all four major championships.<\/p>\n

With the 2026 field set, I noticed one man was missing, and it made me think: How many major champions have not qualified for the Tour Championship<\/a> in the same season?<\/p>\n

Well\u2026<\/p>\n

There has been a few more than I expected \u2013 35 in total.<\/p>\n

But that includes those who\u2019ve plied their trade on the European Tour (now DP World Tour) or LIV Golf Tour and only earned money or points by playing in majors or events that spanned across tours.<\/p>\n

There have also been five players who have qualified but not participated; Henrik Stenson (2016), Tiger Woods (2006), Phil Mickelson (2005 & 2006), Nick Faldo (1989), and Payne Stewart (1999) who tragically passed away before the Tour Championship was played.<\/p>\n

To see which golfers have finished outside of the top 30 despite winning a major and playing the majority of their golf on the PGA Tour I introduced two conditions:<\/p>\n

Played a minimum of 15 qualifying events<\/p>\n

Played less than five events on any other tour (excluding majors)<\/p>\n

With those in place, in 39 years only five players have won a major championship, and not made that year\u2019s season finale.<\/p>\n

\"AaronAaron Rai (2026)<\/p>\n

Season record: T50-T73-T28-T23-MC-MC-48-T24-5-1-T19-MC-T11-T30-MC-MC-T29-T63-T16<\/p>\n

FedExCup ranking: 39<\/p>\n

FedExCup points: 1,214<\/p>\n

The 2026 PGA champion missed out on the top 30 after his season came to an end at the BMW Championship. Despite a solid run of form around his win at Aronimink Golf Club, Rai was unable to earn enough points in his 19 events this season.<\/p>\n

\"PhilPhil Mickelson (2021)<\/p>\n

Season record: T44-MC-76-MC-T55-MC-T53-MC-T35-T25-MC-T21-MC-69-1-MC-T62-T61-T74-MC-T17-MC-T66<\/p>\n

FedExCup ranking: 70<\/p>\n

FedExCup points: 805<\/p>\n

In his final season on the PGA Tour before joing LIV Golf, Mickelson became the oldest major champion when he won the PGA Championship at 50. The six-time major champion missed nine cuts in his 24 events. He is a two-time winner of the Tour Championship, and made 19 appearances.<\/p>\n

Ben Curtis (2003)\"Ben<\/p>\n

Season record: MC-MC-MC-T42-T72-T31-75-T44-MC-MC-T66-T27-T13-1-T61-MC-T30-MC-T16-T66-MC<\/p>\n

PGA Tour money list ranking: 46<\/p>\n

PGA Tour season earnings: $1,434,911<\/p>\n

The 2003 Open Champion was also voted as the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, but he missed out on the Tour Championship after missing eight cuts in 21 events. Curtis played his way in the Tour Championship in 2006 when he won twice on the PGA Tour and earned $2,256,326. He made his second and final apperance in 2008.<\/p>\n

\"ShaunShaun Micheel (2003)<\/p>\n

Season record: T66-T58-T66-MC-T10-T8-T28-T42-T54-T76-T31-T30-MC-T45-WD-T13-MC-MC-MC-10-T24-T60-1-T23-T36-T44-T50-MC<\/p>\n

PGA Tour money list ranking: 32<\/p>\n

PGA Tour season earnings: $1,827,000<\/p>\n

Despite playing 28 qualifying events, making 21 cuts, and winning the PGA Championship in 2003, Micheel failed to qualify for the Tour Championship. His missed cut at the Chrysler Championship left him just over $60,000 short of K.J. Choi in 30th on the money list. This was the closest he ever came to reaching the Tour Championship.<\/p>\n

\"JohnJohn Daly (1995)<\/p>\n

Season record: T20-78-MC-MC-T41-T58-T80-T72-T45-T13-MC-T12-T41-MC-T45-MC-1-MC-30-T67-MC-T67-WD<\/p>\n

PGA Tour money list ranking: 57<\/p>\n

PGA Tour season earnings: $321,748<\/p>\n

Other than his win at the 1995 Open Championship, Daly didn\u2019t achieve another top-10 finish that season. In 23 events that season he made the cut in 15, but a withdrawl at the penultimate event of the season \u2013 the LaCantera Texas Open \u2013 Daly\u2019s campaign ended. He made his first appearance at the Tour Championship in the same year he won the PGA Championship (1991), but it wasn\u2019t until 2004 that he made his second and final appearance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getting to the Tour Championship is a sign of a consistent season on the PGA Tour, but these…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-870377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}