The doors have swung shut on the last chance saloon that is the RSM Classic and, with it, the 2025 PGA Tour season. So who is wondering what might have been?
It’s always one of the more intense weeks of the year as several (dozen) household names head to Sea Island in a bid to save their PGA Tour card.
The RSM Classic was won by Sami Valimaki, who not only takes home the handsome winner’s check but earns a two-year exemption and has the honor of becoming the first player from Finland to win on the PGA Tour.
But we know you’re here for the doom and gloom, so let’s just get straight into it, shall we?
Before we do – a quick reminder that anyone inside the top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings following the conclusion of the Fall Series will earn a PGA Tour card, while players ranked 101st to 125th will receive conditional status for 2026, meaning their opportunities will be limited.
Big names who just lost their PGA Tour cards
The following players tried and failed to retain their playing rights in 2026…
Matt Wallace
The Englishman skipped the lucrative DP World Tour Playoffs to play in the Fall Series in an attempt to secure his PGA Tour playing rights for next season, but three missed cuts and a tie for 51st at the RSM saw him fall to 103rd.
Matt Kuchar
The nine-time PGA Tour champion clung onto his card this time last year by finishing in the top 125, but with that number tightening to the top 100, Kuchar needed to do something special at Sea Island. He didn’t, and a tie for 67th sees him end the season in 118th. While he currently has lost his PGA Tour card, he could still play his joker – each player in the top 50 of the career money list are allowed to use that status to claim one year of playing rights. It looks like Kuch will be doing just that.
Joel Dahmen
A tie for 35th at last year’s RSM Classic was enough for Dahmen to cling onto his card. But the popular American was unable to do that again and ended the season 122nd. Sixteen cuts in 28 starts and a high-profile caddie split won’t have helped.
Brandt Snedeker
Sneds started the week on the bubble at 126th – and that’s where he ended it. The 2012 FedEx Cup champion had played his career money wildcard, so he doesn’t even have that to full back on any more. Still, at least he will have plenty of time to concentrate on his Presidents Cup duties.
Harry Higgs
One of the PGA Tour’s more popular stars, but Higgs just finished 132nd in the FedEx Cup and is in danger of being best known as the guy who took his shirt off while playing the 16th at Scottsdale…
Adam Hadwin
The Canadian has only won one PGA Tour title – which is something we had to triple check – and that was way back in 2017. Hadwin, a two-time Presidents Cup player, missed 12 cuts this year to end the season 139th.
Zach Johnson
A 12-time PGA Tour champion, including two majors, and a Ryder Cup player and captain, but ZJ’s just finished 141st in the FedEx Cup and will have no playing rights next year – unless, like Matt Kuchar, he turns to his career money status. The former Masters and an Open Championship winner turns 50 in February, so there is the Champions Tour option too.
Cameron Champ
Remember when this guy was the next big thing? The Californian bomber won three times in his first four seasons on the PGA Tour. He’s now winless in over four years and finds himself in 147th and without any status.
Camilo Villegas
The Colombian won his fifth PGA Tour title in 2023 which ended a nine-year trophy drought – but his exemption from that has run out and Villegas was unable to save it after a missed cut at Sea Island saw him drop to 155th in the rankings.
Kevin Kisner
Kisner seems settled in his role as a TV pundit and Ryder Cup hypeman these days, but he kept his card in 2025 due to being in the top 50 of the PGA Tour career money list. A missed cut at the RSM Classic was his 14th in 17 starts this year, and he scraped inside the top 200 at 194th.
Anyone else?
Spare a thought for Lee Hodges (101st), the man who had the brutal misfortune of missing out by a single spot. But Hodges, whose exemption from his 2023 victory at the 3M Open has now expired, knows who is to blame. “I don’t know if I’m going to ruffle some feathers,” he said, “but the guys that come in here and feel sorry for themselves, I have no pity for because you played it. You played every shot this year. Same as me. I’m where I am because of my golf, nobody else’s golf. Nobody put me there. I put myself there. Go take the road that gets you where you want to go.”
It’s also worth noting that Francesco Molinari (185th) will not retain his PGA Tour card for next season. Which might be a blessing in disguise if, as expected, he is to be handed the Ryder Cup captaincy in the coming weeks.
Danny Willett (169th) kept his card this year on a “major medical extension” basis, but it’s unlikely that will continue into next year, though that will almost certainly be the case for Will Zalatoris (153rd), who played just 11 times this year having undergone yet more surgery on his back.