This article is part of our The Reshuffle List series.
Victor Dubuisson wowed us with two of the most insane up-and-downs you'll ever see in the Championship Match at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship last February. Brooks Koepka furthered the promise so many in the golf world have about his game with his T4 finish at the U.S. Open in June. Jamie Donaldson clinched the Ryder Cup for Europe with the best short iron of his life. What do these players have in common? They topped the 2013-14 PGA Tour Non-Member FedEx Cup points list. And joined by Francesco Molinari, they earned enough points to become PGA Tour members for 2014-15.
Before we look at the top 5 on this year's list, here's a quick refresher:
1. Non-members get into PGA Tour or PGA Tour co-sanctioned events (like majors or World Golf Championship events) either through sponsor exemptions or by that event's particular entry rules. If they make the cut, they can start accruing Non-Member FedEx Cup Points, which is a separate points list kept by the PGA Tour in parallel with the regular FedEx Cup Points List. These players are NOT eligible for the FedEx Cup Playoffs unless they win an event like Jordan Spieth did in 2013.
2. A player who equals or surpasses the point total of 150th on the 2013-14 PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list earns a "special temporary membership," allowing unlimited sponsor's exemptions.
3. At the end of the regular season-concluding Wyndham Championship, a player who equals or surpasses the point total
Victor Dubuisson wowed us with two of the most insane up-and-downs you'll ever see in the Championship Match at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship last February. Brooks Koepka furthered the promise so many in the golf world have about his game with his T4 finish at the U.S. Open in June. Jamie Donaldson clinched the Ryder Cup for Europe with the best short iron of his life. What do these players have in common? They topped the 2013-14 PGA Tour Non-Member FedEx Cup points list. And joined by Francesco Molinari, they earned enough points to become PGA Tour members for 2014-15.
Before we look at the top 5 on this year's list, here's a quick refresher:
1. Non-members get into PGA Tour or PGA Tour co-sanctioned events (like majors or World Golf Championship events) either through sponsor exemptions or by that event's particular entry rules. If they make the cut, they can start accruing Non-Member FedEx Cup Points, which is a separate points list kept by the PGA Tour in parallel with the regular FedEx Cup Points List. These players are NOT eligible for the FedEx Cup Playoffs unless they win an event like Jordan Spieth did in 2013.
2. A player who equals or surpasses the point total of 150th on the 2013-14 PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list earns a "special temporary membership," allowing unlimited sponsor's exemptions.
3. At the end of the regular season-concluding Wyndham Championship, a player who equals or surpasses the point total of 125th on the 2013-14 PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list earns their PGA Tour card for the 2014-2015 season.
TOP 5
Hiroshi Iwata, 152 points - Iwata earned all of his points in the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions event, where he dueled with Bubba Watson and Graeme McDowell before ultimately tying for third. A member of the Japan Golf Tour, he'll need to use his world ranking (67th) and his spot on the Japan Golf Tour Order of Merit (where he finished fourth last season) to gain entry into majors and World Golf Championship events. We don't recommend him for fantasy purposes until he gets into several high-profile events and has results to judge.
Cameron Smith, 105 points - Smith, a 21-year-old Australian, finished T5 at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia and, as pointed out by Golf Channel's John Antonini via GolfDigest.com's Alex Myers, made some history: "Smith is the first player to finish in the top 10 in his PGA Tour debut since Chris Wood was T-5 at the 2008 British Open as an amateur." That finish got him into the Sanderson Farms Championship, where the Asian Tour regular missed the cut. As with Iwata, at he'll need world ranking points (he's 188th) and his Order of Merit position to gain event entries. He's not a viable short-term fantasy option, either.
Thorbjorn Olesen, 96 points - Olesen was a PGA Tour member last year -- in fact he got onto the Tour via this method -- but lost his card when he only had just one top-10 (which was his only top-25) in 14 starts on the PGA Tour. He finished 175th on the FedEx Cup points list and was back to being a full-time European Tour player. His 96 points come from his only start of the 2014-15 PGA Tour season, a T6 at the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai. Olesen, the 80th-ranked player in the world, still has a high probability of getting into all the big events, and is still a fantasy recommendation from us if he gets into those fields.
Prom Meesawat, 75 points - The 128th-ranked player in the world who plays the Asian Tour, Meesawat tied for eighth at the CIMB Classic, an event that gives exemptions to the top players on the Asian Tour Order of Merit. Good play early in 2015 gives him a chance to get into some other events, but like the others, don't make any fantasy decisions until he shows good form again against the world's best.
Angelo Que, 75 points - Ditto Que, who also finished T8 in Malaysia. At 224th in the world, he's in a similar, if not worse, plight as the others.
Notables: Peter Uliehien, 68 points (and his much documented decision to go to Europe first, and then work his way back to the U.S. via the world rankings), and Anirban Lahiri, 58 points, who GolfChannel.com's Jason Sobel has on a "Players to Watch" list.
