This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
As is the case every year at the regular-season-ending Wyndham Championship, there is the tournament, and there is the tournament within the tournament. But as is rarely the case, this year it was hard to tell which was more riveting.
While Henrik Stenson was dueling with Ollie Schniederjans for the title, a dozen or more golfers jockeyed on the back nine on Sunday for a berth in the FedEx Cup playoffs along with their PGA Tour cards for next year.
In the end, Stenson nipped Schniederjans by a stroke at Sedgefield Country Club for his first title since the 2016 Open Championship. And Rory Sabbatini, Harold Varner III, Martin Flores and J.J. Henry cracked the top-125, pushing David Hearn, Zac Blair, Seamus Power and Daniel Summerhays outside of playoff position and likely into the ignominy of the Web.com Tour Finals.
It was a toss-up how Stenson would perform this week. It was common, albeit unstated, knowledge that the only reason he was even in the field was to ensure he met the PGA Tour's eligibility requirements of 15 tournaments for the season. This was Stenson's 13th and, at 75th in the point standings, he was pretty much assured of qualifying for the first two playoff events. So really, even a missed cut would've served its purpose for Stenson. Conversely, though, it was such a weak field that there really wasn't any competition on par with the No. 9 player in the world. The only other golfer in the top-35 in the field was No. 24 Kevin Kisner, who entered amid a PGA Championship hangover, one that never subsided across the four days.
Now that Stenson has won – and he needed four birdies in the final six holes to fend off a gallant Schniederjans, who birdied three of the last four – he's gone from trying to secure his card to potentially becoming a major factor in the playoffs. The Swede is now up to No. 23, not quite ensuring a berth in the 30-man Tour Championship but surely guaranteeing spots in the first three of the four playoff events. And the way Stenson is playing, it's not out of the question that he could win the FedEx Cup playoffs, something he did in 2013. After a largely disastrous season for a top-10 OWGR player, Stenson entered the Wyndham with three straight top-20s. With this victory, he's again up to No. 6 in the world, overtaking Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm and Jason Day.
No one will begin the playoffs this week at The Northern Trust at Glen Oaks on Long Island hotter than Stenson. Sure, Thomas is fresh off his first major title at the PGA, but that was just one great week. Stenson has ripped off four strong showings in a row – and the first three of them came in two majors and a WGC.
"It's certainly a good time to start firing," Stenson told reporters at Sedgefield. "We know the kind of damage you can do in the playoffs. ... If you get hot and keep on playing well, you have a chance to challenge."
Well stated, Henrik.
MONDAY BACKSPIN
Ollie Schniederjans
Schniederjans missed out on his first career win. As a consolation prize, albeit a measly one in comparison, he secured himself an extra playoff event, moving from No. 74 to No. 39 in the point standings. Despite some good finishes in his rookie season, Schniederjans had largely gone AWOL since April, when he notched his last top-20 until now. And he need one of the weakest fields of the season to do it. So while it was a great week for Schniederjans, and surely a victory is in his future, it's too soon to say whether he will be impactful in the playoffs. But probably not.
Webb Simpson
Simpson is always in the mix at Sedgefield, and this year was no different, registering a solo third. The big cash moved him from No. 37 to No. 25 in the point standings. That won't be enough on its own to get Simpson into the Tour Championship – there's enough time to be overtaken – but his tee-to-green game is so strong that he could make some noise in the playoffs. Probably not win or even come close, but Simpson could land a top-10 or two.
Rory Sabbatini
Sabbatini is some story. He's 41 years old, about a decade removed from his best days, and earlier this season failed in his bid to keep his card via a major medical extension. And so on the verge of heading back to Web.com Tour Finals, the same as last year, Sabbatini tied for fourth, his lone top-10 of the season and his best showing in nearly four years, to climb into the top-125. It's likely a one-and-done for the No. 122, but Sabbatini got to enjoy a week of glory for the first time in quite a while.
Kevin Na
Na's pretty bad regular season had a chance to end on a very good note, as he had the Wyndham lead on the back nine on Sunday. But Na closed with three bogeys in his final eight holes, opposite only one birdie, to match Sabbatini at T4. Na now has four top-10s on the season, but this was his first since March. At 75th in the point standings, Na will be around for two playoff events. Making a third seems like a dicey proposition right now.
Martin Flores
Flores was another amazing story on the final day of the regular season. The 35-year-old veteran with only seven career top-10s in 167 events tied for seventh to vault into the top-125. And most amazingly, Flores did so with a dramatic ace on the par-3 16th, plus a clinching birdie on 18. It's unlikely Flores does anything from the No. 118 starting position but, like Sabbatini, had a moment to remember.
Harold Varner
Much like Sabbatini and Flores, Varner used an out-of-nowhere week to reach the top-125. Unlike the other two, at 27 his best days likely are still ahead of him. But that isn't saying much, since his T10 at the Wyndham was his first top-10 of the season. More was expected of Varner by now. And all he did was barely sneak into the playoffs.
Richy Werenski
Werenski is a rookie who was inside the top-125 and stayed there. He followed up a T2 at the Barracuda with a T10 at Sedgefield to settle into the 108th position. He'll have to keep it going at The Northern Trust to get to second week of the playoffs at the Dell Technologies Championship, but he's certainly trending in the right direction.
Geoff Ogilvy
Ogilvy began the week right on the bubble at No. 125 but he emphatically stayed inside with a T16 to move to No. 116. After last year embarrassingly missing the playoffs and having to use his one-time exemption for being in the top-50 in career earnings, the 40-year-old Ogilvy was potentially looking at a decade in no-man's land before the Champions Tour came calling. Will he be a factor in the playoffs? No. But he gets to play for another year. And that is simply huge.
J.J. Henry
Henry was the fourth golfer to crack the top-125, needing to sink a knee-knocking six-footer on 18 to get there. At 42, his position is not all that different from Ogilvy's, and, similarly, he faced the pressure head-on and beat it. "I'm not going to lie, I've won three times and played on a Ryder Cup and this was probably some of the most pressure I've felt, playing today," Henry told reporters, according to golfdigest.com.
Hunter Mahan
The golfer at 197th in the point standings was closely watched because he used to be the No. 4 golfer in the world. Mahan has fallen faster and harder than just about anyone in recent memory. He was in the mix for a while at the Wyndham before tying for 16th, which was his best cash in two years but enough to only move him to No. 182. Mahan's card is gone. He can play on a past champion's status, but that won't get him many opportunities. He can use his top-50-earnings exemption, as Ogilvy did. Or he can go to the Web.com Tour Finals, which would be quite stunning for someone of Mahan's former stature. Mahan is only 35.
David Hearn, Zac Blair, Seamus Power and Daniel Summerhays all fell from the top-125. Three of them are veterans who have enjoyed some success on Tour; Power was and likely still is an up-and-comer with a disappointing showing at the Wyndham (MDF). All four likely are headed to the Web.com Tour to keep their cards.
RotoWire Value Picks
Last week: Runner-up (Molinari), four top-10s, six top-25s, four missed cuts.
This week: Winner (Stenson), runner-up (Schniederjans), solo third (Simpson), four top-10s, six top-25s, two MDFs, four missed cuts.
As good of a week as it was for Stenson, the RotoWire value picks enjoyed a pretty fair week, too, tabbing the top-3 finishers. In Tier 1, Stenson and Simpson led the way. Jason Dufner respectably tied for 14th, but Bill Haas was an MDF. In Tier 2, Ryan Moore was the best of a disappointing bunch at T24, and Lucas Glover tied for 28th. But Kevin Streelman was T72 and Kyle Stanley missed the cut. In Tier 3, Schniederjans was gold and Werenski was not too shabby either at T10. Chad Campbell was T42 and Brandon Hagy missed the cut. There wasn't much to show for the four long shots. Peter Malnati tied for 50th and Blayne Barber was T64. Summerhays and Ryan Blaum missed the cut.
