Tom Kim tees off on the first hole during the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn., on Saturday, August 17, 2024. MEMPHIS, Tenn. — South Korean Tom Kim’s loss was Nick Dunlap’s and Keegan Bradley’s gain on Sunday, when the results of the FedEx St. Jude Championship helped finalize the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama won the tournament by birdieing his final two holes, and he jumped from eighth to third in the FedEx Cup points standings. But every shot mattered for players not in contention for the victory, because the top 50 after the St. Jude not only qualified for next week’s BMW Championship, but they also earned entry into all eight PGA Tour signature events in 2025.
Bradley, the captain of the U.S. Ryder Cup team in 2025, entered the week 39th in FedEx Cup points but looked to be heading the wrong way by finishing the tournament 1 over. However, Bradley landed at No. 50 after Kim’s late stumble pushed him to the wrong side of the playoff bubble, the first man out at No. 51.
Kim finished his final round with a bogey and two straight double bogeys, plummeting from 6 under to 1 under for the tournament. It’s all but certain that he would have made the cut for the top 50 if he’d had a steadier finish.
Kim said he played so much in 2024, including the Olympics earlier this month, that he lost some mental sharpness over the past few weeks.
“I told myself before the day that if I didn’t play well, I really felt like I was going to finish 51,” Kim said. “I kind of told myself, ‘If that happens, I’ve done everything I could to be inside that top 50 and hopefully give myself a chance at Tour Championship.’ But I couldn’t, and I’m going to look forward to a really good offseason because I’m pretty tired.”
One huge beneficiary this week was Dunlap, who shot up from No. 67 to No. 48 in the standings thanks to a T5 finish at the St. Jude.
The PGA Tour rookie has two victories this season, but his first — The American Express in January — came when he was an amateur, and therefore didn’t accrue him FedEx Cup points by rule.
Dunlap was in contention on Sunday before settling for a 1-under 69. He finished four strokes behind Matsuyama.
“I was a train wreck,” Dunlap said. “I’m not going to lie to you. I was arguably the most nervous I’ve ever been, to be honest. I just didn’t want the season to end. I’ve been having so much fun.”
The 50 players who moved on to the BMW Championship in Castle Rock, Colo., are as follows (in order of FedEx Cup points):
1. Scottie Scheffler
2. Xander Schauffele
3. Hideki Matsuyama
4. Collin Morikawa
5. Rory McIlroy
6. Wyndham Clark
7. Ludvig Aberg
8. Sahith Theegala
9. Patrick Cantlay
10. Sungjae Im
11. Shane Lowry
12. Robert MacIntyre
13. Akshay Bhatia
14. Tony Finau
15. Byeong Hun An
16. Viktor Hovland
17. Russell Henley
18. Sam Burns
19. Billy Horschel
20. Matthieu Pavon
21. Aaron Rai
22. Justin Thomas
23. Christiaan Bezuidenhout
24. Sepp Straka
25. Jason Day
26. Davis Thompson
27. Taylor Pendrith
28. Tom Hoge
29. Brian Harman
30. Denny McCarthy
31. Tommy Fleetwood
32. Chris Kirk
33. Corey Conners
34. J.T. Poston
35. Stephan Jaeger
36. Matt Fitzpatrick
37. Will Zalatoris
38. Austin Eckroat
39. Cameron Young
40. Thomas Detry
41. Adam Scott
42. Adam Hadwin
43. Max Homa
44. Si Woo Kim
45. Alex Noren
46. Eric Cole
47. Max Greyserman
48. Nick Dunlap
49. Cam Davis
50. Keegan Bradley
–Field Level Media
