Most tournaments on the PGA Tour exist in their own silo with golfers first fighting to make the cut before battling to finish atop the leaderboard or high enough to rake in a more-significant sum than they otherwise would by being positioned lower. The 2025 BMW Championship, standing as the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, differs in that player placement at the conclusion of Sunday’s final round will determine not only who competes in next week’s Tour Championship — featuring an even more-significant purse — but potentially placement on the United States Ryder Cup team as well.
The top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings at the conclusion of play at Caves Valley Golf Club will advance to the season finale at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. With just 18 holes remaining entering Sunday, there are golfers on both sides of the line who will need to play their best just outside Baltimore in order to keep their seasons and money-making aspirations alive.
No one has acquitted himself better during the BMW Championship than Robert MacIntyre, who entered the week 20th in the standings but has moved up 17 spots to 3rd as the leader after 54 holes. Sam Burns has similarly all-but-solidified himself a spot in the Tour Championship (barring a Sunday collapse) moving up six spots to 18th with his final round remaining.
Let’s take a look at where the FedEx Cup standings … well … stand with one round left just outside Baltimore.
Top 30 bubble watch
| 24 |
Viktor Hovland |
+4 |
28 |
| 25 |
Harry Hall |
+20 |
45 |
| 26 |
Shane Lowry |
-3 |
23 |
| 27 |
Jacob Bridgeman |
— |
27 |
| 28 |
Akshay Bhatia |
+1 |
29 |
| 29 |
Michael Kim |
+13 |
42 |
| 30 |
Sungjae Im |
-5 |
25 |
| 31 |
Chris Gotterup |
-5 |
26 |
| 32 |
Rickie Fowler |
+16 |
48 |
| 33 |
Taylor Pendrith |
+2 |
35 |
| 34 |
Lucas Glover |
-4 |
30 |
| 35 |
Kurt Kitayama |
+2 |
37 |
| 36 |
Jason Day |
+8 |
44 |
| 37 |
Daniel Berger |
-4 |
33 |
| 38 |
Sam Stevens |
-7 |
31 |
| 39 |
Ryan Gerard |
-7 |
32 |
| 40 |
Matt Fitzpatrick |
— |
40 |
Hovland (T8) has almost taken himself completely off the bubble through 54 holes, while Hall (T4) has seen the greatest surge into the playoff finale among anyone in the field with a 20-place improvement in the standings, though he has little margin for error Sunday. Kim (T8) has also jumped inside the top 30 but will need to hold or improve his position on Sunday to maintain that.
Bhatia (T22) posted a terrific hole-in-one Saturday to move 15 places up the BMW Championship leaderboard and get back inside the projected top 30 in the third round, while Lowry (T34) fell 18 spots by posting a horrific 75. Im is now the bubble boy in the 30th spot after a brutal 77, finding himself at the mercy of those battling on the first page of the leaderboard.
Fowler (T8) and Pendrith (T19) are the main two who can punch their tickets to the Tour Championship by making a move up the leaderboard on Sunday. A top-five finish would lock Fowler into a spot in Atlanta, while Pendrith needs to climb into the top 10.