CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — The BMW Championship is the last stop before the leading six players get automatic spots in the Presidents Cup next month at Royal Montreal.
Turns out the first FedEx Cup playoff event had a strong effect, too.
Jordan Spieth might have been a long shot to make the U.S. team, but last week sealed it. He finished 26 shots out of the lead, failed to advance and said he would be having surgery on his left wrist. His season is over.
It also was a big blow to Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., who dropped out of the top 50. International captain Mike Weir wants a strong Canadian presence, but none is in the top six and four other Canadians are ahead of Hughes.
Weir gets six captain’s picks after the Tour Championship. Hughes won’t be at East Lake, either. This comes two years after Hughes, renowned for his putting, was curiously left off the International side for the matches at Quail Hollow, where he is a member.
Fellow Canadians Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin of and Taylor Pendrith are all in the field at the BMW Championship.
Conners is currently 7th on the Presidents Cup International Team standings. Hadwin is 12th and Pendrith sits 13th.
Nick Taylor is currently 11th, but did not advance to this week’s BMW Championship.
For the Americans, there figures to be significant turnover from their last team competition at the Ryder Cup.
Three players already are effectively eliminated — Spieth, Rickie Fowler (didn’t qualify for the postseason) and Brooks Koepka (ineligible because he plays for LIV Golf).
The leading five — Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Wyndham Clark and Patrick Cantlay — were at Marco Simone. Sahith Theegala is holding down the sixth spot over Tony Finau.
Max Homa, who went 4-0 in his Presidents Cup debut at Quail Hollow, finished last in the 70-man field last week. He has not contended since his Sunday chance at the Masters (his lone top 10 was at Wells Fargo, where he finished 13 shots behind). Homa is at No. 9 in the standings.
Right behind is Brian Harman, who has one top 10 in his last 13 starts.
The wild card, again, is Justin Thomas. He is at No. 16 in the standings and he could use a mile-high effort this week. Thomas faced plenty of scrutiny from being picked for the Ryder Cup team without having qualified for the postseason.
U.S. captain Jim Furyk could have some interesting choices, such as 20-year-old Nick Dunlap or 22-year-old Akshay Bhatia, depending on what kind of performances he sees at Castle Pines and then East Lake.
The International team, which has lost nine in a row, is the side that would appear to have some stability. The leading five players were at Quail Hollow and Byeong Hun An played in the 2019 matches. Four others from the ’22 team have done well enough to merit consideration.
Winners out
Winning a PGA Tour event that offers full FedEx Cup points is worth a trip to the Masters and PGA Championship, a start at Kapalua for The Sentry and a two-year exemption. But it doesn’t guarantee the top 50 in the FedEx Cup and the guarantee of playing the eight $20 million signature events the following year.
Nick Taylor (Phoenix Open), Jake Knapp (Mexico Open), Peter Malnati (Valspar Championship), Davis Riley (Colonial) and Jhonattan Vegas (3M Open) did not reach the BMW Championship.
Don’t expect Vegas to lose sleep over it. He was No. 139 in the FedEx Cup and in danger of losing his card when he won in Minnesota.