After two weeks of operating on Euro-time, we are back to regularly scheduled programming this week with the first-ever Biltmore Championship.

The tournament is being held in Asheville, North Carolina, at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, which plays a little over 7200 yds – not long by PGA Tour standards.

In addition to that, The Cliffs at Walnut Cove sits right at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, so altitude will be a factor this week, and it looks beautiful.

As always with the Fedex Fall, the fields are not very top-heavy – so a winner can come from anywhere.

Justin Thomas was supposed to be competing, but dropped out this week, and he was the only major-winner in the field, so that leaves just two guys who finished the year inside the Top 50: Jacob Bridgeman and JT Poston.

Since this is the first tournament being held at The Cliffs, there is no historical or shotlink data to rely on for picking a winner this week, but of course we will try anyway.

If you’ve been following along, it should be noted that Keith Stewart is on a bit of a heater right now:

  • BMW: Wyndham
  • FM Champ: Ruoning
  • Solheim: Europe
  • Irish Open: Shane Lowry

So, in addition to his normal weekly picks, he’s throwing out a free one.

 

Keith’s Free BMW PGA Pick:

The DP World Tour is hosting its flagship event this weekend, with a much more talented field than the PGA Tour.

Winner: Patrick Reed +2500

 

The Details

 

How To Watch

 

Featured Groups:

ESPN+ has featured group coverage for the Biltmore Championship.

You Can Watch It Here

 

Weekly Bets: BMW Championship

 

Read The Line Membership

Between Caddyshanks and Keith, it’s been a pretty fun season of golf betting. If you enjoy that side of golf: Join Keith’s private golf community here.

Use code CADDYSHANKS2026 for 20% OFF.

Keith Stewart’s Picks

 

Outright pick: Rasmus Højgaard (+3300 Draft Kings)

Fourth at the Rocket Classic, and runner-up at the Danish Golf Championship, Rasmus Højgaard has three top 11 finishes in his last five starts. Højgaard’s combined play across two tours has kept him sharp. Worried about all of the travel distractions, Højgaard finished third last year at the Sanderson Farms Fall Series event one week after the Ryder Cup at Bethpage.

Longshot pick: Blades Brown (+4100 DraftKings)

Blades Brown has three top 9 results in his last five starts. I realize he is playing the Korn Ferry Tour, but that’s the point: Brown is playing! A majority of this field has not competed in five weeks. The Biltmore winner will need subpar scores. Blades is ranked second in the field for BoB% and even more importantly, he has been making plenty of birdies recently.

Caddyshanks Picks

 

JT Poston (+3100 Draftkings)

There’s a lot of question marks surrounding this field and course, so I am going with proven winner this week. JT Poston has won once this year, at The Memorial, and he’s had a very solid season overall.

Emiliano Grillo (+6200 Draftkings)

After a bumpy start to his season, Grillo has had a much stronger finish, but only one Top 10 all year. I know that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, but rumors are that the rough will be 6+ inches and he is a very accurate driver of the golf ball, plus it’s a wide open field so you’ve gotta have at least one longshot on the card.

The PGA Tour has been talking about promotion and relegation for months.

Now we finally know what that actually means.

And, surprisingly, they didn’t water it down.

Beginning in 2028, professional golf is going to look a lot more like European soccer.

There will be a Championship Series featuring the best players, biggest tournaments and $20 million purses.

Below it will be the Challenger Series.

Play well enough and you move up.

Play poorly enough and you go down.

Actual relegation.

Here’s how it’s going to work.

Finish Inside The Top 90 Or Risk Going Down

The Championship Series will essentially become the PGA Tour’s first division.

The top 90 players in the standings at the end of the season keep their spots for the following year.

Everyone else needs another way in.

The biggest pathway comes from the Challenger Series, where the top 20 players will earn promotion into the Championship Series.

Players who win multiple Challenger Series events during a season can also earn promotion.

That’s a pretty dramatic departure from how PGA Tour status has traditionally worked.

Right now, earning a Tour card generally means you’re on the PGA Tour.

In 2028, earning status through Q-School or the Korn Ferry Tour will usually mean you’ve earned your way into the second division.

Then you still have to play your way up to Scottie, Rory and the rest of the big boys.

Korn Ferry Tour Graduates Don’t Automatically Reach The Big League

This might be one of the biggest changes.

The leading 20 Korn Ferry Tour players will earn Challenger Series status.

Five players from Q-School will do the same.

Players ranked Nos. 2-5 in PGA Tour University will also enter the Challenger Series.

But the No. 1 college player?

He gets to skip the line.

The top player in PGA Tour University will receive immediate Championship Series status.

Which means the best college golfer in America could theoretically go straight from campus into $20 million events against Scheffler and McIlroy, while Korn Ferry Tour graduates have to work their way through another level first.

Being No. 1 in PGA Tour University just became an incredibly valuable prize.

The Fall Is Basically Going To Become A Play-In Tournament

Then there’s the new Last Chance Series.

The Tour says there will be at least four events in the fall for players who already have Challenger Series status locked up for the following season.

Only three Championship Series spots will be available.

And if you want one, you have to play every event unless you receive a medical exemption.

No showing up for one week, finishing second and heading home.

You have to play the series.

Three guys go up.

Everyone else starts the next season in the second division.

Winning The Masters And Winning The Memorial Will Be Worth The Same Number Of Points

Now we get to the weird part.

Under the new Championship Series points system, every victory will be worth 300 points.

That includes regular Championship Series tournaments.

It also includes THE PLAYERS.

And the four majors.

So, from the PGA Tour’s season-long points perspective:

Winning the Masters will be worth the same 300 points as winning the Memorial or RBC Heritage.

Obviously nobody on Earth is going to start pretending those tournaments mean the same thing.

A green jacket is still a green jacket.

But the Tour’s computer apparently doesn’t care.

Major Winners Are Also Losing A Pretty Significant Perk

Traditionally, winning a major championship has come with a five-year PGA Tour exemption.

That changes under the new system.

Beginning in 2028, winning a major, THE PLAYERS or another Championship Series event earns a two-year Championship Series exemption.

If that player eventually loses his elite-tier status, he’ll still receive a four-year Challenger Series exemption.

Again, that’s a pretty big philosophical shift.

You can win the Masters and secure yourself two years in the PGA Tour’s first division.

After that?

You still have to perform.

No living off one huge week for half a decade.

The Transition Starts In 2027

The Tour also explained how players will get sorted into the two divisions for the first time.

The top 70 players after the 2027 Tour Championship will initially earn Championship Series status.

That number will extend through No. 95 after the fall.

Existing exemptions that players have already earned will be honored.

Major, PLAYERS and Signature Event winners in 2027 will receive Championship Series status through 2029.

Other PGA Tour winners will generally earn Championship status for 2028 and Challenger status for 2029.

And only the top 10 Korn Ferry Tour players in 2027 will jump directly into the inaugural Championship Series.

Everybody else enters the new world from below.

This Is Actually Promotion And Relegation

When the PGA Tour first announced this idea, there was an obvious question:

Would they actually have the stomach to send recognizable players down?

It looks like the answer is yes.

The PGA Tour has spent decades creating an ecosystem filled with exemptions, past-champion categories, sponsor invitations and various ways for established players to keep hanging around.

The new version is much simpler.

Be one of the best players, or go play your way back in.

That’s probably going to piss off some players.

It’s also probably good for fans.

Because suddenly finishing 88th instead of 94th matters.

Winning a Challenger Series event matters.

The Korn Ferry Tour matters.

College golf matters.

And the fall isn’t just a collection of tournaments happening after football season starts.

There are actual consequences attached to all of it.

The PGA Tour has spent years trying to make fans care about the FedEx Cup standings.

Turns out threatening to send guys to the second division might do the trick.

“`

Irish Open

Shane Lowry dominated at the Irish Open this weekend.

He entered Sunday with a four stroke cushion, proceeded to shoot 8-under, and finish with a final score of 23-under.

Patrick Reed and Jaoquin Niemann, who tied for 2nd place, finished with a paltry 12-under par.

That margin of 11 strokes was a tournament record.

Sunday was the 2nd time Shane Lowry won his home country’s Open, first doing so as an amateur 19 years ago – a pretty cool full circle moment.

He also won his lone major, The Open Championship, at Royal Portrush, which also happens to be in Northern Ireland.

Safe to say he likes playing in front of the home crowd. He’s an Irishmen through and through.

Solheim Cup

The phrase “pride comes before a fall” originates from the Bible verse Proverbs 16:18, which says, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall”.

After Jennifer Kupcho made back-to-back insane putts on Saturday, the Americans displayed what could only be defined as a haughty spirit.

They, for whatever reason, made social media posts of themselves celebrating on the bus, and notably drinking Heineken, a European beer.


Well, the Euro team certainly took notice. They came out on Sunday and dominated the U.S. in singles.

Euro Captain Mel Reid dropped the mic with this quote afterward:

“We’re just happy that we’re the ones now to take two crates of beer on the bus. They drink on Saturday. We drink on Sunday.”

The USA has now last the Ryder Cup, Walker Cup, and Solheim Cup all in a row.

 

Biltmore Championship Odds

The PGA Tour is back in action this week as the Fedex Fall gets underway.

Odds via Draftkings

  • Jackson Koivun: +1325
  • Jacob Bridgeman: +1850
  • Benjamin James: +2450
  • Doug Ghim: +2500
  • Davis Thompson: +2800
  • Corey Conners: +2900
  • J.T. Poston: +3000
  • Rasmus Hojgaard: +3000
  • Marco Penge: +3200
  • Mac Meissner: +3400

This one is for all the marbles.

The final 30 golfers—those who made it through the first two weeks of the FedEx Cup Playoffs—will tee it up this week at East Lake, about five miles east of downtown Atlanta.

Whoever wins is the TOUR Champion.

On its face, that sounds meaningful. But the PGA TOUR has long had a major problem with how its season ends—namely, that fans and players don’t assign the same importance to the FedEx Cup Playoffs that they do to the major championships, which the PGA TOUR does not own or operate.

If you’ve watched the Playoffs over the years, it’s easy to understand why new CEO Brian Rolapp announced the changes he did yesterday.

They even put out a handy little video to break it all down:


That makes this the penultimate TOUR Championship at East Lake. After next year, things will look much different—and, hopefully, feel more meaningful to fans and players.

For now, it’s all eyes on East Lake and the final 30.

Key Stats for the TOUR Championship

Based on the 2025 tournament at East Lake.

  • Back the elite: East Lake separated the best players more than a typical TOUR course, so this is not the week to reach too far down the board.
  • Favor bombers: Distance was rewarded more than accuracy, giving longer hitters a clear advantage over shorter, fairway-first players.
  • Prioritize putting and approach play: Those two categories accounted for 84.4% of the scoring variance, while driving contributed just 8.5%. Target strong iron players with a hot putter.

The Details

Previous Winners

How to Watch

Featured Groups

ESPN+ has featured-group coverage for the TOUR Championship.

All featured groups and tee times are available here.

Weekly Bets: TOUR Championship

Last week, we gave out our sixth winner of the season, with Keith Stewart picking Wyndham Clark.

Join Keith’s private golf community here.

Use code CADDYSHANKS2026 for 20% off.

Keith Stewart’s Picks

Wyndham Clark (+1600, DraftKings)

In two starts at East Lake, Wyndham Clark has finished third and eighth.

Multiple winners are a significant trend in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. In 19 editions, 12 players have won twice during the same playoff year. Five of them finished their FedEx Cup championship run by winning the final two events—a feat that has happened twice in the last five years.

Power and touch. Clark is your Player of the Year, and he’ll solidify that statement Sunday in Atlanta.

Gary Woodland (+4800, DraftKings)

It might be viewed as a sentimental pick, but Gary Woodland has the skill set required to win at East Lake.

Fresh off a fourth-place finish at the BMW Championship, Woodland learned a thing or two about his game while in contention. With smaller crowds and a better course fit, don’t be surprised if his dream season continues.

Gary gained on the field in all four major strokes-gained categories last week. That’s the type of well-rounded play that suits the TOUR Championship.

Caddyshanks Picks

Chris Gotterup (+2200, FanDuel)

Gotterup is having the best season of his career, with three wins so far. He also finished T4 last week at the BMW Championship, so unlike someone like Matt Fitzpatrick, we know his recent form is solid.

He finished T10 last year at East Lake. In a limited field, let’s trust Gotterup to get it done.

J.J. Spaun (+4000, DraftKings)

Spaun won the Valero back in April, and he’s added a few top-10 finishes since then. Admittedly, there aren’t any stats that jump off the page.

Last week, he played two great rounds to start but faltered over the weekend. He’s a grinder, and I think he finds a way to keep himself in the thick of things this weekend.

Scottie Scheffler (+350, DraftKings)

You know what’s funny?

If you had bet Wyndham Clark every single week he played this season, you’d be in the black—big time.

Not so much with Scottie. But the captain—that’s me—will go down with his ship.

Wyndham Clark played his first 36 holes at the BMW Championship without making a bogey, shooting 64 both days.

In the third round, he doubled the first hole—and then played the remaining 17 holes in 7-under to shoot 65.

He still almost blew it on Sunday.

How? By making three bogeys in his first 10 holes.

After all that good golf through the first three rounds, Clark watched his five-stroke lead disappear.

Poof. Gone.

And just like at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock, the crowd seemed pretty happy to see it happen. They were certainly favoring Rory McIlroy, who caught Clark midway through the final round.

Clark stepped onto the 16th tee tied with Rory. He hadn’t made a birdie all day, and the odds were against him—the 232-yard par-3 had yielded just five birdies all round.

Then he made his best swing and his best putting stroke of the day, rolling in a birdie to regain the lead.

He went on to birdie the 17th and 18th as well, ultimately winning by three strokes over Patrick Cantlay after McIlroy faltered with a bogey on the 17th.

The BMW Championship was Clark’s third victory of the season. He’s officially a lock for the Presidents Cup team—and firmly in the Player of the Year conversation.

Player of the Year?

Wyndham Clark has an argument.

He’s won three times this season, including a major championship.

Matt Fitzpatrick and Chris Gotterup have also won three times, but neither won a major.

Scottie Scheffler has the best statistical résumé and two victories, but he didn’t win a major this season.

So, what matters more: the best golf over the full season or three victories with a major?

What’s Next?

The TOUR Championship at East Lake.

TOUR Championship Odds

  • Scottie Scheffler: +300
  • Rory McIlroy: +850
  • Ludvig Åberg: +1400
  • Wyndham Clark: +1400
  • Xander Schauffele: +1400
  • Patrick Cantlay: +1600
  • Sam Burns: +1600
  • Tommy Fleetwood: +1600
  • Cam Young: +1800
  • Chris Gotterup: +1800
  • Collin Morikawa: +1800
  • Matt Fitzpatrick: +2000

Fifty golfers have made the 284-mile trek from Memphis to St. Louis to compete in this week’s BMW Championship.

The host course, Bellerive Country Club, was designed by Robert Trent Jones and is known to be a bit of a brute.

As a result, it even has its own nickname: The Green Monster of Ladue.

Bellerive has hosted three major championships—the 1965 U.S. Open, where Gary Player completed the career Grand Slam; the 1992 PGA Championship, won by Nick Price; and the 2018 PGA Championship.

2018 was the last time golf fans saw this course, and it was a doozy.

If you recall, that PGA Championship was won by some guy named Brooks Koepka, while some other guy named Tiger Woods tried to chase him down with a 64 on Sunday.

Koepka answered with a 66 and took home the hardware.

Neither of them is in the field this week, eight years later, but man, Tiger’s highlights from that final round are still fun to watch.

 


Brooks won with a score of 16-under that year.

This week, the books are projecting the winning score to land around 262, which would be 18-under since Bellerive will play as a par 70 for these guys—and a par 72 for the rest of us.

Moving from the past to the present, the top 30 in the FedExCup standings after this week will advance to the TOUR Championship at East Lake.

Read: The Minimum Finish Required for Each Player to Earn a Spot in the TOUR Championship

 

Key Stats for the BMW Championship

Based on 2018 PGA Championship data*

  • Prioritize bombers. Bellerive strongly favored longer hitters in 2018, making driving distance and power a much more important filter than accuracy off the tee.
  • Approach play was the biggest separator. Strokes Gained: Approach accounted for 41.7% of scoring variance, well above the TOUR average of 34.9%. Look for players combining length with elite iron play.
  • Don’t over-weight putting or short game. Putting and around-the-green play accounted for less scoring variance than normal. With a 1.05 skill slope, better players also held a modest advantage—pointing toward big-name, high-end ball strikers rather than short-game specialists or pure longshots.

 

The Details

Previous Winners

How to Watch

Featured Groups

ESPN+ has featured-group coverage of the BMW Championship.

→ View all featured groups and tee times here

Weekly Bets: BMW Championship

We’ve partnered with Keith Stewart at Read The Line to share his weekly golf betting picks with the Caddyshanks crew.

If you’re the type who enjoys breaking down matchups, spotting trends, and hunting for value, you’ll feel right at home in the RTL community.

Use code CADDYSHANKS2026 for 20% off.

Keith Stewart’s Picks

Viktor Hovland (+3000, FanDuel)

If anyone can compete with Scottie Scheffler on approach, it is Viktor Hovland.

A proven winner at the BMW Championship in 2023 on a course that draws strong comparisons to Olympia Fields, I’m backing an aggressive player who fell out of contention in Memphis because the driver went awry.

Bellerive gives him a little more room off the tee, and I love the bounce-back potential for the 2023 FedExCup champion.

Hovland ranks fifth in the field on approach over the last few events and fourth in Birdies or Better Percentage.

Firepower, elite iron play, and the overall trend—I’m all in.

Wyndham Clark (+3300, DraftKings)

There’s a ton of talk surrounding Jake Knapp this week.

I’ll take the shorter odds and, in my opinion, a better chance at winning with Wyndham Clark.

Why?

Very few players have beaten the world No. 1 head-to-head this year, and Clark did it at the CJ Cup.

I also like TPC Craig Ranch as a comparison course—albeit with less scoring at Bellerive—and Clark’s approach play this season separates him from many of the other driver-and-putter-heavy players.

Coming off a fifth-place finish at the St. Jude, if scoring and power are what we need this week, Wyndham can win.

Caddyshanks Picks

Hideki Matsuyama (+3000, DraftKings)

I have a friend who reads this newsletter every week just for the picks, and he constantly makes fun of me for how often I pick Hideki.

I don’t care one bit.

He has four top-10 finishes in his last four starts.

That is the definition of knocking on the door.

Si Woo Kim (+2700, DraftKings)

Si Woo has played so well all season but hasn’t been able to cash in.

Besides Scottie, Si Woo has the most top-10 finishes this season.

Can he—or Hideki—finally get one across the finish line?

Scottie Scheffler (+350, DraftKings)

Wouldn’t you know it?

Last week was the first week I didn’t write about the “Bet Scottie Every Week” strategy—which has not exactly been a profitable endeavor—and then he goes out and wins.

He’ll probably go back-to-back now.

The internet may have gotten a little ahead of itself on Jon Rahm.

Over the last few days, rumors have been flying that Rahm is preparing to leave LIV Golf and has already worked out some sort of deal to return to the PGA Tour.

The first part might eventually prove true.

The second part appears to be a much bigger stretch.

Golf Digest’s Joel Beall poured some cold water on the PGA Tour rumors yesterday:

“All Rahm smoke is coming from his camp. Tour already offered a reprieve and he (and DeChambeau and Smith) declined. Besides, Koepka wanted to return; Rahm + others asking only because LIV’s in trouble. Rolapp will not waste political capital re-extending immunity.”

Source

That’s a pretty important distinction.

Rahm Leaving LIV Is Not The Same As Rahm Returning To The PGA Tour

There appears to be legitimate uncertainty surrounding Rahm’s future with LIV.

Last week, Reuters cited a Telegraph report saying LIV officials were “almost resigned” to Rahm leaving after this season. The report also said the DP World Tour was increasingly confident Rahm would play more events there next year.

Naturally, that sparked speculation that a PGA Tour return was next.

But there’s a problem.

The PGA Tour already gave Rahm that opportunity.

When Brooks Koepka returned earlier this year, the Tour created a time-sensitive pathway that was also offered to Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith.

Koepka took it.

The other three did not.

According to Beall, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp isn’t particularly interested in reopening that door now simply because LIV’s situation has become considerably less comfortable.

And you can understand why.

There’s a big difference between Koepka approaching the Tour because he wanted to come back and LIV players looking for an exit once the league starts running into trouble.

So, What Happens Now?

Rahm could still leave LIV.

He could play significantly more on the DP World Tour.

And, eventually, he could absolutely find his way back onto the PGA Tour.

But as of right now, there does not appear to be some secret handshake agreement sending Rahm back to the Tour.

For now, the most accurate version of the story is much less exciting:

Jon Rahm’s future with LIV Golf looks increasingly uncertain. His return to the PGA Tour does not appear to be a done deal.

In other words, there’s smoke.

Just probably not from the fire everyone thought.

The FedExCup Playoffs have arrived, and only the top 70 players in the standings remain to compete for massive purses and plenty of other perks.

After this week, that number gets whittled down to 50.

After that, 30.

And whoever outlasts that final field of 30 will be crowned FedExCup champion.

That’s the gist of how the FedExCup Playoffs work these days.

There used to be a thing called “Starting Strokes,” but everyone hated it, so they got rid of it.

Frankly, people aren’t exactly in love with the playoff format in general, and the new TOUR leadership has already made plans to scrap it after 2027 in favor of match play.

We support this endeavor.

Apparently, FedEx—who has spent more than $1 billion investing in the PGA TOUR since 2007—does not.

There are rumors circulating this week that FedEx is considering pulling out when its current deal expires after 2027.

Future of FedEx’s PGA TOUR Deal in Question as Playoffs Begin

So, as we tee off the penultimate playing of the FedExCup Playoffs in their current form, who is most in danger of missing the top 50, seeing their season come to an end, and what do they need to do to keep going?

Key Stats for the St. Jude Championship

  • Prioritize accuracy over raw distance. TPC Southwind favored accurate drivers last year, so lean toward players who consistently find fairways and avoid the big numbers rather than pure bombers.
  • Ball-striking mattered more than putting. Approach play accounted for 37.6% of scoring variance, while off-the-tee jumped to 21.2%—well above the PGA TOUR average. Target strong Strokes Gained: Approach + Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee profiles.
  • This is a course where talent tends to show up. The skill-separation slope was 1.34, meaning better players separated themselves significantly more than they do at a typical TOUR stop. Combined with the relatively low 2.48 scoring standard deviation, that points toward backing elite and favorite-tier players over lottery-ticket longshots.

 

The Details

Previous Winners

How to Watch

Featured Groups

The TOUR is doing something slightly different this week, with coverage available across both ESPN’s linear channels and ESPN+.

Frankly, it’s a little confusing.

→ You can read all about it here

Weekly Bets: St. Jude Championship

We’ve partnered with Keith Stewart at Read The Line to share his weekly golf betting picks with the Caddyshanks crew.

If you’re the type who enjoys breaking down matchups, spotting trends, and hunting for value, you’ll feel right at home in the RTL community.

Use code CADDYSHANKS2026 for 20% off.

Keith Stewart’s Picks

 

Sam Burns (+2200, DraftKings)

If there was ever a venue built for Sam Burns’ 2026 season, TPC Southwind is the place.

A fantastic southern scorer, Burns has five career PGA TOUR wins south of Fort Worth, Texas.

Bermuda Burns is back, and the combination of his excellent iron play, driver acumen, and TOUR-leading putting has Sam poised to take home career title No. 6.

 

Tom Kim (+5100, DraftKings)

In 2022, Tom Kim won four starts after earning his first PGA TOUR victory at the Wyndham Championship.

Now, four starts after his fourth TOUR win at the Genesis Scottish Open, Kim gets another accuracy-driven course that fits his game perfectly.

Sedgefield and Southwind are strong comparison courses, and Tom’s success in Greensboro should translate well to this TPC layout.

On a mission to make the TOUR Championship, Kim should continue scoring on venues where precision matters more than power.

 

Caddyshanks Picks

 

Patrick Cantlay (+3100, DraftKings)

Ole Patty Ice hasn’t found the winner’s circle in a while, but he has a history of playing well at Southwind—and an even better history of winning in the playoffs.

The last time we saw him was at the Rocket Classic, where he finished T8, so we know the form is there.

 

Hideki Matsuyama (+2900, DraftKings)

Well, I think I’ve picked Hideki four other times this year, and I have been dead wrong every single time.

That will not deter me from picking him again.

His recent form has been really good, and his course history at Southwind is even better.

He won here in 2024, and I think he can do it again.

For the third week in a row, an American under the age of 25 has won on the PGA TOUR.

Has that ever happened before?

It turns out that yes, it has—but only once.

Way back in 2017, Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, and Grayson Murray actually made it four weeks in a row.

Murray won the Barbasol Championship, which was played as an opposite-field event during The Open.

That group has gone on to collect seven major championships so far.

Maybe we should start sprinkling a few futures on Jackson Koivun, Michael Thorbjornsen, and Michael Brennan while we still can.

The Wyndham Championship

There must be something in the water at PGA TOUR U, because these kids are making birdies in bunches.

Yesterday, Michael Brennan made five birdies in a row on Nos. 4-8.

That stretch separated him from Beau Hossler, his closest pursuer, and combined with the 63 he shot on Saturday, it was enough to win him the tournament.

Brennan went on to birdie the 72nd hole and win by three strokes.

In the process, he vaulted himself inside the FedExCup top 50.

He was the only player to move into the top 50 from outside the bubble.

Jackson Koivun, who started the week at No. 70, remained there.

Brooks Koepka, Jason Day, and Keegan Bradley saw their seasons come to an end.

What’s Next?

The FedExCup Playoffs kick off this week with the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind.

FedEx St. Jude Championship Odds

  • Scottie Scheffler: +450
  • Rory McIlroy: +1200
  • Xander Schauffele: +1800
  • Sam Burns: +2000
  • Tommy Fleetwood: +2000
  • Cam Young: +2200
  • Ludvig Åberg: +2200
  • Matt Fitzpatrick: +2200
  • Collin Morikawa: +2500
  • Hideki Matsuyama: +2800
  • Chris Gotterup: +3000
  • Patrick Cantlay: +3000
  • Viktor Hovland: +3000

Just like that, another PGA TOUR regular season has come and gone.

This week’s Wyndham Championship is the final event before the FedExCup Playoffs begin, and there is quite a bit on the line for some players.

The top dogs—guys like Scottie and Rory—can afford to take the week off. But only the top 70 players advance to the playoffs, which means there are always a handful of guys hovering just above or below that magic number.

We call them the Bubble Boys.

The FedExCup Playoffs may not carry the history or weight of the majors, but they still come with massive purses, valuable exemptions, and plenty of other perks.

That makes this week meaningful for the players, even though we all know nobody is going to ask them how many FedExCups they won when their careers are over.

This year, the list of guys on the bubble includes some notable names:

  • Jackson Koivun
  • Keegan Bradley
  • Jason Day
  • Brooks Koepka
  • Tony Finau

Here’s what each player needs to do:

  • Jackson Koivun basically needs to perform better than Mac Messnier, who is ranked 71st.
  • Keegan Bradley needs a two-way tie for 38th or better.
  • Jason Day needs a two-way tie for 12th or better.
  • Brooks Koepka needs to finish solo fourth or better.
  • Tony Finau needs a two-way tie for third or better.

Key Stats for the Wyndham Championship

  • Prioritize putting and approach play. Strokes Gained: Putting has the strongest correlation with success here at 0.621, followed by Strokes Gained: Approach at 0.574.
  • Accuracy matters far more than distance. Driving accuracy has a 0.336 correlation, while driving distance is nearly irrelevant at 0.034. Do not overvalue bombers this week.
  • Target strong mid-iron players. More than 42% of approach shots come from 125–175 yards, making proximity and scoring performance from that range especially important.

The Details

Previous Winners

How to Watch

Featured Groups

 

ESPN+ will have featured-group coverage of the Wyndham Championship.

→ View all featured groups and tee times

Weekly Bets: Wyndham Championship

We’ve partnered with Keith Stewart at Read The Line to share his weekly golf betting picks with the Caddyshanks crew.

If you’re the type who enjoys breaking down matchups, spotting trends, and hunting for value, you’ll feel right at home in the RTL community.

Use code CADDYSHANKS2026 for 20% off.

Keith Stewart’s Picks

 

Ben Griffin (+3300, FanDuel)

 

Bounce back, Ben Griffin? You bet.

Four of the last seven Wyndham winners—and eight of the last 20—have strong Carolina ties.

In four starts at Sedgefield, Griffin has finished T11, T7, missed cut, and fourth. The key to Ben’s success at this event is twofold.

First, Griffin is a great Bermudagrass player. Ranked second in the field on Bermuda greens and 16th in Strokes Gained: Putting, he has a serious edge.

The second is his approach play. Griffin is a master with a wedge in his hands on a positional layout where the driver is used less frequently.

Blades Brown (+6000, DraftKings)

 

There’s one more young star on the PGA TOUR ready for a breakout win, and that’s Blades Brown.

Brown is a scoring machine who already has six top-10 finishes across the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR this year. Two of those have come in his last two starts.

With only one finish worse than T22 in his last 11 tournaments, the consistency Blades has shown at 19 years old is extremely impressive.

If Gen Z is trending, Brown is definitely one of its generational players.

Caddyshanks Picks

 

Aaron Rai (+3100, DraftKings)

 

Rai won the PGA Championship back in May, finished 10th at the U.S. Open in June, and then missed the cut at both the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open.

He doesn’t exactly check the box for recent form, but he certainly checks the box for course fit.

He won here in 2024, and he is the most accurate driver in the field.

 

Brian Harman (+5900, DraftKings)

 

Harman hasn’t had the best year of his career, but he did have his best week of the season last week, so that’s something, right?

He is another accurate driver of the golf ball. While his approach play hasn’t been good enough overall this year, it has been strong on shorter approaches from the fairway.

He should have plenty of those opportunities on a shorter course this week.