Streb moves up in FedEX Cup points list, Eckroat rising on Korn Ferry Tour
With his tie for 11th in the 3M Open, former Edmond North star Robert Streb moved up to 115 in the FedEx Cup standings, seemingly safely inside the top 125 needed to keep his PGA Tour card for the 2022-23 season and be able to compete in at least the first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs. Major changes are coming to the qualifying system in the future, but the current system is in place for at least one more year.
Streb will move up another 10 spots or so when the PGA Tour removes those ahead of him that have joined the LIV Golf tour and have been suspended from the PGA Tour. For whatever legal reasons, they are still listed on the PGA Tour website as of today. Only the top 70 will advance past the FedEx St. Jude Championship into the BMX Championship.
Let’s look at how some other players with Oklahoma ties are faring as the playoffs near on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour.
Talor Gooch of Edmond is still listed at No. 20 on the FedEx Cup standings but he was one of the first players to join LIV and has already played in two events on the Saudi-funded series. Oak Tree National member Matthew Wolff is currently No. 70 but has also joined LIV and former Oklahoma Sooner Abraham Ancer is No. 80. He too is now playing on the Saudi league.
Taylor Moore of Edmond is currently 96th, but like Streb will get a bump when the LIV players are removed from the FedEx Cup standings.
Fellow PGA Tour rookie Max McGreevy of Edmond is 136th, so with the LIV players removed will be right on the cusp of the top 125 and keeping his full exemption for 2023. Edmond North and OSU ex Kevin Tway is 128 and should be safely inside the top 125.
Tulsan Bo Van Pelt has played in 14 events and is 210 on the money list. Josh Creel of Edmond, the third of three Oklahoma rookies on the PGA Tour this year along with Moore and McGreevy, is ranked 216 and needs to move into the top 200 to earn a spot in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and have a chance to keep his card.
For this year at least, the Korn Ferry Tour will still be awarding 25 spots to those who finish top 25 in the season-long points race and another 25 PGA Tour cards in the three-event Finals. The Finals Points List is made up of players Nos. 26-75 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List and Nos. 126-200 on the FedExCup, as well as non-members and medical extensions. Players who earn spots in The 25 via the Regular Season compete in the Finals in order to better their spot on the PGA TOUR Priority Ranking, which alternates between members of The 25 and The Finals 25.
In the battle for the coveted 25 PGA Tour cards awarded on the season-long KFT points race, Anders Albertson, son of Tulsa businessman Scott Albertson, is currently 19th. On the strength of consecutive top 10 finishes in the past two weeks, Austin Eckroat of Edmond has moved up to 37th. Here is the complete list.
Other players looking to stay in the top 75 and make the finals include former Cowboys Sam Stevens at 43, Kevin Dougherty at 46 and Peter Uihlein 59 and former Oklahoma Sooner Quade Cummins at 72. Looking to move into the top 75 are Sooners Michael Gellerman 94 and Grant Hirschman 100, Kris Ventura (OSU) 105, Garrett Reband (OU) 109, Charlie Saxon (OU) 125, Rhein Gibson of Edmond at 141, Jonathan Brightwell (OU) 160 and Logan McAllister of Oklahoma City and OU at 166.
There are two events remaining before the KFT Finals begin Aug. 18-21.
While many players battle for status to even compete in 2023, it stands in sharp contrast to the players with state ties now on the LIV Tour, who are enjoying multi million dollar signing bonuses and guaranteed paychecks even if they are uncompetitive in the 54-hole, 48-player fields going forward. What they may not be enjoying is access to major championships beginning in 2023 unless some accommodation is reached between LIV, the organizations that run the four major championships, the PGA Tour and DP World Tour to all coexist.