Winter is here. Temperatures are beginning to drop, Christmas lights have started to be hung, and extra layers are now an essential out on the golf course. It’s been a long, thrilling year in the world of golf. Rory McIlroy finally claimed the elusive green jacket to complete an illustrious career grand slam, Team Europe etched themselves in the history books at Bethpage Black, and Tommy Fleetwood clinched his first win on the PGA tour, which like his European comrade, had shunned him for so long.
Scottie Sheffler will once again walk away with the most wins on tour (6) and two more major championships to his name (PGA and Open), as JJ Spaun won hearts with his first major win at the US Open.
As the regular season reached its conclusion at the beginning of August, the FedExCup took centre stage, with playoffs culminating at the end of August. With additional competitive implications at stake, the FedExCup Fall took over in early September, and since then, players have been fighting it out for eligibility in next season’s PGA field.
This week, The RSM Classic marks the final event of the FedExCup Fall, thus signalling the end of the season. There are a number of intricacies that raise the stakes of this event, which can make it difficult to grasp, yet its significance is more prominent than ever for the players.
Here’s everything you need to know about the vital finish to the PGA season.
How does the FedExCup Fall work?
The FedExCup Fall is a series of seven tournaments played off the back of the regular PGA Tour Championship.
The top 100 players from the PGA season are granted ‘exempt’ status for the following season on tour, meaning that they are guaranteed a spot in all the regular tournaments. The top 50 are guaranteed exemption for all events, including signature events, whereas positions 51-100 are not guaranteed unconditional entry to these.
Players occupying 101-150th in the rankings are granted ‘conditional’ status on the tour, meaning limited access to tournaments, and that they have to compete for the few spots available at each event. The 50 players with conditional status are bracketed into priority categories, which are taken into consideration when it comes to qualification in future tour events.
Following the results from the FedExCup, the top 50 players are locked into position, guaranteeing full exempt status for the next season. All players outside of the top 50 can enter the FedExCup Fall, where they compete for positions, starting with the amount of points obtained in the regular season.
All these Fall events include winner’s benefits: two-year PGA tour exemption, 500 FedExCup points, and invitations to THE PLAYERS Championship, RBC Heritage, and PGA Championship in 2026.
The FedExCup Fall series can be paramount to a golfer’s status for the following season. Adam Schenk’s victory at last week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship saw him catapult from 134th in the Fall rankings to 64th – comfortably inside the cherished top 100. Success in these events may also be taken into consideration for the 2025 PGA TOUR Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards, with nominees set to be announced later this month.
The series also offers up an opportunity to be included in the Aon Next 10…
What is the Aon Next 10?
The Aon Next 10 is a pathway that grants players exemption into Signature Events, which always have limited fields.
As aforementioned, the top 50 from the FedExCup receive full exemption on all PGA Tour events, including the additional benefits of signature events. The Aon Next 10 is a programme that rewards players who have had successful seasons, yet just failed to break into the top 50.
Following the conclusion of the FedExCup Fall, players occupying 51-60 in the rankings are permitted to the Aon Next 10, granting them spots in the first two signature events of the 2026 PGA Season (The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am and The Genesis Invitational).
Thereafter, the pathway grants entry into signature events for the top 10 available players, who aren’t already exempt via the top-50 category.
Heading into The RSM Classic, three of the 10 players currently in the Aon Next 10 are entering the field: Chris Kirk (No. 54), Rico Hoey (No. 57), and Jake Knapp (No. 59).
Who should I look out for at The RSM Classic?
The RSM Classic is the seventh and final event of the FedExCup Fall, marking the end of the 2025 PGA TOUR season. The event is taking place at the Sea Island Golf Club, Georgia. The PGA Seaside Course combines stunning views with challenging golf, intensified by a number of water hazards and rapid greens.
As it is the final week in the PGA TOUR calendar, it is the last opportunity for players to secure top-100 status, which would grant them access to all full-field events, as well as THE PLAYERS Championship next season.
As you would imagine, the field is stacked with players grouped between numbers 95-110, all of whom will be desperate to achieve exempt status for the 2026 season.
Look out for these names this week: Ryo Hisatsune (No. 95), Thorbjørn Olesen (No. 96), Danny Walker (No. 97), Michael Brennan (No. 98), Takumi Kanaya (No. 99), Karl Vilips (No. 100), Matt Wallace (No. 102), Beau Hossler (No. 103), Isaiah Salinda (No. 104), David Lipsky (No. 105), Victor Perez (No. 108), Patrick Fishburn (No. 109), Pierceson Coody (No. 110). Brennan and Vilips are already exempt, as tournament winners.
With so much on the line, you can undoubtedly expect a plethora of incredible strokeplay and risk-taking from the golfers this week. For golf fans, the fact that this is the last event of the season, combined with the enormous pressure that will loom over the players, provides a highly dramatic end to the year.
