Shane Lowry and Jordan Spieth were among the big names eliminated from the FedEx Cup playoffs. Keegan Bradley, Jason Day, Brian Harman and Max Homa join Lowry and Spieth as notable absentees from the BMW Championship this weekend, as the top 50 in the rankings prepare to navigate Bellerive Golf Course.
Spieth's St Jude Struggles
The 2015 Masters Champion, Spieth, made a strong start at St Jude's last weekend, hitting five under for the first round, but faltered in the second and third rounds, shooting one under and two over, respectively. An even par fourth round meant he finished T19 in the field, consigning him to 52nd place in the FedEx Cup rankings.
Scottie Scheffler picked up the trophy after making an incredible 17 under. The world number one won the playoff event at a canter, finishing eight clear of nearest challenger Si Woo Kim.
Other Notable Eliminations
The 30-year-old remains top of the standings in the race for the FedEx Cup, ahead of England's Matt Fitzpatrick. But it was a tale of disappointment for Homa, who finished seven points outside the top 50 and will not participate in St Louis, Missouri despite finishing the weekend three under and T24.
Lowry finished three under after a fourth round 70 saw him finish tied for 52nd in the field. America's Bradley missed the cut for the St Jude Championship as he finished outside the top 70, losing out on the field.
As well as Lowry, Spieth, Bradley, Day, Harman and Homa, Keith Mitchell (51st), Harris English (54th), Pierceson Coody (55th), Harry Hall (56th), Sam Stevens (57th), Sudarshan Yellamaraju (58th), Corey Conners (59th), Daniel Berger (60th), Michael Kim (61st), Nick Taylor (63rd), Patrick Rodgers (64th), Jordan Smith (66th), Jackson Koivun (67th), Aldrich Potgieter (68th), Ricky Castillo (69th) and Matti Schmid (70th) also missed out on making it through the play-offs.
McIlroy's Concerns
The top 70 players were ranked by points correlating to how they finished in PGA Tour tournaments this season, which made them eligible for the first playoff event, the St. Jude Championship, which was held this weekend. The top 50 will now advance to the BMW Championship, which is a similar no-cut event to determine the final 30 golfers who will compete in the final one.
Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, endured a tough weekend on the course after shooting eight over, finishing 25 strokes behind the eventual winner. It leaves him in 13th going into the forthcoming weekend, but the back-to-back Masters champion made a worrying admission in light of his eight-over finish.
He said: "I'm so far away from where I need to be to even feel like I have a chance. I've just got to keep working and hope it turns around a little bit."
"I guess [it was] nice to shake the rust off a little bit but I'm going to have to work pretty hard between now and next Thursday to feel like I have any sort of golf game to compete next week."
"To me it's more about the execution of what I'm doing right now, and the execution wasn't there this week."
The season-long competition is into the business end now with just two tournaments left. The Tour Championship follows this weekend's BMW Championship when the top 30 pit their wits around the East Lake course.
Tommy Fleetwood won his first-ever PGA Tour title last August when he edged past Russell Henley and Patrick Cantlay in a nervy final round. The Englishman became the second Tour Championship winner after Justin Rose and broke his PGA Tour title drought at the 164th time of asking.
