Explaining the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 and How Collin Morikawa Could Lose up to $400,000 by Not Playing the Wyndham Championship
This week’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro is the final stop on the PGA Tour before the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and numerous players have a lot on the line as they try to extend their season by getting into the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings, which would ensure them a place in next week’s Northern Trust at TPC Boston.
Some are trying to keep their spot in the top 125 while others, such as Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth, seem to be looking to get a little closer to the top 70 to better their chances of getting into the BMW Championship in a couple of weeks. A select few, however, are at the Wyndham Championship this week to either better their position or get into the Wyndham Rewards Top 10, a bonus program in which the top 10 players in the FedEx Cup standings share a pool of $10 million.
How does the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 work?
Throughout the regular season, players on the PGA Tour accumulate FedEx Cup points based on how they finish in the tournaments in which they participate. Winners receive 500 points for a normal PGA Tour event, 550 points for World Golf Championships, and 600 points for the four major championships and The Players Championship. Points then trickle on down to those that made the cut and are added up throughout the season.
At the end of the regular season, which will be on Sunday following the conclusion of the Wyndham Championship, the top 10 in the FedEx Cup standings split $10 million as part of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 bonus program, which was implemented in 2019. Here’s how the breakdown works.
- $2,000,000
- $1,500,000
- $1,200,000
- $1,100,000
- $1,000,000
- $850,000
- $700,000
- $600,000
- $550,000
- $500,000
Brooks Koepka won the $2 million top prize a year ago by leading the FedEx Cup standings at the end of the Wyndham Championship a season ago and we already know who’s walking away with the top prize this year.
Justin Thomas is already assured of winning the $2 million top prize in the Wyndham Rewards Top 10
Following a tie for 37th at the PGA Championship, Justin Thomas lost his No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking but assured himself of the top spot in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the playoffs. With 2,458 points, Thomas, who has won three times this season, is 556 points ahead of PGA champ Collin Morikawa, who moved from sixth to second place after collecting 600 FedEx Cup points for his win at TPC Harding Park.
So even if Morikawa were in the field at the Wyndham Championship, which he isn’t, and won the tournament, the 500 points he’d collect still wouldn’t be enough to overtake Thomas. The 23-year-old phenom stands to collect the $1.5 million prize for second place if nothing changes in the FedEx Cup standings but there are four other players from the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 in the field this week, two of which have the chance to knock him from that second spot.
Collin Morikawa could lose $300,000 or more by not playing the Wyndham Championship
With 1,902 FedEx Cup points, Collin Morikawa is currently 158 points ahead of third-place Webb Simpson, who at the moment stands to collect $1.2 million with 1,744. However, if Simpson can find a way to finish in the top three at the Wyndham Championship, he would surpass Morikawa in the standings, which would cost Morikawa $300,000. The winner in Greensboro gets 500 points, second place gets 300, and third place gets 190. It should be noted that Simpson finished second at the Wyndham Championship a year ago to get himself into the top 10.
Furthermore, fifth-place Sungjae Im is in the field this week and currently has 1,561 FedEx Cup points, 341 behind Morikawa, and 183 points behind Simpson. So let’s say that Im wins the Wyndham Championship and Webb Simpson finishes in second. That would move Sungjae Im into second with 2,061 points, Simpson into third with 2,044, and Morikawa to fourth with 1,902. Such a finish would cost Collin Morikawa $400,000 and would also knock Bryson DeChambeau, who is also sitting out the Wyndham Championship, into fifth place, costing him $100,000. And that’s assuming that Patrick Reed or Brendon Todd, both of whom are in the field this week, don’t win. A victory for either would bump DeChambeau from his position as both are within 500 points of him. Here’s how things currently stand in the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 heading into the final week of the PGA Tour season.
- Justin Thomas: 2,458
- Collin Morikawa: 1,902
- Webb Simpson: 1,744
- Bryson DeChambeau: 1,657
- Sungjae Im: 1,561
- Patrick Reed: 1,353
- Daniel Berger: 1,347
- Rory McIlroy: 1,327
- Brendon Todd: 1,316
- Jon Rahm: 1,295
As you can see, many of the players in the bottom half are very close and there is certainly no guarantee that all of them will be in the top 10 on Sunday evening. Lanto Griffin (1,159), Abraham Ancer (1,099), Sebastian Munoz (1,042), Adam Long (889), Harris English (829), and Joaquin Niemann (867) are in the field at the Wyndham Championship and all still have a mathematical chance of breaking into the Wyndham Rewards Top 10.
