The FedEx Cup What?!?!
Monday, September 11th Edition
Two important events happened this weekend.
The Steelers got blown out at home thus freeing up my Sundays for the rest of the year (bless), and I had a dream.
This isn’t a Martin Luther King Jr. dream, but when someone tells me about their dreams or I have a dream which I remember, I tend to listen to what it is trying to tell me.
That has not always been the case. I am not an astrology nerd (no knock if you are). I do not know which type of moon is visible in the morning sky as I type this from my parents’ kitchen with my laptop opened like a steamed clam before I fly back to Charleston.
The dream believing began at the onset of 2023. My friend had a dream. He will be stoked to be featured, but alas he will be unnamed for the sake of anonymity.
In this dream, he was throwing a party at his house, and there were two guests he remembered.
Jon Hamm.
Jon Rahm.
He still has no idea who is who.
Jon Rahm won the first tournament on the PGA Tour in 2023. He rattled off a few more wins and when April rolled around and the Spaniard had a slick new green jacket and four wins to his credit before the end of the fourth calendar month, my friend talked as if he was the reason it happened.
As for Jon Hamm…the Oscar will be coming soon.
My friend thought of himself in the same light as Raven from That’s So Raven or Gaal from The Foundation (my new Apple TV obsession). In reality, he was the guy from Accepted who wanted to learn how to blow shit up with his mind (still impressive, if you ask me).
His powers waned into the summer moons before I got into the action when the subject of my dream the night before the final round of the U.S. Open was one Tommy Fleetwood.
I didn’t know what to do with this information, but I knew I had to act, so I did. Placing a sizable wager on Fleetwood to card the lowest score in the final round at Los Angeles Country Club, I put my money where my dream was.
Fleetwood’s second-career final round 63 at the U.S. Open and a decent payday was the result.
The Dreamers (TM) were back in business, and one week later another vision-type dream came. This one was less fun and even more difficult to decipher.
The third of this pseudo league of extraordinary gentlemen dreamed of the Titanic — not the movie but the actual ship. He sat on this information.
“How the hell is a dream about an old boat going to help a couple guys who can predict the future in golf,” he must have thought to himself.
A couple days later news of the infamous submarine came to light.
You know the rest.
Consider this when I tell you of my dream Sunday night where I was receiving an award (for what? I could not tell you) in front of a large audience of three people.
This was more vivid than past dreams, but it was not lined with golfers like Rahm or Fleetwood. Still, it had my subconscious attention.
I stepped to the podium, received a shiny trophy and adjusted the microphone. The point of view zoomed in on my blemish-filled face (I had a lot of dairy this weekend), and I spoke.
“People want two things: Community and the truth.”
The dream ended.
I woke up in a mental pretzel.
I thought about the sentence in the shower.
I thought about the sentence as I brushed my teeth.
I thought about the sentence as I drank my first cup of coffee moments after brushing my teeth (yum).
I am thinking of the sentence as I type from Gate C1 at Dulles International Airport where I just saw a man check his golf bag without a protective travel bag.
Community and truth.
Is it really that simple?
It can’t be, but I think it is.
I am not saying I am the one to make this up. In fact, I am certain I stole it from someone at some place at sometime unbeknownst to me.
Community and truth.
At its core, Status Update is community and truth. Granting full access to this dumb brain and what it thinks of the happenings in the world of golf, I speak freely to friends, family, colleagues, and my old work emails so my subscriber count is ballooned.
Sure, there is some bullshit intertwined, but that is Status Update. I am excited for the future of this venture, and this dream — however unrealistic it may have been with me receiving recognition — added fuel to the fire.
I have so many ideas for this group of extraordinary gentlemen and gentlewomen. Ideas no one in golf media is doing. Ideas they haven’t thought of. Ideas that will be kept under wraps until implementation.
They will come with growth, which I am certain of, but for now I guess you could say they are a dream.
🤘 Is Texas the PGA Tour back?
The PGA Tour returns this week with the innovative FedEx Cup Fall.
For those of you thinking, “what the hell is the FedEx Cup Fall?” Fear not, you are not alone.
The FedEx Cup Fall will finalize the top 125 eligibility and provide exempt status into full-field events as well as the Players Championship for the 2024 season. Players ranked No. 51 or higher from the previous year's FedEx Cup will carry over their points into the fall and continue to accumulate towards their eligibility status.
The top 10 finishers from the FedEx Cup Fall, not otherwise exempt, will be eligible for the first two signature events, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational. Winners during the FedEx Cup Fall will also receive a two-year PGA Tour exemption, entry into The Sentry and the Players Championships as well as invitations to major championships that exempt PGA Tour winners.
Eligibility for signature events in 2024
Top 50 finishers from 2022-23 FedEx Cup
“The Next 10" — the top 10 in that year's FedEx Cup standings (not otherwise exempt)
"The Swing 5" — the top five points earners from full-field events between signature events (not otherwise exempt)
The top 30 in the Official World Golf Rankings and all tournament winners from the current season
Four sponsor exemptions
This portion of the schedule will not count towards the 2024 FedEx Cup which marks the first time the PGA Tour returns to a calendar-year schedule in quite some time.
When players arrive at Kapalua the first week of January, everyone will start the FedEx Cup at 0 points. With this in mind, some players like Scottie Scheffler and Rahm have chosen to use the portion of the year formerly known as the swing season to enjoy a real offseason while others like Homa, Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa will play in a couple tournaments.
As my editor from CBS Sports said, “It’s the NFL preseason if the games meant something to some teams.”
👀 Keep an eye on these guys
Max Homa: The California kid is teeing it up at this week’s Fortinet Championship where he will attempt to go back-to-back-to-back in the Napa Valley. He is listed as the heavy favorite and would become the first player since Steve Stricker at John Deere Classic (2009-11) to accomplish such a feat.
Justin Thomas: The 15-time PGA Tour winner finished 71st in the FedEx Cup standings in the 2022-23 season and will need a big fall if he is to play himself into the 2024 signature events. Thomas enters the fall as the 25th-ranked golfer in the world and on a short list of players who would receive one of the four sponsors' exemptions into the signature events should he require it and fall outside the top 30. He has taken ownership of his game and will face immense pressure in two weeks in Rome to prove his worth as a captain’s pick. A quality outing in Napa would do wonders for his mentals (and everyone else’s).
Will Zalatoris: Willy Z will be making his long-awaited return during the FedEx Cup Fall with his first taste of action coming at the Shriners Children’s Open. Zalatoris has plenty to fall back on despite his absence from the sport — he won in 2022 and remains inside the top 30 of the OWGR. It will be interesting to see if there are any substantial swing changes to alleviate the stress on his wiry frame.
Daniel Berger: When it comes to timing, Berger’s was less-than-stellar. I am not sure you could have picked a worse single point in time in the history of the PGA Tour to be injured, and DB straight vibin will have his work cut out to make up for lost time. Berger has dropped outside the top 30 in the world and will essentially start from scratch when he returns. The good news is — like JT — he is a name that would garner consideration from sponsors. When he returns remains a mystery, but it will be in the fall.
🍺 What’s on tap
Can you hear me now? 🗣️ : We are back in Washington this week. Yippee! The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will hold a hearing on Wednesday, September 13 at 10 a.m. titled “The PGA Tour-LIV Deal: Examining the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund’s Investments in the United States.” Senator Richard Blumenthal has been itching to get Saudi PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan in front of a microphone, but he has struck out (and will continue to do so). I am unsure how much golf will actually be discussed, but there are three witnesses for the lowlifes of Washington to pepper with questions.
Benjamin Freeman, PH.D.: Director, Democratizing Foreign Policy Program, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Brian Murphy: Managing Director, Logically AI Inc.
Joey Shea: Researcher, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, Human Rights Watch