4 Big Names Eliminated From FedEx Cup Playoffs Before BMW Championship

The FedEx Cup Playoffs began in dramatic style last week with Hideki Matsuyama winning the FedEx St Jude Championship by two shots after almost blowing a five-stroke advantage at TPC Southwind.

While there was plenty of interest at the top end of the event leaderboard, 70 players were also battling it out to gain employment next week as well - with only the top-50 in the FedEx Cup standings progressing to the BMW Championship.

Every birdie and bogey changed the fate of not only the golfer involved, but also several players around them as the likes of Nick Dunlap moved around 25 places in the space of one hole down the back nine on Sunday.

While the two-time PGA Tour winner survived one more week to reach the top-50, several big names and winners on tour this season saw their Playoff campaigns come to an end at the first hurdle.

Here are just a handful of big names to miss out on the BMW Championship and Tour Championship.

Which Big Names Have Been Eliminated From The FedEx Cup Playoffs?

Jordan Spieth (67th)

Spieth managed just three top-10s in 2024 and a best result of third at The Sentry - ultimately ending 67th in the FedEx Cup standings. He also missed the cut in seven of his 22 starts as a disappointing campaign finally came to a merciful ending.

The three-time Major winner revealed he had been battling a troublesome wrist issue for some time, however, and plans to have surgery ASAP before returning either later in the year or early in 2025.

Min Woo Lee (60th)

A bonafide fans favorite, Lee finished as a runner-up in two PGA Tour events this term (Cognizant Classic and Rocket Mortgage Classic) while also scoring eight top-25s from 17 appearances.

Yet, the Australian couldn't find the result he needed at TPC Southwind - T22 left him 173 points adrift of 50th - and he ended the season 60th. He is likely to tee it up in a handful more DP World Tour events before the turn of the year, though, so 'Dr Chipinski' will leave his clinic open for a little while longer.

Justin Rose (55th)

Rose was 75 points away from featuring at the BMW Championship this week after a T22 finish at TPC Southwind. 

The Englishman enjoyed or endured something of a feast or famine campaign, with his results in Majors reflecting his PGA Tour season overall, in a way. Having missed the cut at The Masters and US Open, Rose was T6 at the PGA Championship and a narrow runner-up at The Open. 

Otherwise, he had one top-10 and missed five more cuts from 19 appearances in total, leaving him to focus on the remainder of the DP World Tour term.

Tom Kim (51st)

17 points. That's all Tom Kim missed the FedEx Cup top-50 by after the dust had settled on the FedEx St Jude Championship. His T50 finish was extremely disappointing to a player who almost bested good friend Scottie Scheffler at the Memorial Tournament, only to lose in a playoff.

While Kim only missed four cuts from 23 starts, he did also only register one further top-10 as a plethora of so-so weeks populated his 2024 season.

FedEx Cup Standings