Max Homa was up front about his reasons for playing the first-ever Austin Championship.
“I wasn’t supposed to play this week,” he said on Friday at Omni Barton Creek. “To be honest, didn’t really want to. I’m gassed and older and everything hurts.”
Homa’s not alone; 11 months into the season, plenty of road-weary Tour pros are hanging by a thread. But plenty of pros’ status for next season is hanging by a thread, too. Next week’s RSM Classic is the final event of the FedEx Fall; that’s when points will be finalized. Which means this week in Austin is the second-to-last chance to improve (or cling to) your current standing.
Brian Harman, who’s currently No. 71 in the standings, pointed out that pros are used to this pressure; it always lurks in one form or another.
“You’re always trying to do something. You’re trying to win a major, you’re trying to keep your card, you’re trying to finish top-50 or you’re trying finish top-30 or trying to make a team,” he said. “You just get kind of accustomed to dealing with that sort of angst all the time, and the better you handle it, the more successful you end up being.”
Still, as the number of remaining tournaments shrinks, the value of remaining points available grows. One big round number is 100; that’s the number of pros who will have full PGA Tour status for the 2027 season.
Through three rounds, several pros in contention need a high finish to jump over that threshold. At one point Chad Ramey, who began the week at No. 136, was tied for the lead with No. 172 Sami Valimaki. Also in the mix? Erik van Rooyen (No. 140), Trace Crowe (No. 117), Zac Blair (No. 121), Will Gordon (No. 184), John VanDerLaan (No. 156), Rafa Campos (No. 174) and more. A win would boost any of them inside the magic number; a top finish would very meaningfully improve their partial status.
Billy Horschel, who entered the week at No. 98 but is projected to slip outside the bubble, pointed out that it’s not completely black or white. “It’s been a long time since I’ve lost a card, but at the end of the day it’s not end of the world,” he said. “I’m going to get quite a few tournaments next year.”
Horschel would love to finish top 100 to guarantee himself a Players Championship start, for instance, but finishing near the top 100 cutoff still will get him into plenty of 2027 events.
Van Rooyen, on the other hand, needs a high finish to earn meaningful starts next year. “I don’t know where I’m going to play next year,” he said. “I’d love to get a win here and just be settled, right? But if that means Korn Ferry next year, that means Korn Ferry and I’ll claw my way back to where I know I belong. I know I’m doing the right stuff and you just keep telling yourself that.”
It’s not just that 100 number that matters. Every player who finishes the fall season top 60 gets into the first two Signature events for 2027 — at Pebble Beach and Riviera — which are massive tournaments with massive payouts. They’ll also represent massive opportunities for pros to get ahead for the 2028 season, when everything changes. (And simplifies. Mostly.)
Back to Homa, then. His reason for playing? He just slipped to No. 61 in the standings. After a third-round 68 he sits T24 at 8 under par — and still projected at No. 61.
“I don’t want to have to ask for sponsor exemptions,” he said. “L.A. [the Genesis Invitational] means the world to me so I would love to play in that event. Pebble, didn’t get to play last year which was a pain, just always loved being up there. For me the whole West Coast is just a home event after home event.”
Homa just missed the original top 50 cutoff in the FedEx Cup playoffs back in August, which would have guaranteed him berths in every 2027 Signature Event and allowed him to skip the fall; he ended up 53rd. It seemed unlikely his team told him, that he’d slip outside the top 60. But then, as he put it, “it looked really good about two weeks ago and then everyone wrong played well.” Now he’s on the edge again.
“You assume someone’s going to win each week and pass you,” Homa said, referencing last week’s victory from teenager Blades Brown, who rocketed to No. 59, just ahead of Homa. “I was not expecting — Mexico, especially, was like five spots.”
Homa wasn’t complaining about the trip itself; he raved about the chance to visit Austin, where his wife has family. He praised the downtown, the food, the people. But he’s been through it this year — “my body’s fairly banged up,” he said — so he’d like to make this trip worth his while.
“I do love competing so it’s nice to have another week. We’re going to have a long break so it’s nice to have another week to compete.”
As for the pressure of the moment? The best approach, No. 99 Kevin Yu pointed out, is to pay it no attention.
“If you think about it, it’s definitely a lot of pressure,” he said. “But on the golf course pressure’s not going to do anything good to you.”
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