2022-23 Qualifiers for THE PLAYERS and the majors

England’s Matthew Jordan carded a second-round 64 to claim a one-shot lead at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews on Friday.

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Here we are, having hit the aptly named BMW Championship in the meat of the FedExCup Playoffs. Aptly named because it is time to put the accelerator to the floor if you want to survive or thrive in these Playoffs. Those who already know they’ll be part of the top 30 going to the TOUR Championship are playing for their head start at East Lake. The others, well, its go hard or go home. With just 69 players (Kevin Na withdrew) and no cut, you can expect plenty of pin-hunting at Medinah Country Club. The Flyover This tournament could turn on the wind over Lake Kadijah. The penultimate hole at Medinah’s No. 3 course – the par-3 17th – has seen plenty of drama. At 193 yards, it is all water carry. Bail out long? Well, if you’re long and left, you might find making par very difficult. Making a long birdie putt isn’t completely out of the question… just ask Justin Rose and Phil Mickelson. Landing Zone You might be extra familiar with the par-4 16th hole at Medinah without even realizing it. It was here a 19-year-old Sergio Garcia ripped a long iron from behind the trunk of a tree with his eyes closed as he made a surge towards Tiger Woods at the 1999 PGA Championship. A tricky dogleg left that requires accuracy off the tee to ensure a clear shot to an elevated green awaits those in the field. It was the most difficult hole at the 2006 PGA Championship, playing to a 4.331 average. Garcia was one of just a handful of players who made par after missing the fairway. And he won’t be back this time around, so it remains to be seen if someone else is bounding up that impressive hill come Sunday. Weather Check Forecast by TOUR meteorologist Joe Halvorson: Dry conditions are likely under high pressure on Thursday, although an isolated shower may develop along the lake breeze in the afternoon. Forecast confidence becomes lower Friday through the weekend as a series of upper level disturbances will set off complexes of showers and thunderstorms across the Midwest. The first of these disturbances will bring a risk for scattered showers and thunderstorms late Friday morning through Friday afternoon. A complex of showers and thunderstorms should emerge out of Iowa Saturday morning, bringing another round of rain and storms late Saturday morning into Saturday afternoon. Rain and thunderstorm chances will continue on Sunday ahead of a cold front pushing across Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin. For the latest weather news from Medinah, Illinois, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. Sound Check It’s a long golf course. There’s a lot of doglegs that the longer guys can take advantage of and hit it over corners, so I think someone that plays the game the way I do, I’ve got a bit of an advantage around here. By The Numbers 30 – The number of players who will survive to East Lake and the TOUR Championship after this week. On average over the FedExCup years, three players play their way from the outside in, meaning three players also drop out. Andrew Putnam is the guy in 30th spot right now. 73 – The number of spots biggest mover from last week Harold Varner III made. Starting at 102nd, Varner gave Patrick Reed a run for his money at THE NORTHERN TRUST before settling for third place. It sent him to 29th in the FedExCup and gives him a great chance to make his first TOUR Championship. 2 – Number of victories Tiger Woods has at Medinah Country Club. Both victories came at the PGA Championshop (1999, 2006). 22 – Number of players in the 69-man field (Kevin Na is a WD) who have top-level experience at Medinah in either the 1999 or 2006 PGA Championship or the 2012 Ryder Cup. Scattershots – There are five PGA TOUR rookies still alive in the FedExCup. Only Sungjae Im (26th) will start the BMW Championship inside the top 30. Winners Collin Morikawa (57th), Cameron Champ (58th) and Adam Long (65th), plus Wyndham Clark (68th), are all still alive and fighting for Rookie of the Year honors. Another rookie winner – Matthew Wolff – was eliminated last week. – This is the last week for automatic qualifiers to make their case for the Presidents Cup. The top eight on both the U.S. and International teams at the end of the week will be given a ticket to play at Royal Melbourne December 12-15. Captains Tiger Woods and Ernie Els will then add four captains picks in a few months’ time. Currently, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Matt Kuchar, Webb Simpson, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay sit in the top eight U.S. slots. Only four players are close enough to potentially force their way in – Gary Woodland, Tony Finau, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed. On the International side, the current top eight are Marc Leishman, Louis Oosthuizen, Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama, Abraham Ancer, Haotong Li, Cameron Smith and C.T. Pan. Several players have ways to play their way in. They include Jason Day, Jazz Janewattananond, Justin Harding, Sungjae Im, Sung Kang, Byeong Hun An, Si Woo Kim, Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin, Emiliano Grillo and Dylan Frittelli. – Tiger Woods is far from certain to make it back to East Lake, where he had his famous victory a year ago. Woods produced one of sports’ great highlights of 2018 when he won the TOUR Championship with massive crowds breaking containment. But at 38th in the FedExCup after his WD last week, Woods needs to be somewhere inside the top 11 at Medinah to have a real shot at moving on. The 2007 and 2009 FedExCup champion is still no certainty to even play in Chicago, but he intends to give it a go. A win would be his 82nd PGA TOUR victory and tie Sam Snead for most all-time. – Brooks Koepka currently sits in the top spot in the FedExCup and is in line to start the TOUR Championship at -10. But there are no less than 42 players within 2000 points of his total who theoretically have a chance to jump over him into first place. The FedExCup leader heading to the TOUR Championship will start at 10-under, second place at 8-under, third 7-under, fourth 6-under with fifth at 5-under. Players ranked 6-10 will start at 4-under, 11-15 at 3-under, 16-20 at 2-under, 21-25 at 1-under and 26-30 at even par.

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For the record, Tom Hoge has seen the movie. And let’s be real. Isn’t that what you want to ask him when you find out he’s from Fargo, North Dakota? Yes, that Fargo. The city where Hoge grew up is the setting for the darkly comic 1996 crime film written and directed by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. The quirky movie, which stars William H. Macy and Frances McDormand, who won an Academy Award for her role, has become something of a cult classic. And no matter where he goes – Hoge now lives in Fort Worth, Texas – when he tells someone where he’s from the scenario is the same. “The first reaction is usually the movie, yes,â€� Hoge says with a wry smile. “And then the second statement is that I’m the first person they’ve ever met from North Dakota. “So I’m kind of ready for those two all the time.â€� Of course, with former North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz leading the Philadelphia Eagles into the Super Bowl on Sunday, the  sports landscape is changing a bit. But he grew up in Bismark and the only movie by that name is a 1940 film about the prime minister of Prussia. So, it’s just not the same. That said, “Fargoâ€� wasn’t filmed in North Dakota’s most populous city. The movie was actually shot around Minneapolis-St. Paul and in the town of Brainerd, Minnesota, which is about 90 minutes away from Fargo. “It’s kind of more out in the country than we would like to claim in Fargo,â€� Hoge said with a smile. “But it was pretty funny. A little different. Dark humor, for sure.â€� Fargo’s visitors center even has an exhibit that includes several of the original scripts, as well as few props. Among those is the wood chipper which the organization’s website calls the “most notorious prop in cinematic history.â€�  Hoge actually was born in Statesville, North Carolina, but moved to Fargo when he was 6 months old. He lived in North Dakota full-time until 2007 when he went to Fort Worth to play golf at Texas Christian University. He’s lived there ever since. At its best, the golf season in Fargo – which was voted as “America’s Toughest Weather Cityâ€� in a 2011 poll on The Weather Channel — only runs from mid-April to mid-November. Hoge can remember high school tournaments as late as in May that were snowed out but he made the most of the days when Mother Nature cooperated. “I kind of laugh, frost delays in Phoenix and places like that when it’s 40 or 45 degrees,â€� Hoge says. “I remember days out playing golf when it was 25 degrees in Fargo. “The golf courses probably didn’t like it that much but I was always trying to get out there and play.â€� Hoge started playing golf when he was 3 years old. He and his brother Charlie would tag along, hitting a few shots here and there, when their parents went to Fargo Country Club. He was inspired by Tiger Woods’ first Masters win and by the time he was 10, Hoge could be found hanging out at the golf course whenever there wasn’t any snow on the ground. “It doesn’t sound like it, Fargo, North Dakota being a golf town, but our golf club had a par-three course where the holes were 60 to 125 yards long and kids could go play that as much as they wanted,â€� he says. “It really was a good spot to grow up and learn how to play.â€� In fact, Hoge estimates, he’s one of 5 or 10 golfers from Fargo who went on to play NCAA Division I golf despite being limited by the relatively short season. A couple played on the Nationwide Tour, as did Hoge, but he is the first to make it to the PGA TOUR full-time. “There were a few times in the winter where I’d be trying to go to play in tournaments in Arizona or somewhere and there’d be snow on the ground,â€� Hoge remembers. “But I’d just kind of shovel the snow away and hit a few balls. “On more than one occasion I would say I’d be the only person on the course every day. But I always wanted to play on the PGA TOUR so I’d use whatever opportunities I had to get better.â€� When the snow piled up – Fargo had to dig out from a record 117 inches of the white stuff during the winter of 1996-97 – Hoge did have another option. He could go to the Sports Bubble and hit off mats at the indoor driving range. While it may not have been satisfying seeing the ball just go 50 yards or so, it was a good place to work on the fundamentals of the game. And it was warm. “So there’s parts when I look back on it growing up in Fargo that were very beneficial to me,â€� Hoge says. “Obviously, you’re limited just not being able to practice and get the experience other guys would in Texas and Florida or other parts of the country. “But it was a good spot. You learn work ethic up there pretty good just because your time is so much shorter than everyone else.â€� Hoge, who is quick to point out that he doesn’t miss the snow or the winters in North Dakota, is currently in the midst of the best year of his TOUR career. He’s had two top-10s in eight starts, including a tie for third at the Sony Open in Hawaii where he held the third-round lead. The way Hoge sees it, weathering the brutal winters in a city that is just 160 miles from the Canadian border, builds character and that has helped him along the way. “If you’d look at kind of the way my career’s been there’s been a lot of times where I’d been struggling and kind of close to losing status,â€� Hoge says. “And going back to the Web.com Tour finals this year I had to birdie seven of the last 12 holes to get back out on the PGA TOUR. “And I think there’s some of that fight that growing up in North Dakota instilled in me.â€�

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