NOTE: For the first three events of the FedExCup Playoffs, Rob focuses only on golfers outside the bubble to advance. In this last installment, all five below enter the BMW Championship outside the top 30 in FedExCup points. Charl Schwartzel … The South African is the only qualifier on this page with experience at Conway Farms. He shared eighth place in 2013. For the second consecutive season, he begins the third leg of the Playoffs slotted 43rd in the FedExCup standings. Last year, after opening T53-70th, a five-way share of fourth place at Crooked Stick yielded a rise to 30th in points and into the TOUR Championship. This time around, he strolls in with better form after a T29 and a T25 in the first two legs, respectively. Mackenzie Hughes … At 31st in FedExCup points, he’s the easiest to pluck from the 40 outside the top 70, but to lean on that as the reason would be ignoring why he’s 31st. As I laid out in a recent edition of the Rookie Ranking, the Canadian cannot be ruled out to scoop up the once-in-a-lifetime honor, but he’s probably going to need to advance to the TOUR Championship given the depth of his class. A T13 at the Dell Technologies Championship served a reminder to his competition as it matched his third-best result of the season and best since mid-February. Through two legs of the Playoffs, he’s ninth in strokes gained: putting. Xander Schauffele … Not that Hughes needed any additional motivation to secure a tee time at East Lake, but his fellow rookie, Schauffele, is one notch back at 32nd in the FedExCup standings. The 23-year-old from California could be part of a photo finish for the Rookie of the Year award. It would cap a flourish that was sparked in earnest by a T5 at the U.S. Open and has included four top 20s since, including a breakthrough win at The Greenbrier Classic. He leads the FedExCup Playoffs in par-5 scoring average. Hudson Swafford … It’s reasonable to assume that he experienced an emotional letdown after breaking through for his first PGA TOUR title at the CareerBuilder Challenge in January. After all, expectations were high following his phenomenal career at the University of Georgia. He connected top 10s two months post-victory, and then went virtually silent until hanging up a T10 in his debut at Firestone in August. A T13 at TPC Boston two weeks ago lifted him to 33rd in the FedExCup standings and to without shouting distance of his debut at East Lake. It’d make for a proper way to celebrate his 30th birthday (on Sept. 9). Ranks seventh in the Playoffs in strokes gained: tee-to-green, sixth in proximity and T11 in bogey avoidance. Rafa Cabrera Bello … Populated this space two weeks ago, and then finished T18 at the Dell Technologies Championship to climb 20 spots to 60th for the BMW Championship. The Spaniard is seeking to become just the fourth in Playoffs history to play his way into the TOUR Championship after starting both the second and third legs outside the bubble. Only Marc Leishman (2009), Geoff Ogilvy (2011) and Morgan Hoffmann (2014) have previously scaled the same ladder. (Hoffmann is the only golfer of the three to begin the Playoffs outside the top 100.) RCB ranks 13th in the Playoffs in strokes gained: putting and 12th in scrambling, so he’s connecting with his bread and butter.
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