Seven big names who saw their PGA Tour season end in Memphis

The PGA Tour heads into the second leg of the FedEx Cup play-offs this week without some seriously big names.

The FedEx St. Jude Championship marked the opening event of the three-tournament postseason, with the 70 players who made it to Memphis battling not only for the title, but for their place in the next stage.

And while Scottie Scheffler was busy putting on a clinic at TPC Southwind - romping to an eight-shot victory and strengthening his already formidable grip on the FedEx Cup - there was plenty of drama further down the leaderboard.

Only the top 50 in the FedExCup standings advanced to this week's BMW Championship.

Matt McCarty held on to the final qualifying spot at No. 50, while Keith Mitchell became the unfortunate bubble boy after slipping from 49th to 51st. 

Sungjae Im was the only player to break into the top 50 from outside it, jumping from 53rd to 40th thanks to a tie for fifth in Memphis.

And Mitchell wasn't the only big name left staring at an early exit.

GolfMagic has decided to take a look at who else crashed out...

Keith Mitchell (51)

Mitchell had perhaps the cruellest exit of them all. 

He arrived in Memphis sitting in 49th, so his place at the BMW Championship was in touching distance. 

Instead, he slipped two places to become the unfortunate bubble boy.  

Mitchell handed the exit with class, telling Golf on CBS: "I mean, it's tough because this year I was like one foot in, one foot out all year, in the majors, in the signature events. I didn't have a schedule. Really didn't have like a life [with] off weeks built in. 

"Every week I was like first alternate or am I going to get in?"

He added: "I felt like I handled the nerves of an entire season on your hands pretty well today.

"It looks like I'm going to come up short, but I did my best."

Jordan Spieth (52)

Spieth had a dream start in Memphis, sharing the first-round lead. 

But he just couldn't maintain it. 

The three-time major winner ends his season without a single top-10 finish.

"It's funny, I just feel like I'm kind of getting back to playing really good golf, like it's close to kicking off," he said. 

"And I'm not going to play a tournament for a long time. 

"In some ways I feel like I'm leaving some out there, and in some ways it's a good thing because like I mentioned after the first round, this will be the last time I finish like this for a while.

"I'm very, very confident in what's coming. 

"I just ran out of steam and maybe made a couple bad decisions over about a six-week stretch on what I was working on, and I just didn't quite have enough time to make up for it."

Max Homa (53)

Homa arrived in Memphis with little margin for error. 

Unfortunately for the former Ryder Cup star, he couldn't produce the big finish required. 

Harris English (54)

A surprise to see Harris English bow out early, but the American has hit a sticky patch at the wrong time - missing four cuts in his last seven outings.

Shane Lowry (62)

Unlike the others, Lowry had a much steeper hill to climb and needed to make a serious charge in Mempis. 

It brings to an end a forgettable season for the 2019 Open champion, who never really recovered from his dramatic late collapse at the Cognizant Classic.

Brian Harman (65)

The former Open champion, like Lowry, needed a big week. 

It failed to materialise. 

Harman has been pretty poor in 2026 by his standards, registering just one top-10.

Jackson Koivun (67)

That Koivun was in the position to make a run to the BMW Championship was remarkable in and of itself. 

Koivun only turned pro after the U.S. Open in June but his stunning victory over Scheffler at the 3M Open saw him arrive in Memphis with a slim chance of progressing. 

Still, not a bad year at all.

Take a look at the current FedEx Cup standings below...