With his FedExCup fate out of his hands, Justin Thomas flew home to South Florida on Sunday and awaited the outcome.
“There’s no need for me to sit here and stress this out all afternoon,” he said.
It turned out to be a wise decision — Thomas moved on to the Tour Championship by the slimmest of margins.
A year after he failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in his career, Thomas was the last man into the field for East Lake. At least he doesn’t need to look far for a good omen — Keegan Bradley just won the BMW Championship after being the 50th and final player in the field.
Bradley was one of four players who was outside the top-30 number and ended up qualifying for the season finale, joining Adam Scott (No. 14), Tommy Fleetwood (No. 22) and Chris Kirk (No. 26).
Scott tied for second at Castle Pines, while Fleetwood and Kirk both finished inside the top 10 in the season’s penultimate event.
“I think making it to East Lake is an amazing achievement,” Fleetwood said, “and that’s somewhere that you aim to be, and it’ll be a fantastic end to the PGA season, and I look forward to playing next week and trying to get the most out of it.”
Thomas had some late drama just to nail down the final qualifying spot, coming home in 33 and sinking a 6-footer for par on his final hole of the day.
“I feel like I somewhat did my part,” he said. “Now, hopefully it pans out.”
It did, barely, and now he’ll head north to Atlanta, where he’ll begin the Tour Championship 10 shots behind leader Scottie Scheffler.
In corresponding moves, Brian Harman (No. 31), Jason Day (No. 33) Davis Thompson (No. 34) and Denny McCarthy (No. 35) all saw their seasons end a week early.
As usual, the race for the top 30 — which allows players to compete for a $100 million bonus pool next week, as well as guarantees access into at least three of the four majors next year — caused a few thrills and spills on the last day.
Harman double-bogeyed the last hole after making four late birdies to jump back inside the cut line. Alex Noren was still comfortably inside the number when he made three straight bogeys to finish off a final-round 75. Jason Day spoiled his bid for East Lake with a triple bogey-double bogey stretch on Nos. 14 and 15 on Sunday.
“It was tough. It was tricky,” Noren said. “I didn’t hit the shots that I needed.”