GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The end is here. Not the golf, which will be played for weeks on end, nearly all the way to Christmas. Not even the PGA Tour season, which concludes next month at the Tour Championship. No, we're talking the end of the regular season.
This week's Wyndham Championship, the last event for some to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs and keep their status for the 2015-16 season, has what many would describe as a difficult date, falling between the PGA Championship and the start of the playoffs. But the decent field, and what's at stake, could provide some drama. Let's take a look.
Practice tee
The week after a major championship is typically tough for any event, as players often want to unwind. And with a big four-tournament stretch over the next five weeks, it's typically an easy tournament to skip.
Not this year. For various reasons, a slew of big-name players are in the field, including Tiger Woods, who will play the Wyndham for the first time. He will be joined by former No. 1-ranked players Adam Scott, Martin Kaymer, Ernie Els and Luke Donald, as well as reigning FedEx Cup champion Billy Horschel, Brooks Koepka and Vijay Singh.
First round
Woods is well outside the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings, in 187th place and needing no worse than a solo second finish to have a chance of advancing to the playoffs. But he's not alone on the outside looking in. Defending Wyndham champion Camilo Villegas (129), Ryo Ishikawa (130), Geoff Ogilvy (148), Kaymer (149), Graeme McDowell (156), Els (170) and Robert Allenby (183) are all are shooting for at least No. 125, now held by 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel.
Second round
While those who finish outside of the top 125 will miss out on the FedEx Cup playoffs, they will not necessarily lose exempt status. Ogilvy is not playing the Wyndham, but remains exempt for the 2015-16 season due to his victory at last year's Barracuda Championship. McDowell also decided to skip the last event; his multiple winner status has him exempt through next season.
"Didn't fancy playing with a gun to my head for the playoffs," said McDowell, who has slipped to 63rd in the world after starting the year ranked 15th. "I'm trying too hard as it is at the minute. Need to decompress."
McDowell's missed cut at the PGA Championship was his fifth in his past eight worldwide events.
Another rule in the fine print: A player who finishes in the top 125 in money, but not top 125 in points, will still be fully exempt next season but will not be able to participate in the playoffs.
Third round
It has generally been considered a so-so season for Phil Mickelson. The five-time major champion who turned 45 in June, rarely threatened, with his best chances coming at the Wells Fargo Championship and the FedEx St. Jude, although he wasn't in contention down the stretch at either tournament.
But a closer look at Mickelson in the majors shows a very representative performance. According to Golfweek, Lefty was one of just 18 players who made the cut in all four major championships this year. And he played them in a combined 16 under par, with just seven players performing better, led by Jordan Spieth at 54 under.
Mickelson is 51st in the FedEx Cup standings, which means he's safely in the Barclays and Deutsche Bank and all but certain for the BMW Championship. Whether he is motivated to make the Tour Championship (last year he withdrew during the BMW) remains to be seen, but he does seem intent on making the U.S. Presidents Cup team, which will be decided after the Deutsche Bank.
"I'm close," Mickelson said after tying for 18th at the PGA. "I'm sick of saying that. I'm tired of not being there yet. It keeps getting better and better and I keep hitting more and more good shots each round, but I keep making dumb mistakes. And at this level, some of the mistakes I'm making, you just can't do. I'm hitting plenty of good shots to be on the top of the leaderboard, but I'm making too many mistakes that are pulling me down."
Final round
It was always understood that Olympic golf was going to cause issues with the 2016 schedule. The majors are crammed together, one tournament (the John Deere) is forced to go opposite the Rio Olympics, and last week we learned that the European Tour and PGA Tour could not come to an agreement on when the WGC-Bridgestone should be played -- even though both tours sanction the event and should, in theory, be on board with when it is played.
But that was clearly not the case as the European Tour announced last week that it would not co-sanction the "world" golf event. That means any European Tour player who competes in Akron next summer two weeks after the U.S. Open and two weeks before The Open will not be credited with a start on the European Tour, will not have earnings count toward the money list and will not earn Ryder Cup points.
Those are some serious implications for an impasse that should have been rectified. The conflicting event on the European schedule is the French Open -- at the site of the 2018 Ryder Cup -- and the European Tour understandably wanted to protect it.
"Several events were impacted, and while we have had numerous conversations with the European Tour with respect to scheduling of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, we were ultimately unable to find a solution that satisfied all parties," the PGA Tour said in a statement.
So the only conclusion that can be drawn is that the PGA Tour did what was best for its interests -- because putting the Bridgestone in June was clearly not best for the European Tour. Remember, the various entities had six years to figure this out.
Easy solution here: put the WGC-Bridgestone the week before the U.S. Open, which will be at Oakmont next year. Akron is close to Pittsburgh. Players could have had early-week practice rounds at Oakmont before the WGC, then an easy commute to the U.S. Open site. Yes, a PGA Tour event -- the FedEx St. Jude -- would have had to be relocated.
Could it be that the PGA Tour didn't want to mess with its playoff umbrella sponsor?
Sudden death
For the third straight major, Jason Day took a share of the 54-hole lead into the final round, prevailing by three shots at the PGA and only for a moment seeing his 2-stroke lead cut to 1. For the week, he averaged 305 yards off the tee and played the par-5 holes at 15 under. He set a major championship record in relation to par, shooting 20 under at Whistling Straits. The previous best was Woods in 2000, when he won at St. Andrews at 19 under.
Trophy presentation
"I didn't expect I was going to cry. A lot of emotion has come out because I've been so close so many times and fallen short. To be able to play the way I did today, especially with Jordan in my group, I could tell that he was the favorite. Just to be able to finish the way I did was amazing." -- Day after winning his first major at the PGA Championship.
Around the course
• Spieth was a combined 54-under par in the major championships this year, eclipsing the previous record of 53 under by Woods in 2000. That year, Woods won three majors, two by a combined 23 shots.
• Justin Rose played the majors in 34 under and didn't win any of them.
• The highest-ranked player in the Wyndham field is Scott at No. 12, followed by No. 16 Hideki Matsuyama and No. 17 Koepka.
• The Wyndham Championship is celebrating the 50-year anniversary of Sam Snead's final PGA Tour victory and record-setting eighth at the tournament. At age 52, Snead became the oldest player to win a PGA Tour event, a record that still stands.