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Hadley seized the last spot in the 125-man FedEx Cup playoff
field thanks to his 8-under 62 in the final round of the Wyndham
Championship in Greensboro, N.C., aided by his first career
hole-in-one at No. 16.
His 9-iron landed about 10 feet behind the hole, then trickled
back left-to-right toward the cup. When Hadley realized his ball
dropped, he unleashed an emphatic celebration, jumping and
kicking his legs out behind him.
"Yeah, we'll call that the flying baby giraffe," Hadley said.
Even as he reflected after his round, the North Carolina native
wasn't sure of his fate until the tournament ended with Kevin
Kisner emerging from a six-hole playoff for the title.
Hadley's T15 at Sedgefield Country Club was good enough to move
him to 440 points -- exactly one point ahead of England's Justin
Rose, who tied for 10th at the Wyndham.
"It was a great day. It's been a really tough two years," Hadley
said. "I haven't felt like a lot of good has happened ... So
just to have some good things happen today with the hole-in-one
and at least giving myself an opportunity to work myself into
New York next week is pretty incredible."
Rose might have secured his spot in the field had he not missed
a par putt of a little more than 5 feet on his final hole.
"For the most part, done what I needed to do this week and just
a disappointing finish there," Rose said. "I wasn't really
playing for Top 125 (in FedEx Cup points) for most of the day, I
was playing to try to win the golf tournament and it's hard to
know exactly what you need to do out there, but you know each
shot's important.
"I had some good putts, some good looks coming in. Slightly
surprised when I saw 15 under was tied for the lead there on 18,
which is sort of even more gut wrenching really to finish 13
under and probably miss out on the FedEx Cup as well, so
couldn't be a worse result really on the day."
For many golfers, finishing outside the top 125 also puts their
PGA Tour cards at risk, and they have to play the Korn Ferry
Tour Finals to hold onto their status. That won't be the case
for Rose, who is exempt after winning the FedEx Cup in 2018.
The 125 players who qualified for the field will head to Jersey
City, N.J., next week for the Northern Trust, the first leg of
the playoffs. The top 70 in points after that tournament will
move on. For those who missed out, the season is over and they
lose that potential to earn more prize money.
Three players from outside the top 125 entering the Wyndham
pushed their way in this week. Besides Hadley, Canada's Roger
Sloan jumped from No. 131 to No. 92 by finishing as part of the
six-way tie at 15-under 265 and competing in the playoff. Scott
Piercy (T15) moved from No. 126 to No. 116.
Ryan Armour, Patrick Rodgers and Bo Hoag fell from the low 120s
to outside the top 125 by missing the cut at the Wyndham. Rose
entered the week at No. 138 in the standings and only made it up
to No. 126.
--Field Level Media
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