FedExCup update: Francesco Molinari, Troy Merritt make big moves

Just four weeks and six events are left in the regular season, and the race for the top 125 qualifiers for the FedExCup Playoffs is changing dramatically every week. Each week for the rest of the 2017-18 season, PGATOUR.COM will provide an update on the various moves being made in the FedExCup standings. Winners’ Moves Francesco Molinari, winner of The Open Championship, earned 600 points for his first major title and moved from 27th to 7th in the standings. Merritt, who earned 300 points for capturing the Barbasol Championship in a Monday finish, moved from 131st to 65th. (Only a year ago he had to return to the Web.com Tour Finals after finishing 151st.) Each has won the Quicken Loans National, Molinari this season and Merritt in 2015. Top 125 Watch The top 125 players in the standings after the Wyndham Championship (Aug. 19) advance to the FedExCup Playoffs. Here are the players who moved in and out last week at the John Deere. MOVING IN Troy Merritt. Won his second TOUR title to move from 131st to 65th. MOVING OUT Corey Conners. Missed the cut at Barbasol to move from 123 to 126. Biggest Movers The five players at The Open and the Barbasol Championship who made the biggest moves in the FedExCup standings. Looking ahead • Dustin Johnson, the headliner at this week’s RBC Canadian Open, remains No. 1 after The Open, where seven players had a mathematical shot at overtaking him. Bubba Watson, who was passed by Justin Rose at Carnoustie and falls into the fourth spot, is the other big headliner at Glen Abbey and the only three-time winner on the PGA TOUR this season. • Five of the last six RBC Canadian Open champions have advanced all the way to the season-ending TOUR Championship at East Lake. Jhonattan Vegas, the two-time defending champion at the RBC, who would become the first to threepeat on TOUR since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic (2009 to 2011), has slipped to 121st in the FedExCup. • Four former FedExCup champions are in the field at Glen Abbey: Billy Horschel (2014), Brandt Snedeker (’12), Bill Haas (’11) and Jim Furyk (’10). • Francesco Molinari, who has never made the TOUR Championship, was 123rd before the Quicken Loans National. With a win, a T2, and a win in his last three starts, he’s 7th. • William McGirt was the Bubble Boy at 125, but with a T12 at the Barbasol is up to 121. Tyrone Van Aswegen, who missed the cut at the Barbasol, slipped from 122nd into the 125th spot.

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