British stone. SIMMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Matt Kuchar ended his 19th consecutive season on the PGA Tour with a No. 118 finish in the FedExCup, which was enough to retain his full card, except this year, when the tour dropped his ranking from the top 125 to the top 100.
The next step for Kuchar, 47, appears to be receiving one of the career bonus exemptions, but it’s not that simple.
This is a different PGA Tour than when he first joined in 2002. There are eight signature events, four majors, the Players Championship and three FedExCup playoffs. Kuchar enters 2026 ineligible for either.
“I don’t know how many starts I’m going to get,” Kuchar said after finishing T-67 at the RSM Classic. “I don’t know if using the exemption would have given me any different start. It’s a tough question. It doesn’t get you into any senior activities.”
The question is whether his conditional status at No. 118 in the FedExCup will allow him to play in roughly the same number of events as his career bonus exemption.
“We are in uncharted territory,” he said. “I guess they’ve done the math, but I don’t know how well they envisioned it.”
PGA Tour officials estimate that players ranked between 101st and 110th in the FedExCup rankings, which they have maintained throughout the year, will play in approximately 16 of the 19 events and then compete in all FedExCup events except Japan.
Kuchar is eight spots below that group and could drop in the rankings if he struggles off the court.
He had time to get two waivers. Even in this era of deep pockets, Kuchar has performed well over such a long period of time, ranking 15th in career earnings with $61,538,738. That’s $15.4 million more than the No. 25 player, so waiting another year to get a top-25 exemption won’t cost him.
That’s what Kuchar must address before next month’s Sony Open in Hawaii.
Kuchar has only one top-10 finish this year, a tie for fifth at the John Deere Classic, but he has only missed two cuts in 18 starts.
“This is not the year I was hoping for in 2025. It’s been a frustrating year,” Kuchar said. “I think I only missed two cuts, but I just didn’t seem to put my hitting and putting together those weeks.”
