GREENSBORO, N.C. — The FedEx Cup playoffs bubble always does funny things to players.
For Patrick Rodgers, it made him dig deep and produce some of his best golf of the season. For Keith Mitchell, the second round of the 2025 Wyndham Championship ended in “heartbreak.”
Entering the week at No. 68 in the FedEx Cup, Rodgers knew he likely needed to make the 36-hole cut to have a chance to advance to the FedEx St. Jude Championship next week, the first leg of the playoffs. He had missed six straight cuts and was in danger of missing a seventh after opening with an even-par 70 on Thursday.
To make matters worse, he bogeyed two of his first three holes on Friday to dig himself a big hole. But not insurmountable, as it turned out. He rallied with nine birdies in his last 15 holes, including five of his last six, to post 7-under 63 at Sedgefield Country Club and secure a third-round tee time.
“I’m really proud of myself. It’s been a dreadful summer. I haven’t felt that far off but the results have been,” Rodgers said on Friday. “There’s definitely a level of your back can be so far against the wall that you just have nothing to lose anymore type of feeling.”
How much was the FedEx Cup playoffs on his mind?
“Super aware. Like I said, it’s never a position I thought I was going to be in starting the summer, but at the end of the day it’s part of being a professional athlete and a competitor,” Rodgers said. “And it sucks to be on the bubble. I’d love to be comfortably in, but this is the rush of playing competitive sports. So it was looking me square in the eye there for a moment.”
The tournament within the tournament is part of what makes this week so great at the Wyndham Championship, but there’s always someone who goes home disappointed and on Saturday morning, that man was Keith Mitchell.
The affable pro known for his sharp dressing and the freedom with which he swings his driver entered the week at No. 72 in the FedEx Cup and needed no worse than a T-27 to finish inside the top 70 and qualify for the playoffs. He went to sleep knowing he had four holes left in his second round when play was suspended on Friday due to lightning. He was 4 under and straddling the cutline.
His Saturday morning must have felt like a nightmare.
At his first hole of the day, he took four putts from 49 feet and made double bogey at 15 to drop to the wrong side of the cutline. Mitchell had to be deflated but he went down swinging, making a 10-foot birdie at 17.
It turned out that 3 under would have been enough to make the cut. Did he think he needed one more birdie to be safe? Unclear but Mitchell’s hopes for birdie took a hit when he drove into the left rough at 18 and had to layup short of the green. He wedged to 7 feet to give himself a chance to salvage par but missed the do-or-die putt. He signed for even-par 70 and a 2-under 138 total. One stroke too many and that seals his fate — no playoffs for Mitchell.
Mitchell understandably wasn’t in much of a talking mood after the round and declined to speak to media. He did pour his heart out in a text to PGA Tour.com: “Gave it my all this year, probably too much, loads of pressure on myself to make the playoffs and top 50. Physically my game has shown signs but just haven’t shown up in the moment when it counts the most. We fight and fight and grind to give it our all and to finish like that is really just heartbreaking.”
Compare that quote to Rodgers’s response when he was asked the last time he’s felt as good after a round as he did at that moment after making the cut?
“That’s a great question,” he said. “Nothing comes to mind. I feel pretty damn good right now … This game, it’s crazy. It takes you through the wringer and it’s been beating me up pretty good, so it’s nice to get on the positive side of one today.”
It’s the 36-hole cut of an otherwise run-of-the-mill PGA Tour event but it also brings out the best and the worst in golfers and why the 36-hole cut should remain sacred.
For more on who made and missed the cut at the Wyndham Championship, head to our cut tracker page.
Read the full article here
