Friday, September 25, 2026 The morning round Edition No. 1

Morning Tee Sheet

Golf's daily digest — gear, style, architecture, culture.

The Lead

The week of the 61 arrives at Medinah

Two 61s on Sunday. Now golf moves to the course where the number became legend.

Sunday delivered two 61s: Jacob Bridgeman's bogey-free 61 to win the inaugural Biltmore Championship Asheville, and Ben James's 61 in defeat, two shots back. J.T. Poston nearly made it three sub-62 rounds, missing a 25-footer for 59.

Now the game moves to Medinah, home of the most famous 61 in course history — Justin Thomas's 11-under course record on Saturday of the 2019 BMW Championship, featuring a 5-wood from 260 yards to two feet on the par-5 10th and a holed 180-yard approach for eagle on 16.

But don't expect a record chase this week. The Presidents Cup is match play, and this isn't the course JT torched: OCM's redesign of No. 3 — with Geoff Ogilvy's firm involved, and Ogilvy now captaining the Internationals — has remade it. The record book stays shut. The theater doesn't.

Dawn aerial view of a championship golf hole with striped fairways and morning mist
Illustration for Morning Tee Sheet.
Golf ball on a tee at dawn with dew-covered grass
Two wins, one place on the American roster.

Team Room

Bridgeman validates the pick; Spaun answers the snub

Bridgeman came from five back to post 26-under 258, becoming the season's sixth multiple winner — his first title came at Riviera in February.

He was one of Brandt Snedeker's six captain's picks, and as Golf Channel's Brendon de Jonge put it, plenty of Americans will be lining up to play alongside him at Medinah.

Hours earlier, J.J. Spaun — passed over by Snedeker — flew to Wentworth and beat an elite BMW PGA Championship field including Rory McIlroy. Two Sunday winners. One plane ticket to Chicago.

Abstract dark-green golf course texture with a volt accent line
The free-spending era gives way to restructuring.

Business

LIV Golf files for Chapter 11

LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 in New Jersey on September 8, after Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund ended a funding commitment that topped $5 billion.

The creditor list reads like a major-championship leaderboard: the top three unsecured creditors are players: Jon Rahm (~$7.5M), Bryson DeChambeau (~$5.7M), Dustin Johnson (~$5.5M).

The plan: a recapitalization with BC Partners Credit and a player-majority-owned “LIV 2.0” with a 10-event 2027 schedule. The free-spending era is over. The lawyers' era has begun.

The Watchlist

Three worth your time

Bryson's backyard stakes

Day 1 of a $100,000 backyard golf tournament.

No Laying Up, episode 1212

The Presidents Cup preview.

The Shotgun Start in Chicago

Live from Evanston with NBC's Brad Faxon on American team golf.

FedExCup Fall Bubble Watch

Snapshot · September 25, 2026

The fight for 100

The guillotine moved.

Full PGA Tour status used to go to the top 125. Starting with the 2026 eligibility cycle, only the top 100 after the RSM Classic are fully exempt for 2027, with entry into THE PLAYERS. Nos. 101–150 hold conditional status in three access categories; below 150, the route back runs through Q-School.

No. 100Tony Finau · 416 pts · last fully-exempt spot
No. 101Billy Horschel · 413 pts · first man out
3Points between them
Top 100

Fully exempt for 2027, plus THE PLAYERS.

Nos. 101–110

Conditional status held all season; no reshuffle.

Nos. 111–125

Conditional status, subject to reshuffle.

Nos. 126–150

Conditional status with the lowest PGA Tour access.

Below 150

The route back runs through Q-School.

All players from 101–150 are also exempt on the Korn Ferry Tour. Individual higher-priority exemptions may still apply.

On and around the line

Ranks 90–107 · after Biltmore

RankPlayerPointsPosition

The runway

Seven events remain · 500 points to each winner

Presidents Cup (Sept. 24–27, Medinah) awards no FedExCup points. Procore and Sanderson Farms are not on the 2026 Fall schedule.

Fall winner perks: a two-year exemption through 2028, The Sentry invite, THE PLAYERS, and eligibility for the 2027 PGA Championship.

What a finish is worth

Solo-finish anchors — ties split

All eight Fall events award 500 points to the winner. Points go to everyone making the 36-hole cut.

Build a path

Scenario desk

Pick one of the three bubble players, a remaining event and a verified finish anchor. The arithmetic uses today's fixed cutline and standings.

Illustrative projection — not a guarantee. Assumes no other player around them scores; ties split points.

The Receipts

Commentator scoreboard

Hot takes go on the board immediately. Accurate and bad takes are graded only after the result is settled — and only when the exact quote, date, and original clip or transcript are in hand.

Record: accurate — hot — bad. No receipt, no verdict.

Accurate Takes

0

Hot Takes

0

Bad Takes

0

The board

Running record · accurate — hot — bad

No Laying Up, speaker unconfirmed · attribution pending 0 — 1 — 0

Sources

Edition No. 1
  1. Presidents Cup preview — Pro Golf Weekly
  2. Presidents Cup tee times — Today's Golfer
  3. Bridgeman's 61 — AP / NBC Sports
  4. Biltmore final round — AP / PGA Tour
  5. The Spaun subplot — RotoWire
  6. LIV first-day hearing — ABF Journal
  7. LIV layoffs and PIF funding — Reuters
  8. LIV creditor list — Stark & Stark
  9. Justin Thomas's 61 at Medinah — AP
  10. How it works: FedExCup Fall — PGA Tour
  11. Biltmore points and payouts — PGA Tour, Sept. 20, 2026
  12. FedExCup Fall standings — Golf Today, updated Sept. 20, 2026
  13. 2026 tournament schedule — PGA TOUR
  14. 2026 FedExCup Fall schedule — PGA TOUR
  15. Standard points distribution — PGA TOUR
  16. 2027 status cutoff — PGA TOUR
  17. Bank of Utah field status — PGA TOUR

The Archive

Every morning begins with one clean card.

Edition No. 1