Low rounds on Sunday equal big moves in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Ryan Palmer proved it with a final round 65 Sunday afternoon at Ridgewood and his 12-under par finish was good enough to get him a tie for fifth.
Normally, not much to go nuts over, but that finish moved him from No. 100 to No. 50 in the FedEx Cup point standings, virtually earning him a spot in the next two events and a good chance to contend for one of the 30 spots available for the Tour Championship.
Here’s some of the other big movers from the Northern Trust, first stop in the playoffs:
Tyrrell Hatton: Hatton shot the day’s best round — a seven-under par 64 that moved him from No. 92 to No. 71.
Cameron Smith: Smith started the playoffs in 53rd place. After his tie for third, he moved 37 spots to No. 16.
Billy Horschel: We’ve seen what a hot run in the playoffs can do. This guy won the FedEx Cup with two playoff wins (BMW and Tour Championshp) in 2014. He finished tied for third and was all smiles, going up 27 spots from 41st to 14th.
Adam Scott: It’s good to see Scott’s good play from the PGA continue. His tie for fifth at 12-under earned him a climb from No. 73 to No. 40.
Bronson Burgoon: A 66 on Sunday was a thing of beauty for Bronson. He jumped all the way from 111th to 73rd.
Nick Watney: Nick has been making a comeback this year. He finished 10-under and that tie for 11th took him from 102 to No. 67.
Jhonattan Vegas: Johnny Vegas proved you don’t need a top 10 to make a big move. He finished tied for 15th and jumped up 36 places — all the way from 123 to 87.
Daniel Berger: Berger moved up 26 spots, going from 89th to 63. He was in that tie for 15th with Vegas.
Charley Hoffman: Nothing earth-shattering, but a tie for 20th got Charley from 98th to 75th with a chance to play well next week in Boston and move on to Philly.
The big names?
A tie for 40th at four-under moved Tiger Woods back five spots — from 20 to 25, still in decent shape.
Phil Mickelson’s tie for 15th didn’t do much for him. He went from 11th to 10th.
There was also this shift in the Top Five:
1: Bryson DeChambeau moved to first from ninth.
2: Dustin Johnson moved from first to second.
3. Justin Thomas moved to third from second.
4. Tony Finau (solo second) moved from 12th to fourth.
5. Brooks Koepka moved from No. 3 to No. 5.
