Taylor Pendrith had an unforgettable day as he secured his first PGA Tour victory at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. As he celebrated his win, Ben Kohles and Alex Noren also had reasons to be happy as they finished second and third, respectively, at TPC Craig Ranch. Pendrith’s triumph not only earned him a spot in the final three signature events of the season but also guaranteed him a place in next week’s Wells Fargo Championship, as well as next month’s Memorial Tournament and Travelers Championship.
The top five players who accumulated the most points from the Corales Puntacana Championship, Zurich Classic, and Nelson were Pendrith, Kohles, Noren, Billy Horschel, and Kevin Tway. These players qualified via the Swing 5 category. Tournament winners automatically qualify through the Swing 5 or Next 10 categories, which take precedence over the tournament winners’ category. Chad Ramey narrowly missed out on the top five, finishing in sixth place in the Swing 5 category.
In addition to qualifying for the final three signature events of the season through their performance at TPC Craig Ranch, Kohles and Noren also earned tickets to Wells Fargo through the Aon Swing 5 category. This category exempts current top 10 players in FedExCup points who did not finish inside the top 50 last season. Minimal changes were made to this category from its previous iteration in the RBC Heritage event. Only Shane Lowry broke into this list after winning Zurich with Rory McIlroy. The list included Ludvig Åberg, Matthieu Pavon, Stephan Jaeger, Will Zalatoris, Akshay Bhatia, Jake Knapp
