“Robert MacIntyre has withdrawn from the BMW Championship,” announced Bounce Sports Management, the company representing the Scottish pro. The revelation came as a shock to the golfing world amid the ongoing FedEx Cup playoff event. But as the golfer pulled out from the tournament, one can’t help but wonder; Are his chances of lifting the FedEx Cup at East Lake Golf Club a goner as well?

The answer to that would be a ‘Yes‘ on the condition that he finds himself in the best of health in time for the season-ending finale. The golfer is currently placed at T12 in the FedEx Cup standings and is projected to fall to just T19 following his WD from the event at Castle Pines. Consequently, as per the official PGA Tour announcement, he is locked on to reach the top 30 to tee off in Atlanta for the 2024 TOUR Championship.

The 2024 BMW Championship was three rounds in when the unexpected announcement of his withdrawal was made. Unfortunately, the athlete decided to pull out before the second nine owing to a “niggling back injury incurred in the last 5 minutes before his tee time in Round 3.”

The athlete had, over the first two days, put up a score of 72-71, owing to a total of five birdies, 2 bogeys, and a double bogey, the last of which came at the par-4, 3rd hole on Thursday. This helped him start 12 strokes behind Adam Scott, the golfer who finished T1 after Friday. And on the day of his WD, the 28-year-old MacIntyre could only dish out two bogeys, on the par-4, 2nd, and the par-4, 5th, causing him to fall to a 14-stroke deficit before pulling out.

The Scottish pro, meanwhile, was not the only golfer who has decided to drop out of the second FedEx Cup playoff event. Hideki Matsuyama also withdrew from the tournament on Friday and cited a “lower back discomfort” as he was warming up during the morning. Interestingly, even his spot for the 2024 TOUR Championship is locked, if he can play next week at Atlanta, just like MacIntyre.

Robert MacIntyre and his FedEx Cup standing

The golfer has been having a career-best run in 2024 with a total of 6 top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour, two of which he emerged victorious, at the Genesis Scottish Open and the RBC Canadian Open. As a result of his scintillating finishes, the athlete was able to jump from No. 58 on the ranking at the start of the season to No. 15 following his T7 at the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Hideki Matsuyama, on the other hand, also boasts six top-10 placements on the 2024 PGA Tour season with two wins; the Genesis Invitational and the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Consequently, he has managed to cement his spot at No. 3 on the FedEx Cup Standings with a point tally of 3,095.621 while rising to the 6th spot on the OWGR.

Nevertheless, the community will surely be hoping to spot both the athletes in the 30-man field at the 2024 season-ending finale. Robert MacIntyre would especially be hoping to play owing to it being his first TOUR Championship since he had earned his PGA Tour card by finishing inside the DP World Tour top-10 in the 2023 season.