The PGA Tour fall season finale at the RSM Classic promised drama, but the epicenter was supposed to be the cutoff line for status in 2026. Who would surge triumphantly into the top 100 and retain their card? Who would fall heartbreakingly below and settle for the uncertainty of conditional status?
In the end, the answer was "nobody." The top 100 coming into Sea Island were still the top 100 when play concluded on Sunday. But if the fireworks were surprisingly sparse in that department, the top of the leaderboard provided something we've never seen before in the long history of the PGA Tour: A winner from the nation of Finland.
To this point, Sami Valimaki has been one of those names you vaguely recognize from stints near the top of the leaderboard. Didn't he win a couple DP World Tour events? (Yes, in 2020 and 2023.) Hasn't he had a few top 10s in America? (Also yes, this year at the Houston Open and Myrtle Beach Classic and just two weeks ago in Mexico.) Hasn't he made noise in a major or two? (Actually, no—he's made just one cut in six tries.)
From here on out, though, Valimaki's name will be a lot more familiar on American shores, because his final round 66 was just enough to hold off Max McGreevy and secure victory on the Seaside Course at Sea Island.
"I just wanted to show the people it's possible from there," the 27-year-old Valimaki said. "I want to have more golfers from Finland. That's my main goal."
In order to cross the finish line after his close call two weeks ago, Valimaki had to save himself time and again with his putter (which is why he gave the club a kiss on the 18th green). He finished sixth in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting in the event, and while his confidence in his chipping game was eroding on Sunday, he relied on the putter. In one memorable instance on 16, he used his putter from well off the green, rolled it to 18 feet, and then buried the par putt. He made a similar bomb on 8, this one from 23 feet for birdie, a 38-footer on 4, and—perhaps more importantly from a psychological angle—a 12-footer on his very first hole to save par.
"Chipping hasn't been my kind of favorite shot," he said of his decision on 16. "I just felt like today only comfortable was with my putter, so I thought OK, let's give it a go outside the green and just give me the chance to make a 4. After Patrick [Rodgers] had a similar line from there, I had a good read on that, dead center, so it felt great."
Valimaki grew up with the dream of being an NHL player (his cousin Juuso has played in the league since 2017), served six months in the military as part of his mandatory service, and decided to pursue golf when he was named to the national team. His career has progressed slowly but surely, and now that he's No. 40 in the world and certain to stay in the top 50 before Jan. 1, he'll get to play in his first Masters next spring.
A few shots below Valimaki, and despite the fact that nobody outside the top 100 bubble managed to break through, there was some serious drama coming down the stretch. Lee Hodges, who just yesterday seemed to have no chance at gaining status (and who said he had "no pity" for anyone complaining about the system), stood on the 18th green with a 10-foot putt to break into the top 100. It missed, just barely, and he finished 101st. For Hodges, it was the putt a hole earlier, on 17, that he'll remember most.
"The one on 17 was the best putt I hit all week," he said. "The wind for sure blew that out of the hole. That putt was in the middle."
Somehow, that wasn't even the most devastating near-miss of the day. Ricky Castillo, who came in ranked 135th, surged into a tie for second place with a Sunday 62 that included a whopping nine birdies. By the time he finished, he was in a three-way tie for second, which was good enough to finish inside the top 100. The only player who could send him back below the cutoff was Max McGreevy, and only then with a birdie on 18. Only 13 players of 73 had made birdie on the hole to that point, but McGreevy became No. 14, hitting a 29-footer to claim solo second and rip full status away from Castillo.
"I hate to hear that I was the one that did that," McGreevy said after his round. "I'm playing alongside Lee [Hodges], who's one of my good friends…and I'm pulling for him to make that putt just as much as I was for myself to make that putt. It's little successes and defeats. Whether it's a defeat to Ricky or Lee or something like that, they both still played great rounds, gave themself that chance, and that's all they can rely on is to give themself an opportunity and they did. Hopefully, both those guys, Ricky and Lee, can take care of business either at Q-School or next year with some starts."
In the end, it was an enormous sigh of relief for Takumi Kanaya, who finished 99th while missing the cut, and Karl Vilips, who ended at no. 100 after a T-51 finish. Like Castillo, all they could do was sit and watch the action play out in the final groups, and hope for the best. Unlike him, luck was on their side this time, and they'll enjoy full status when the holidays pass and the new season begins.
