For players who get through (or back) to the PGA Tour via the Web.com Tour regular season money list or Web.com Tour Finals, getting a PGA Tour card is just the beginning for them. Throughout the season, these players -- as well those who finished 126th through 150th on the prior season's FedEx Cup points list, and past PGA Tour champions -- are subject to what's called the reshuffle.
At six times throughout the season, these players' priority order is changed based on their current standing in the FedEx Cup points list. Coming out the gate of a new season, if a player has a bad first six tournaments, they are punished for poor performance by losing their place at the front of their cohort line to fill spots for tournaments. If a player barely gets their card and takes full advantage, they're rewarded by getting to move up in line and get more starts.
The first reshuffle happened after The RSM Classic, and Beau Hossler made the biggest move in the reshuffle. He finished 25th on the Web.com Tour regular season money list, and on the back of a number of top-10 finishes in the fall portion of the schedule, he moved up from 49th in priority ranking (out of 50 graduates of the Web.com Tour and Web.com Tour Finals) to seventh. His season is basically set in this category.
Brandon Harkins also had a great start to the year, going from 45th in ranking to fifth.
Going the other direction, Web.com Tour Championship winner Jonathan Byrd did not get off to a good start at all. He began the season fourth in priority in this category, and now he's 41st.
There are a total of 55 players in this category, with players who finished medical extensions on the Web.com Tour in the prior season getting lumped into this category throughout the year. Three players who graduated from the Web.com Tour or Web.com Tour Finals are out of the category, with Chesson Hadley earning a fully exempt season by winning both money lists. Ryan Armour and Austin Cook moved up into the category of PGA Tour winners by their victories in the Sanderson Farms Championship and The RSM Classic, respectively.
2017-18 PGA Tour reshuffle priority order through The RSM Classic
- 1. Alex Cejka (32)
- 2. Andrew Landry (5)
- 3. Peter Uihlein (2)
- 4. Tyler Duncan (22)
- 5. Brandon Harkins (45)
- 6. Ben Silverman (19)
- 7. Beau Hossler (49)
- 8. Tom Hoge (46)
- 9. Martin Piller (30)
- 10. Nicholas Lindheim (6)
- 11. Jonathan Randolph (16)
- 12. Brice Garnett (3)
- 13. Aaron Wise (37)
- 14. Abraham Ancer (7)
- 15. Stephan Jaeger (13)
- 16. Talor Gooch (15)
- 17. Ted Potter Jr. (11)
- 18. Shawn Stefani (14)
- 19. Xinjun Zhang (43)
- 20. Adam Schenk (27)
- 21. Joel Dahmen (48)
- 22. Rob Oppenheim (8)
- 23. Michael Thompson (NR)
- 24. Corey Conners (40)
- 25. Bronson Burgoon (18)
- 26. Cameron Tringale (36)
- 27. Ethan Tracy (41)
- 28. Seamus Power (50)
- 29. Roberto Díaz (47)
- 30. Tom Lovelady (28)
- 31. Andrew Putnam (17)
- 32. Brett Stegmaier (38)
- 33. Matt Jones (34)
- 34. Troy Merritt (26)
- 35. Conrad Shindler (31)
- 36. Keith Mitchell (20)
- 37. Nate Lashley (23)
- 38. Steve Wheatcroft (42)
- 39. Sam Saunders (12)
- 40. Sam Ryder (9)
- 41. Jonathan Byrd (4)
- 42. Lanto Griffin (35)
- 43. Zecheng Dou (39)
- 44. Denny McCarthy (24)
- 45. Matt Atkins (29)
- 46. Kyle Thompson (25)
- 47. Andrew Yun (33)
- 48. Chad Collins (44)
- 49. Kris Blanks (NR)
- 50. Will Claxton (NR)
- 51. Will MacKenzie (NR)
- 52. Lee Williams (NR)
- 53. Shane Bertsch (NR)
- 54. David Berganio Jr. (NR)
- 55. Zack Sucher (NR)
