Kuchar trying to decide if it's worth using a career money exemption for a full PGA Tour card

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Matt Kuchar finished his 19th consecutive season on the PGA Tour and ended it at No. 118 in the FedEx Cup, which would have been enough to keep his full card any year but this one, with the tour dropping the cutoff to the top 100 instead of the top 125.

The next step for the 47-year-old Kuchar would seem to be taking one of his exemptions for career money, only it's not that simple.

This is a different PGA Tour from when he first joined in 2002. There are eight signature events, four majors, The Players Championship and three FedEx Cup playoff events. Kuchar goes into 2026 not eligible for any of them.

“I don't know how many starts I'll get,” Kuchar said after he finished at the RSM Classic. “I don't know if using an exemption will get me any different starts. It's a tricky one. It's not going to get you into any elevated events."

The question is whether his conditional status as No. 118 in the FedEx Cup will get him into roughly the same number of events as taking a career money exemption.

“We're in somewhat unchartered territory,” he said. “I'm guessing they've run the numbers, but I don't know how well their scenarios work out.”

PGA Tour officials estimate that players between No. 101 and No. 110 in the FedEx Cup — they keep that ranking all year — will get into about 16 of the 19 tournaments, and then have all of the FedEx Cup Fall except for Japan.

Kuchar is eight spots below that group, and subject to drop if he doesn't play well out of the gates.

He has time for his two exemptions. Even in this era of big purses, Kuchar has played so well for so long that he is No. 15 in career earnings at $61,538,738. That's just over $15.4 million ahead of the player at No. 25, so waiting another year to take the top 25 exemption won't cost him.

That's what Kuchar will have to sort out in the next month before the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Kuchar had only one top-10 finish this year, a tie for fifth in the John Deere Classic, but he missed only two cuts in 18 starts.

“It's not the 2025 that I hoped for. It was a frustrating year,” Kuchar said. “I think I missed only two cuts, but I didn't seem to put together the weeks where you hit it well and putt it well.”

Steve Stricker played only four times on the PGA Tour Champions this year before he had to shut down with an upper back injury that led to a disk replacement surgery the first week in August.

Now he's ready to return at an event he had in his sights all along — the Skechers World Champions Cup, a three-way match among teams from the U.S., Europe and International (everywhere else) to be held Dec. 4-7 at Feather Sound in Clearwater, Florida.

It's also a tuneup for the PNC Championship, which he again will play with daughter Izzi, a sophomore at Wisconsin and the Wisconsin State Golf Association women's player of the year.

“I had this on my radar to see if I was going to get invited to play, and be able to play,” Stricker said. “I thought I'd be able to play by this time.”

The surgery was the first week in August, and the recovery was supposed to be five weeks. Stricker said the doctor checked in on him a few weeks later.

“I told him I feel like I could hit a driver and he said, ‘Go ahead,’” Stricker said. “I said: ‘Wait a minute. I thought it was supposed to be five weeks.’ He told me I couldn't hurt anything.”

He still took it slow and is ready to get back to work.

Jim Furyk is the U.S. captain of a six-man team. Mike Weir leads the International side and Darren Clarke is Europe's captain. They play a series of nine-hole medal play matches of various formats.

Sam Stevens played four times in the fall and only in his final event did he finish in the top 10, a tie for seventh among 11 players at Sea Island. That left him at No. 48 in the world ranking and waiting to see if it will hold up.

The top 50 in the world at the end of the year get into the Masters.

The world ranking published Monday had 13 players from the top 50 who are not already eligible. BMW PGA Championship winner Alex Noren (No. 17) and Abu Dhabi winner Aaron Rai (No. 23) are locks to finish in the top 50 and return to Augusta National.

It would seem Utah winner Michael Brennan is safe at No. 36, particularly since he has only 31 tournaments on his two-year ledger.

The others currently in the top 50 are Max Greyserman (32), Michael Kim (35), Rasmus Hojgaard (37), Sea Island winner Sami Valimaki (40), Billy Horschel (43), Taylor Pendrith (45), Min Woo Lee (46), Johnny Keefer (47) and Nico Echavarria (50).

The European tour still has five tournaments on the schedule. Horschel is in the Hero World Challenge next week in the Bahamas.

Augusta National also will take the top 50 a full week before the Masters.

“I’m in a nice spot where like if I can just play well at some point in between now and next April, I’ll get in,” said Stevens, who is not playing the rest of the year. “But it would be nice to just know at the end of the year if I’m going to get in or not.”

Pajaree Anannarukarn of Thailand didn't have her best year on the LPGA, at least until the end.

A two-time winner on the LPGA, she registered only one top 10 — a tie for 10th in the Tournament of Champions to start the year. But she managed to finish 45th in the Race to CME Globe to get into the season finale at Tiburon Golf Club.

And then she played her best golf, briefly challenging Jeeno Thitikul in the final round before finishing four shots behind. But that runner-up finish — her best result in 67 starts dating to her Match Play win in 2023 — came with a $1 million check.

That not only is the largest payoff of her career, it nearly doubled her season earnings from the previous 25 starts of 2025. She came into the CME Group Tour Championship at $540,806.

“Just been an awesome week. Just no complaints. I mean, gratitude,” Anannarukarn said. “I’m just really happy with how I was able to perform well and to celebrate my friend for back-to-back wins, so that was pretty cool.”

María José Marín of Colombia won the Women's Amateur Latin America and earned a spot in The Chevron Championship, the Women's British Open and the Evian Championship. ... Marcus Byrd is the Advocates Professional Golf Association player of the year for his two victories and four runner-up finishes. He received a $15,000 bonus. ... Lorena Ochoa won the Women's British Open in 2007 the first time it was held at St. Andrews. Now the Mexican star has become an honorary member of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club.

The LPGA had 43 players earn at least $1 million in 2025. Ten years ago, the LPGA had only nine players make $1 million or more.

“The guys that come in here and kind of feel sorry for themselves, I have no pity for because you played it, you know what I mean? You played every shot this year. Same way as me. I’m where I am because of my golf, nobody anybody else’s golf.” — Lee Hodges, who finished at No. 101 in the FedEx Cup.

This story has been corrected to show that Jim Furyk is the U.S. captain of a six-, not five-player team, at the Skechers World Champions Cup.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Pajaree Anannarukarn of Thailand reacts after making an eagle putt not he sixth hole during the third round of the LPGA Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in Naples, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Sam Stevens lines up a putt on the first fairway during the first round of the RSM Classic golf tournament, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, in St. Simons Island, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

FILE -Steve Stricker hits from the third fairway during the final round of the PNC Championship golf tournament, Dec. 22, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)

FILE -Matt Kuchar hits off the ninth tee during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are hanging near their records Wednesday as oil prices fall and ease the pressure on households and businesses worldwide.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% below its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 183 points, or 0.4%, as of 12:56 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.

Stocks of companies with big fuel bills helped lead the way on hopes that lower oil prices will remove a big drag on their profits. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings climbed 5.7%, and United Airlines rallied 7.3%. Delta Air Lines rose 3.7% and is on track to set an all-time high.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil fell 4.1% to $95.48 after the ceasefire between the United States and Iran appeared to hold despite the U.S. military launching what it called “self-defense” strikes in southern Iran. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude fell even more, 4.2%, to $89.69 on hopes that the United States and Iran can reach an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allow oil tankers to exit the Persian Gulf for deliveries again.

Stocks have been able to run to records despite the painful inflation and uncertainty caused by high oil prices largely because companies have reported surprisingly strong profits for the start of 2026, and the forecast is for them to continue.

Bath & Body Works rallied 11.2%, and Abercrombie & Fitch climbed 11.8% after both reported bigger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. That's even as U.S. consumers continue to say they're feeling discouraged about the economy and inflation.

Lululemon Athletica rose 3.6% after reaching a deal with its founder, Chip Wilson, where it will add a former chief marketing officer of ESPN and a former co-CEO of On to its board of directors.

On the losing side of Wall Street was Dick's Sporting Goods, which dropped 4.9% despite delivering a profit for the latest quarter that edged past expectations. Analysts pointed to how much profit it wrung out of each $1 in revenue, which some called a bit weak.

Oil-and-gas stocks also sank, hurt by the dropping prices for crude. Exxon Mobil fell 1.4%, and Chevron slipped 0.8%. Halliburton dropped 3% to bring its gain for the year so far back toward 40%.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased after falling oil prices took pressure off inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.48% from 4.50% late Tuesday and from 4.67% roughly a week ago.

It’s a respite following recent gains for yields in bond markets worldwide, which threatened to slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments. High yields have already forced the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its most expensive level since last summer, and they could curtail companies’ borrowing to build the artificial-intelligence data centers that have supported the U.S. economy’s growth recently.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. South Korea's Kospi was one of the world's best performers and jumped 2.3% after SK Hynix, which is a big beneficiary of the artificial-intelligence boom, soared 9.3%.

A day before, Micron Technology surged to become the latest Big Tech company to be worth more than $1 trillion on AI excitement. Its stock has more than tripled already in 2026, and analysts at UBS said Tuesday it could soar even more because of how fundamentally AI has improved demand for computer memory.

AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

Trader Edward Curran, left, and specialist Meric Greenbaum, center, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, May 25, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A dealer walks past near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A dealer walks past near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A dealer walks past near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A dealer stands near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)