ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Doug Ghim knows all about life on the bubble. The 29-year-old has found himself in precarious positions throughout his professional career, whether on the PGA Tour or Korn Ferry Tour. Two years ago at the RSM Classic, he missed the cut and sat at No. 126 in the projected FedExCup standings – one spot shy of retaining full status.
Back home in Las Vegas, he couldn’t help checking the weekend leaderboard every few minutes. Finally, his fiancée Kelly intervened.
“She’d had enough and told me I could flip on the coverage with about an hour left in Sunday’s final round,” Ghim said. “Everything ended up going in the way that we needed it to, and I remember it being a pretty jubilant hour.”
Ghim kept his card by two spots that year. Now he’s facing a similar scenario – projected at No. 115 through three rounds of this week’s fall finale at Sea Island.
“If we were to somehow get through tomorrow,” Ghim said, “I think it’d be the same feeling.”
The stakes are higher this time. Only the top 100 players in points after this week will be fully exempt for 2026. Players finishing 101-110 will likely get around 20 starts as conditional members, while Nos. 111-125 will still have decent playing opportunities. After opening with a 60, Ghim has slipped to T-13. He needs at least a solo fourth to crack the top 100.
But Ghim’s perspective remains refreshingly grounded.
“I have friends who are still trying to make it, playing in different continents, scrounging at anything they can get, and for me to feel so negative about [losing my card], it’s such a silly thing,” he said. “If I want to be as good as I want to be and as good as I think that I am, I can handle going back to the Korn Ferry Tour.”
That’s not to say he isn’t trying to win. Ghim admits he’s probably tried too hard this season, failing to record a top-10 finish. His putting continues to be his Achilles heel – after improving to 135th in strokes gained putting last season, he’s dropped back to 176th entering the RSM.
But Ghim can draw on at least one clutch putting moment when he needs confidence. During the final round of the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Championship, with a PGA Tour card on the line, he faced a 10-foot par putt on his final hole. He was so nervous his caddie had to call his name multiple times just to hand him back his ball.
“You need this,” the caddie told him.
Ghim drained it, unleashing a powerful upper-cut fist pump that’s become legendary within his inner circle. His coaches, Boyd Summerhays and sports psychologist Bhrett McCabe, still reference that video when Ghim needs motivation.
“When it all hits the fan, I know that I can make that putt if I need to,” Ghim said. “I’ve done it, there’s video proof. I just have to remember that… Yeah, it’s nice to have that under my belt.”
“If I have a putt like that tomorrow, I would consider that a success for the predicament that I’m in.”
