It’s crunch time for players outside the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings. With just three events remaining, there are limited opportunities to earn enough points to qualify for the playoffs. More importantly, players need to finish inside the top 125 to secure their PGA Tour cards for next season. With so much at stake, several players, including Billy Horschel, have made last-minute caddie changes in a bid to turn things around. 

According to a report from Golfweek, the eight-time PGA Tour winner separated from his caddie Micah Fugitt in May. Having won zero events this season and failing to make the cut in his last three outings, including the Open Championship, Horschel is ranked No. 101 with 283 points. So, when he enters the TPC Twin Cities at the 3M Open on Thursday, his brother-in-law, Brad Nelson, will be on the bag. 

Nelson is reportedly the executive director of the Horschel Family Foundation, a company Horschel and his wife, Brittany Nelson, launched to support causes, including mental health, addiction recovery, and food insecurity. Regardless, this won’t be the first time Nelson will be on the bag for his brother-in-law. The pair previously collaborated during the 2022 Mayakoba Golf Classic, where Horschel finished tied for 33rd. 

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Meanwhile, John VanDerLaan, who is ranked No. 171 with 71 points, has hired Joe LaCava IV ahead of the 3M Open. LaCava IV, of course, is the son of legendary caddie Joe LaCava III. The latter has caddied for players like Fred Couples and Tiger Woods, and is currently working for Patrick Cantlay. For VanDerLaan, the stakes are especially dire, as he is yet to win a tournament since earning his card for the 2026 season.

As for LaCava IV, he has experience being on the winning side, having worked with Joe Highsmith, who won last year’s Cognizant Classic. Highsmith, who is ranked 150th with 123 points, however, has moved on to work with veteran caddie Chad Reynolds. He finished tied for 6th at the Corales Puntacana Championship, but failed to make the cut in his previous two outings and is yet to secure a win in 2026.

One-time PGA Tour winner Taylor Moore, who is ranked No. 88th with 379 points, has also changed caddies, as he is now working with Derek Smith. For the unversed, Smith previously worked with Denny McCarthy. And speaking of McCarthy, ranked No. 97th with 316 points, he has hired star caddie Geno Bonnalie. The latter split with Joel Dahmen more than a year ago and has since worked with several players in the meantime.

Bonnalie, interestingly, appeared on the ‘Full Swing’ Netflix series and has since become a fan favorite for his profession. Circling back to Billy Horschel, last month, he backed a move from the PGA Tour, which may make his qualification for the FedEx Cup a bit easier.  

Billy Horschel supports the PGA Tour’s move to end sponsor exemptions

For some players, sponsor exemptions have been a contentious issue on the PGA Tour. This became an even bigger problem since limited-field signature events were introduced in 2022. And with bigger prize purses, guaranteed FedEx Cup points and opportunities to qualify for future tournaments, some players argued that exemptions give an unfair advantage. That debate could soon be over.

Why? Well, because the PGA Tour decided to eliminate them from the Championship Series under its planned 2028 overhaul. Billy Horschel, who has benefited from sponsor exemptions himself, has backed that move. Speaking to Golfweek last month, Horschel made his stance clear.

“I’ve been a beneficiary of sponsor exemptions, but at the end of the day, I think it would be easier for everyone to have it go away and be more of a merit-based system and straight go off the current FedEx Cup points list to fill the field,” he stated.

That being said, while the PGA Tour removes sponsor exemptions, Horschel will still need to rank higher to make it into the tournament. This year, if he can’t perform better, it may not happen.