GREENSBORO, N.C. – Patrick Rodgers entered this week’s Wyndham Championship at No. 68 on the season-long FedExCup standings, with the top 70 after this week advancing to the Playoffs, and it appeared early Friday that his spot inside the top 70 was in serious jeopardy. Rodgers, 33, opened in even-par 70 at venerable Sedgefield Country Club and made two bogeys in his first three holes Friday to fall well off the projected cut line (hovering between 3-under and 4-under as the second round was suspended late Friday afternoon due to lightning).

And based on recent results (he hadn’t made a cut since May), it didn’t seem that a high-powered finish was in the offing.

But golf is beautiful in its unpredictability, and Rodgers delivered his best with his FedExCup Playoffs hopes in the balance. The Indiana native made nine birdies in his last 15 holes Friday at Sedgefield Country Club, including five of his last six, to stampede to a 7-under 63 and a weekend tee time at the final event of the PGA TOUR Regular Season.

Rodgers’ spot in the Playoffs isn’t yet a sure thing, as a tightly contested bubble will likely throw the projections for ample twists and turns this weekend in North Carolina. But had he missed a seventh straight cut, matters would have been out of his hands. The Stanford alum found an elite gear when he needed it most, and his raw emotion afterward conveyed the moment’s significance.

“I'm really proud of myself. It's been a dreadful summer. I haven't felt that far off but the results have been,” Rodgers said after signing his second-round scorecard at Sedgefield. “There's definitely a level of your back can be so far against the wall that you just have nothing to lose anymore.

“Super aware (of FedExCup position),” he continued. “Like I said, it's never a position I thought I was going to be in starting the summer, but at the end of the day it's part of being a professional athlete and a competitor. And it sucks to be on the bubble. I'd love to be comfortably in, but this is the rush of playing competitive sports. So it was looking me square in the eye there for a moment.”

In his 305th career PGA TOUR start, Rodgers in turn faced the moment squarely in the eye. After an acclaimed career at Stanford, where he won 11 individual titles (tying the school record first set by Tiger Woods), he quickly earned his TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour and has been a steady presence at the game’s highest level. Although he has yet to win on

TOUR, he has compiled eight top-three finishes, and he has kept his card with ease, other than in fall 2021, where he finished No. 128 on the FedExCup but then earned back his card through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

As he staged an improbable rally Friday with his Playoffs hopes in the balance, Rodgers drew back on those feelings – and the result was a level of elation he hadn’t felt in some time.

When’s the last time he’s felt as good after a round as he does right now, he was asked?

“That's a great question,” he said. “Nothing comes to mind. I feel pretty damn good right now … This game, it's crazy. It takes you through the wringer and it's been beating me up pretty good, so it's nice to get on the positive side of one today.”

He took matters into his own hands and thus has some control of his Playoffs fate this weekend.