Reavie firms up his plans for '12

NORTON, Mass. — Chez Reavie lost full PGA Tour status in May, when his medical exemption from knee surgery last year ran out. He's not eligible for any Fall Series events after the first one in Las Vegas.

Not that it matters anymore. He can even blow off Vegas if he wants.

With his playoff loss to Webb Simpson in the Deutsche Bank Championship, Reavie locked up a berth in the FedEx Cup finale — which comes with invitations to the first three majors next year.

"It's unbelievable," the 30-year-old Arizona native said. "Starting the year on a medical and not knowing what's going to happen, to be able to go to the Tour Championship … it's what I wanted to do."

The 30 players who reach the Tour Championship receive automatic berths in the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open. Back in May, Reavie would have been happy just to regain his card for 2012.

After sitting out the second half of 2010, Reavie had 12 starts to bring his winnings up to the $786,977 that marked No. 125 on last year's money list. He came up short but dropped into the next category, in which he could play events bypassed by top names.

It was enough to go on a summer run of five top-20 finishes in six starts, earning a berth in the FedEx Cup postseason. Last week's performance took care of the rest.

Jim Furyk switched to the belly putter for the PGA Championship and had two top-10 finishes in his next four starts. Ernie Els made the move after the Masters; Retief Goosen followed shortly thereafter.

"It had some merit," Mickelson said after a 63-69 weekend. "I'm going to practice with it a little more and see if I can get a better feel, a better touch with it."

— Jeff Shain