When Shawn Stefani staggered to a 50th-place finish at the Sony Open, he fell outside of the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings. But, heck. It was only January. Plenty of time, right?

Sure, seven months.

That’s how long it took Stefani to play in 22 tournaments and scratch his way back inside the playoff cutoff.

From 127th after the Sony, Stefani fell as low as 175th. When he missed the cut at the Memorial, the 34-year-old was 155th. From there, Stefani steadily climbed back, making the cut in eight of nine starts. He capped things off with a scoring spree at the Wyndham Championship — three rounds of 66, a hole-in-one Saturday, an eagle Sunday — to push to 123rd in the FedEx Cup standings.

Finishing at 12-under 268 for a share of 14th, Stefani walked away from a tournament inside the playoff cut line for the first time since the RSM Classic in November.

It was good timing, too, because the playoffs begin Thursday with The Barclays at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y., so Stefani has a spot. But the accompanying story is that Stefani is fully exempt for the PGA Tour in 2016-17, which is why he was emotional after making a 6-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the Wyndham.

“My hands were shaking. I was nervous,” said Stefani, who is one of the most unheralded stories on the PGA Tour. Having turned pro in 2005, Stefani still was kicking around minitours six years later and thinking about quitting the game.

But he earned Web.com Tour status in 2012, graduated to the PGA Tour the next year and now can count on a fourth straight season of membership. By the slimmest of margins, true, but having arrived at the Wyndham 133rd in the FEC standings, Stefani did it under pressure, which made it feel even sweeter.

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OTHER MOVES: It was the last tournament before the FedEx Cup standings were finalized but unlike in past seasons, things were fairly quiet. The only player besides Stefani to start outside the cut and move inside was Kyle Stanley.

Sitting 127th at the start, Stanley shot 69-65-66-68 to get into that logjam for 14th. That pushed Stanley into 116th in the standings, the first time he has been in the playoffs since 2013.

To make room for Stanley and Stefani, two players who started the week among the top 125 fell out: Matt Jones (124th to 126th) and Whee Kim (125th to 127th).

But it would be wrong to point to Jones’ missed cut at the Wyndham. In 26 tournaments, he finished top 25 just three times and missed 11 cuts. Kim was well outside the playoff cut line all season before moving to 125th at the John Deere. He could not, however, keep that momentum going as he missed the cut at the Wyndham.

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TOP 10: The good news is, World No. 1 Jason Day ends the regular season No. 1 in FedEx Cup points. Bad news is, No. 1 in the regular season has gone on to win the overall FEC only three times in nine years. Tiger Woods did it twice, and Jordan Spieth did it last year.

Rounding out the top 10, in order behind Day: Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Russell Knox, Jordan Spieth, Brandt Snedeker, Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson, Kevin Na and Justin Thomas.

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THE PAYOFF? NO PLAYOFFS: Six players will miss the FEC playoffs for the first time, notably Hunter Mahan, who had been one of the world’s most consistent players until this season. From 2007 to 2015, Mahan played in each of the first 35 playoff tournaments, missing only last year’s Tour Championship. (He has played in more playoff tournaments than anyone.)

Ian Poulter, Pat Perez and Nick Watney have been injured and thus will miss their first FEC playoffs. Rory Sabbatini and Jeff Overton also are not in the top 125 for the first time since the playoffs’ 2007 debut.

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SIGN THEM UP AGAIN: Sixteen players have qualified for the playoffs each season: Luke Donald, Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia, Bill Haas, Charley Hoffman, Charles Howell III, Zach Johnson, Jerry Kelly, Matt Kuchar, Phil Mickelson, Ryan Moore, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, John Senden, Brandt Snedeker and Bubba Watson.

On that list, Furyk and Watson have played in the most playoff tournaments, with 33 each. Mickelson (32) is next.

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THIS ’N’ THAT: Si Woo Kim clearly was the biggest winner of the Wyndham, but when it came to the greatest leap in the FedEx Cup standings, Luke Donald took top prize. He moved up 51 spots (99th to 48th) by finishing solo second. . . . Kim moved up 28, going from 43rd to 15. . . . For Ernie Els, it’s the second second straight year he has missed qualifying for the FEC playoffs, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Els, 47, played in 21 tournaments. . . . Six rookies made the playoffs: Smylie Kaufman, Emiliano Grillo, Patton Kizzire, Brett Stegmaier, Harold Varner III and Michael Kim.