Lowry’s exemption for winning the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in 2015 runs out this week, as does McDowell’s for his victory in the OHL Classic in November 2015, an event which was part of the wraparound 2015-16 season.

Both men are likely to need a top-five finish to survive, though Lowry was seventh in the same event last year and has been a different player since splitting from his long-time caddie Dermot Byrne during the Open.

Lowry’s brother Alan has taken over on the bag and the 31-year-old has followed a missed cut at Carnoustie with three straight top-15 finishes, including last week’s tie for 12th in the US PGA Championship.

“It was probably one of the most difficult things I had to do,” Lowry said of his split from Byrne on Offtheball.com. “We spoke a little bit last week and we were on a charter flight down here to Wyndham and we sat beside each other on the plane and stuff.

We’re still good friends. He’s been very good to me and I’ve been good to him, so that’s kind of the way we left it.

Sergio Garcia will need a top-20 finish in the Wyndham to keep his streak of qualifying for the FedEx Cup play-offs alive. Garcia is one of 13 players to have reached the play-offs every year since they began in 2007, but is currently ranked 131st in the standings after three missed cuts in his last four events. Only the top 125 on Sunday evening will make the post-season, with 375 points projected to be the total required for the opening play-off event, the Northern Trust in New Jersey.