FedEx Cup tracking

Along with Wyndham Championship winner Brandt Snedeker, three other players were also certainly celebrating on Sunday evening as they secured their spots in The Barclays, the first event of the FedExCup playoffs, by virtue of their finish in Greensboro.

Jeff Overton (tie for second), Anders Hansen (tie for 11th) and Shigeki Maruyama (tie for seventh) all moved up into the critical top 144 in the final FedExCup points standings and will begin their quest for $10 million later this week at Westchester Country Club in Harrison, New York.

Overton, who is splitting time on the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour in 2007, only played 11 PGA Tour events during the FedEx Cup regular season, but his three top-25 finishes that included his runner-up result at the Wyndham were enough to push him up 56th places to 109th position and into the playoffs.

Denmark's Hansen played in 14 FedEx Cup regular season events, but didn't really make a move towards the top 144 until the month of August. A tie for 22nd at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational was worth big points, as was his tie for 11th at the PGA Championship. He was still on the outside looking in heading to the Wyndham, but his tie for 11th vaulted him 14 spots into 137th.

Before the Travelers Championship in late June, Maruyama was a forgotten man on tour. Battling several injuries, the Japanese star had made only five weekends in 16 events, with ties for 44th being his best finishes. In Connecticut, however, Maruyama found a spark and produced a tie for 15th before going on to claim three top-25s in his next seven events. His tie for seventh in Greensboro moved him from 162nd in the race all the way up to 140th.

To make room for that happy trio, three unhappy players had to drop out of the top 144. They were veterans Lee Janzen, Glen Day and Marco Dawson. Expect to see all three guys playing in the Fall Series, as they will need to get into the top 125 if they want to retain their cards for 2008.

All three of the unlucky players really struggled down the stretch in the regular season. Janzen missed his final seven cuts when one decent showing would have seen him make the playoffs, while Day missed four of his last five weekends to ensure he would get a month's vacation from the PGA Tour. As for Dawson, he looked good after a tie for fifth at the Buick Open and a tie for 18th at the John Deere, but a tie for 63rd in Milwaukee was followed by three consecutive missed cuts.

These are some players who reached some critical thresholds in the standings after last week:

Top 10: Brandt Snedeker
Top 70: Billy Mayfair
Top 120: Kevin Stadler

Here are some players to keep an eye on during The Barclays, the first of the four FedExCup playoff events:

Current FedEx Cup Playoffs points standings | FedEx Cup explained

Vijay Singh
	FedEx Cup Playoffs position: Second place (99,000 points) Last three starts: 2 - T56 - CUT Chances to win the FedEx Cup: With Tiger skipping The Barclays, his chances are certainly increased. Checking the pulse: Vijay didn't fare very well against stellar fields at the Bridgestone Invitational (T-56th) and the PGA Championship (missed cut), but has three career titles at The Barclays, including a two-shot victory last year at Westchester. He will be buoyed by the fact that the only person ahead of him in the playoff standings, Tiger Woods, isn't playing. A top-10 finish will see the Fijian jump above Woods at the top of the standings. Tracking numbers: 2007 Scoring Average: 69.13 (4th) 2007 Birdies: 316 (1st) 2007 Putting Average: 1.759 (16th) Playoff prospects: Westchester: Three wins; five top-10s in last eight starts TPC Boston: Three starts: win, second and fourth Cog Hill: Six consecutive top-20s; T4 in 2006 East Lake: Five top-10s in a row; won in 2002
K.J. Choi
	FedEx Cup Playoffs position: Fifth place (97,500 points) Last three starts: T8 - T11 - T12 Chances to win the FedEx Cup: One of the hottest players on tour, so pretty good Checking the pulse: A two-time winner in 2007, at the Memorial and AT&T National, Choi has only finished out of the top 25 six times in 21 starts this season. He's not the best driver of the ball or the sharpest putter, but he can still score with the best of them when he puts his mind to it. He hasn't played very well previously in the first three playoff events, however. Tracking numbers: 2007 Scoring Average: 69.52% (7th) 2007 Total Driving: 206 (116th) 2007 Sand Save Percentage: 58.56% (9th) Playoff prospects: Westchester: T33 is best finish in three starts TPC Boston: T32 in 2003, missed cut in 2005 Cog Hill: No top-25s in six career appearances East Lake: Hasn't finished out of top 30 in four starts
Aaron Baddeley
	FedEx Cup Playoffs position: 18th place (95,050 points) Last three starts: CUT - T20 - CUT Chances to win the FedEx Cup: Depends which Badds shows up Checking the pulse: Baddeley's 2007 season has been a very weird one. After winning the FBR Open back in February, Badds strung together 12 weekends in a row that included seven top-20s. Lately, he has been taking it very easy, as he has only played in four events since the U.S. Open in the middle of June. The time off hasn't helped, though, as he has two missed cuts and a T69 in his last four starts, with a T20 at the Bridgestone sandwiched in there. Baddeley is almost an unknown quantity coming into the playoffs. Tracking numbers: 2007 Greens in Regulation Percentage: 58.33 (190th) Final-Round Scoring Average: 73.14 (185th) Sand Save Percentage: 57.14% (16th) Playoff prospects: Westchester: No career appearances TPC Boston: T7 in 2006; two missed cuts in four starts Cog Hill: Three missed cuts, T58 in four trips East Lake: No career appearances
Hunter Mahan
	FedEx Cup Playoffs position: 15th place (95,500 points) Last three starts: T5 - T22 - T18 Chances to win the FedEx Cup: According to the PGA Tour, he's in the last spot with a decent shot Checking the pulse: Mahan took last week off, but that shouldn't worry his fans as his last break was during the week of the John Deere Classic in mid-July, and he returned from that short break by tying for sixth at the British Open. Along with Woods and Choi, Mahan is unquestionably the talk of the golfing town at the moment, but he won't be satisfied with just making the playoffs. He'll want to at least give winning the cup a decent shot. Tracking numbers: 2007 Total Driving: 62 (2nd) 2007 All-Around Ranking: 426 (6th) 2007 Scrambling: 53.60% (156th) Playoff prospects: Westchester: T42 and T46 in two career appearances TPC Boston: Two top-25s, two missed cuts in four starts Cog Hill: T21 best finish in four career trips East Lake: No career appearances
Billy Mayfair
	FedEx Cup Playoffs position: 40th place (92,500 points) Last three starts: T9 - T60 - T2 Chances to win the FedEx Cup: Slim, but not impossible Checking the pulse: Mayfair made big moves up the FedEx Cup regular season points board during the final two months with four top-11 finishes in his final six qualifying events. Earlier this season, Mayfair was in trouble when his missed six of his first eight cuts. He then made three out of four weekends in April and has now made 10 of his last 12 cuts. He jumped 35 places in the race with his solid finish in Greensboro last week, which gives him an outside chance at winning the whole thing if he can repeat his 1995 success in Chicago and Atlanta. Tracking numbers: 2007 Front Nine Scoring Averages: 35.00 (5th) 2007 Greens in Regulation Percentage: 67.54% (11th) 2007 Putting Average: 1.802 (135th) Playoff prospects: Westchester: T7 in '05 only top-25 in nine starts TPC Boston: No top-30s, one MC in four appearances Cog Hill: Won in 1995, but only one top-10 since East Lake: Won in 1995; never outside top 30 in six trips