Wyndham Championship 2012: Final Chance for FedEx Playoff Points

The 2012 Wyndham Championship tees off on Thursday, with many players looking to earn those last few valuable points as they vie for the final FedEx Cup playoff spots.

Wyndham marks the final regular season event on the PGA Tour before the top 125 players in the FedEx Cup rankings head to The Barclays next week. With 500 points available to the winner this week, many notable golfers will hope to bring their A-game to Greensboro, N.C.

Brendan Steele is currently ranked at No. 126 on the points ranking (330 points overall), but is only 26 points behind the player immediately above him, Rod Pampling (356). Both players are in contention this week at the Wyndham, battling down to the wire to see who will earn an invite to the postseason. Likewise, tour veteran Retief Goosen and two-time U.S. Open champion also enters the week with 330 FedEx Cup points, tied with Steele in 126th.

Former PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang wants to continue his streak of three straight playoff appearances, but his 321 points have him ranked No. 129, meaning he will need to play extremely well this week to have that chance. Right behind him on the list is long-hitting Gary Woodland (321 as well), who was ranked in the top 10 on the points list this time last season. A flurry of injuries has hampered Woodland’s play in 2012, however, as evidenced by his not recording a single top-10 tournament finish this season after posting six one year ago.

Finally, last week’s PGA Championship suprise was John Daly (298), who finished near the top of the leaderboard thanks to his ability to take advantage of his unique length off the tee at Kiawah Island. Daly has never made the FedEx Cup playoff roster, but has jumped up the list to 137th place, just 12 spots out of the FedEx Cup chase, thanks to strong performances at the Reno-Tahoe Open (T-5) two weeks ago and the aforementioned PGA Championship (T-18).