FedExCup Climbers: PGA Championship
 
Aug. 13, 2007

Well -- it's all come down to this.

There is just one week remaining until the 144-man field for the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup is finalized after the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro. Of course, Tiger Woods will be the top seed when the Playoffs kick off, but where everyone else will be is a bit more uncertain.

Incidentally, the man on the bubble heading into the next week's big event in Greensboro? The man sitting in that all-important 144th spot?

Marco Dawson.

Dawson did not play in the PGA Championship and dropped a spot to that hair-raising position. He is in the field next weekend in Greensboro, and his history there isn't bad. In 12 starts in that event, he has three top-25 finishes including a T9 in 1991. He finished T52 there last season.

Last Week: PGA Championship
This Week: Wyndham Championship

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Biggest mover: John Senden
He moved: 23 spots, from 69th to 46th
Because: He finished T4 at the PGA Championship
Senden has made four of his last five cuts and his T4 run in Tulsa is his second top-five finish of the season, the other being a second-place tie with Mark Calcavecchia at the PODS Championship back in March.

Here's a pair of fun facts that may suggest that Senden may make some noise once the Playoffs begin in two weeks: First, he's third on TOUR in GIR percentage at 69.63. The man one spot ahead of him at 69.68? Some guy named Tiger Woods. Also, he leads the TOUR in GIR percentage from other than the fairway at 56.99.

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Another big mover: Arron Oberholser
He moved: 22 spots, from 91st to 69th
Because: He finished T4 at the PGA Championship
Oberholser has only missed the weekend three times this season in TOUR competition. He now has four top-10 finishes on the season and his T4 effort in Tulsa over the weekend is his best finish so far this season.

Let's also not forget that Oberholser missed six weeks in the early part of the season with a bulging disc in his back. How bad was it? He wasn't able to defend his lone career TOUR victory at Pebble Beach back in January.

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Welcome to the top 10: Scott Verplank
He moved: Two spots, from 12th to 10th
Because: He finished T9 at the PGA Championship
Sure, some of that move may have been attributed to Sergio Garcia signing an incorrect card at Southern Hills on Friday -- in fact, Garcia and Verplank switched positions in the FedExCup standings -- but that doesn't mean Verplank won't be someone to be reckoned with once the Playoffs commence.

Quite the contrary, in fact. Verplank has six top-10 finishes in his past seven TOUR starts. In that stretch, Verplank has garnered 4,723 FedExCup points. If those were the only points he had made all season, he'd still be tied for 62nd in the standings.

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Welcome to the top 20: Ernie Els
He moved: Eight spots, from 26th to 18th
Because: He finished third at the PGA Championship
Sure, The Big Easy may have been a bit disappointed with that third-place run in Tulsa over the weekend, but he's been making it look, well, easy lately. He's got two top-five finishes in his last three starts and four top-10s and eight top-25s in 13 starts this season.

Perhaps most striking is that he's now second on TOUR in scoring average. The guy ahead of him? You guessed it, Tiger Woods.

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Watch out for: Woody Austin
He moved: 11 spots, from 24th to 13th
Because: He finished second at the PGA Championship
Can you hear me now? When Woody Austin cupped his hand to his ear like Hulk Hogan after a win at Wrestlemania, you can bet a lot of TOUR players were watching -- and listening.

Austin, the excitable 43-year-old from Tampa, Fla., now has three top-three finishes in his past eight events, including his emotional win in Memphis back in June. He also now has a spot on the U.S. Presidents Cup team. What's more, he saw his run last weekend in Tulsa as a step toward a rejuvenation of his career -- and his confidence.

"I refuse to believe that when Tiger (Woods) plays his best, and I play my best, that he is that much better than me," Austin said Sunday.