FedExCup Notes: Week 21 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

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May. 21, 2008

Tiger Woods' first place standing is safe for the 13th straight week, but six players could pass Mickelson to move into second. Of course, if Mickelson wins, he would move to within 2,400 points of first place and put significant distance between himself and third. There are 42 players who could potentially move into the top 10 this week with a victory -- Tom Pernice Jr., currently 73rd in the FedExCup points standings, is the last of those.

Following is a list of the top 20 players in the field and how much they could move with a victory at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Of note, all but two of them -- Jeff Quinney and Briny Baird -- have won on the PGA TOUR in the last three years.

Player FedExCup Rank Points Points per start 2007 Colonial points Points with win Possible Rank Won since 2005?
Phil Mickelson 2 10,846 986 DNS 15,346 2 Yes
Anthony Kim 5 8,773 798 315 13,273 2 Yes
Geoff Ogilvy 7 8,442 767 DNS 12,942 2 Yes
K.J. Choi 9 7,876 788 208 12,376 2 Yes
Justin Leonard 11 7,163 551 315 11,663 2 Yes
Steve Stricker 13 6,677 556 208 11,177 2 Yes
Sean O'Hair 14 6,476 540 DNS 10,976 2 Yes
Jim Furyk 16 6,232 479 2,200 10,732 3 Yes
Bart Bryant 17 6,158 560 DNS 10,658 3 Yes
Jeff Quinney 18 6,157 440 105 10,657 3 No
Kenny Perry 20 5,874 452 0 10,374 4 Yes
D.J. Trahan 21 5,723 409 728 10,223 4 Yes
Daniel Chopra 25 5,310 354 0 9,810 5 Yes
Rory Sabbatini 27 5,138 467 4,500 9,638 5 Yes
Chad Campbell 28 5,108 393 105 9,608 5 Yes
Johnson Wagner 29 5,058 361 0 9,558 5 Yes
Steve Lowery 31 4,884 543 0 9,384 5 Yes
Briny Baird 33 4,569 305 DNS 9,069 5 No
Stephen Ames 35 4,437 403 58 8,937 5 Yes
Brian Gay 37 4,115 317 0 8,615 7 Yes

A number of players in the field who did well in 2007 are doing significantly better this year, including at least six who have earned more points this year than in all of last year. Of the players who finished among the top 100 seeds for the 2007 PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, the players below are the ones who are at least 2,000 points ahead of last year's pace. All of these players are in the top 40 in the points standings this year, led by Anthony Kim, in fifth.

There have been 20 different winners of 22 events so far this year, but 11 of those 20 winners are in the field this week, seeking to become the second player this year to record multiple victories. Of this year's winners in the field, only D.J. Trahan, Anthony Kim and K.J. Choi even tallied points at the 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, with four missing the cut and four not playing in last year's event.

A few players are playing very well without much fanfare. Anyone who wins will move up in the standings, but the list below shows players in the field who are averaging more than 400 points per start without benefit of a win. A 400-point average maintained through the year will in all likelihood ensure these players a top 30 seed in the Playoffs.

Player FedExCup Rank Points Points per start 2007 Colonial points Points per start when not winning
Justin Leonard 11 7,163 551 315 551
Steve Stricker 13 6,677 556 208 556
Jim Furyk 16 6,232 479 2,200 479
Bart Bryant 17 6,158 560 DNS 560
Jeff Quinney 18 6,157 440 105 440
Kenny Perry 20 5,874 452 0 452
Rory Sabbatini 27 5,138 467 4,500 467

The "Quality Starts" statistic is a good indicator of who is playing consistently well. Quality starts are those in which a player earns 350 or more points. Last year, the top 10 seeds averaged 8.2 Quality starts (led by Vijay Singh with 12, followed by Woods and Furyk with 11 each), the top 30 averaged 7.0 QS, the top 50 were at 6.0, top 70 -- 5.5, top 100 -- 4.9 and top 144 at 4.0. Looking at the highest ranked players in the field, several -- including Chad Campbell at 28th -- have 5 or more Quality Starts. Trahan and Chopra, however, have only 1 QS, meaning that, other than their victory, their play hasn't been consistent.

Player Rank Points Events Wins Quality Starts Pts Per Start
Phil Mickelson 2 10,846 11 1 5 986
Anthony Kim 5 8,773 11 1 3 798
Geoff Ogilvy 7 8,442 11 1 4 767
K.J. Choi 9 7,876 10 1 5 788
Justin Leonard 11 7,163 13 0 4 551
Steve Stricker 13 6,677 12 0 7 556
Sean O'Hair 14 6,476 12 1 3 540
Jim Furyk 16 6,232 13 0 5 479
Bart Bryant 17 6,158 11 0 5 560
Jeff Quinney 18 6,157 14 0 4 440
Kenny Perry 20 5,874 13 0 4 452
D.J. Trahan 21 5,723 14 1 1 409
Daniel Chopra 25 5,310 15 1 1 354
Rory Sabbatini 27 5,138 11 0 3 467
Chad Campbell 28 5,108 13 0 5 393
Johnson Wagner 29 5,058 14 1 1 361
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