Week 16 Verizon Heritage: Third-round player notes

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Player: Lucas Glover
Rank: 117th
Points: 936
Earning an average of only 104 points per start, Glover has not recorded a top-10 finish in 2008. With a win at Verizon, Glover would move up about 100 places in the FedExCup standings. In order to make a big jump in the standings, Glover will need to play better than he has on Saturdays this year. Glover currently ranks 112th in third round scoring average.

Player: Boo Weekley
Rank: 33rd
Points: 3,247
I think we have seen this before... Entering the Verizon last year, Weekley had 3,063 points and was 36th in the standings. This year he has 3,247 points and is ranked 33rd. Boo's tournaments last year tended to be feast or famine - he missed nine cuts, but averaged nearly 700 points (a top 10 finish) when he played the weekend. This year, he's only missed two cuts, but he's averaging about a 20th place finish when he makes the cut. Streaking...Recording six consecutive rounds in the 60s, Boo has yet to record a round in the 70s at Harbour Town Starting the third round, Weekley is the only player in the top-10 at Verizon that is ranked inside the top-25 in scrambling and with Harbour Town's small greens this may be a big advantage.

Player: Anthony Kim
Rank: 82nd
Points: 1,715
Anthony Kim could move into the top 10 in the FedExCup standings with a victory this week. Moving day special....Kim could make a move on Saturday toward winning his first ever PGA TOUR event, as he currently ranks fifth on TOUR in third round scoring average.

Player: Cliff Kresge
Rank: 56th
Points: 2,387
Me, you, and Boo... like Boo Weekley Kresge entered Verizon in about the same position in 2008 that he held in 2007. In 2007 Kresge was 54th after the Masters, this year he is 56th. Last year Kresge finished the regular season with 3,125 points and was 99th heading into the playoffs, but with a top 10 finish this week he can surpass all of last year's FedExCup points total. A win would put him solidly in the top 10 in the standings.

Player: Stephen Ames
Rank: 37th
Points: 3,055
Ames has not recorded a top-10 finish since leaving Hawaii after the first two events of the season. A top-5 finish would put Ames inside of the top-30, but a win moves him inside the top-10.

Player: Stewart Cink
Rank: 6th
Points: 7,746
Cink could move to 2nd in the FedExCup standings with a win, and virtually assure himself a top 10 seed at the end of the Regular Season. With a top 10 finish, Cink could move to 3rd in the FedExCup standings, and become the highest ranked player without a victory in 2008. A top-10 finish would be Cink's fifth such finish this year, tying him with Tiger Woods and Stuart Appleby for the TOUR lead in that category.

Player: Jonathan Byrd
Rank: 62nd
Points: 2,157
Ranked 62nd entering this year's Verizon, Byrd is ahead of his pace from last year when he was 96th in the standings entering Verizon. A win would move Byrd into the top-10 in the FedExCup standings and probably secure a top-30 seed in the playoffs.

Player: Jim Furyk
Rank: 27th
Points: 3,999
Furyk was the 9th seed in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup last year, and is currently 27th in the points standings. But there's no need for concern - he didn't really heat up last year until June was in sight. From May 27th through the end of July, he earned nearly 12,000 points, which would have been good for 9th seed all by itself.

Player: Aaron Baddeley
Rank: 55th
Points: 2,452
One of the stars from last year's playoffs, Baddeley really needs a strong finish at Verizon to improve his positioning. Baddeley had an outside chance to win the FedExCup last year when THE TOUR Championship began, needing a win and some help from others ahead of him, but under the new Playoffs points system, his 2nd at Deutsche Bank and 5th at BMW would have allowed him to control his own destiny at THE TOUR Championship - a win would secure the FedExCup. A top-5 would move Baddeley to around 30th in the standings, but a win would put him in the top-10.

Player: Marc Turnesa
Rank: 153rd
Points: 504
Turnesa's best finish in 2008 was a T-22 at The Northern Trust Open where he earned 282 points. In 35 rounds played, Turnesa has only recorded three rounds in the 60's in 2008 At 153rd in the standings, a top-5 finish for Turnesa would move him into the top-100 in the standings.

Player: Robert Allenby
Rank: 29th
Points: 3,605
Last year at this point in the season Allenby had recorded six top-10 finishes and was 11th in the FedExCup standings. A win would move Allenby inside the top-10 and probably secure a top-30 seed heading into the playoffs.

Following is a chart of the players in the field who made the Playoffs last year and are nonetheless dramatically ahead of last year's pace:

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