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To look at Team Nationwide member Gavin Coles' scorecard from the Buick Open last week is to see a microcosm of his career. The veteran Australian carded rounds of 68-70-68-70 at Warwick Hills, a steady performance that served him well, as he finished tied for 10th with, among others, fellow Team Nationwide member Brandt Snedeker.

Gavin Coles makes up for shortcomings off the tee with an above-average touch around the greens. (Stan Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)

That result was Coles' best finish since a tie for ninth at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico back in February, but his $108,616 Buick Open check was his biggest of the year and boosted him up to 116th on the money list with $456,041 and to 110th in the FedExCup point standings with 2,042 points. That puts him easily inside the field for the FedExCup playoffs, which will include the top 144 players later this summer.

Coles has been steady, if unspectacular, this year in his return to the PGA TOUR, making 11 cuts in his 15 starts. His average score is 70.83, ranking him 83rd -- better than the 70.94 PGA TOUR average score.

At 5-foot-4 and 155 pounds, Coles is one of the smaller players on TOUR. And, as might be expected, he suffers from a disadvantage off the tee, ranking only 189th in Driving Distance with an average tee shot of 266.5 yards, a good 20 yards behind the TOUR average of 286.2 yards. He makes up for it in Driving Accuracy, though, hitting an average of 67.11 percent of his fairways off the tee to rank 29th on the TOUR.

Coles also excels around the green, and is 15th on TOUR in Putts Per Round, needing an average of only 28.45; the average on the circuit is 30.16. He's also 15th in Sand Saves, converting 58.33 percent of his greenside bunker shots into pars, where the TOUR average is 48.90 percent.

Coles played the PGA TOUR in 2003 and 2005, and spent the 2002, 2004 and 2006 seasons on the Nationwide Tour after focusing much of his early professional career on the circuits in Asia and his native Australia. A few more steady performances like that at the Buick Open, and the three-time winner on the Nationwide Tour just might stick on the PGA TOUR for good.