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By Brett Avery
PGATOUR.COM Contributor

Congratulations! You've spent the last several weeks slowly steering your team toward the four-week playoff extravaganza by upgrading to players ever closer to that X-Y nexus of leading the FedExCup points list and the Official World Golf Ranking.

By now you've got six or perhaps even seven guys in the top 40 in points, all but guaranteeing a strong run to the finish of a rotisserie league and some flexibility in the match-play lineup heading into the playoffs.

And then a week like the Buick Open arrives.

Never fear, finding four guys to field this week is going to be fun!

Steve Marino fired three rounds in the 60s at Hartford. (WireImage)

If you're like The Fantasy Insider -- and if you're human, you're at least a smidge like him -- your initial review of the League Championship rosters was one of those peek-between-the-fingers jobs, fearful of seeing "Not in field" a dozen times.

The good news for TFI is that there was at least one active player on each roster. Thanks so much for worrying about his good fortune this week.

The better news is that this is the time of year when the fields fluctuate and player changes come hot and heavy, so there's plenty of good shopping available. TFI kicked off the Monday night research and writing session with a personal record five drop-add moves between his two rosters.

He will go into the Buick with the minimum four active players on each squad, keeping his fingers crossed that the three new match-play guys go gangbusters against koach's half-dozen active players.

This is going to sound like a broken record at this point in the year, but one of the reasons we play fantasy golf is to mix-and-match players, sometimes on a weekly basis. And if you're not making roster moves now, you're probably not moving up in the standings.

Jim Furyk has two runner-up finishes in his last three starts. (WireImage)

In this era of combo stats like basketball's triple-double, TFI's floating one of his own: 60/100 men. That's his ideal roster addition in these last two months of the season, players who rank 60th or higher in FedExCup points and 100th or higher in the world.

TFI didn't nab any of them this week -- only three top-60 guys who opened the week available in the roto Expert League are active at the Buick and the pickings in the match-play Public League 3359 weren't much better.

But TFI came close by taking Tom Lehman (70/64) in the roto format and Stephen Marino (61/129) in match play. While he'll happily upgrade world ranking strength, at present, TFI would rather find FedEx points firepower.

Lehman and Marino have an excellent chance of making it through the first three weeks of the FedEx Cup playoffs and are one or two big finishes away from challenging for THE TOUR Championship.

All three of TFI's moves in the match-play league went in the opposite direction of the 60/100 rule. He ditched Jonathan Byrd (91/102) for Marino, dropped Davis Love III (73/34) for Joe Ogilvie (116/199) and Troy Matteson (67/92) for Eric Axley (120/245).

Why? At this point, a dive into the mailbag, somewhere we haven't ventured in several weeks, unearths not only This Week's Excellent Question but an excellently timed question, too.

As much as I try, I can never pick the team that can win a week of Salary Cap Cup. Overall, I am always doing pretty good, but I just don't see how some of the people can pick the teams they come up with and win.

You always seem to pick your teams by how the players finish in the tournament the year before. I'm no expert, but if players are having bad years, but they played good in last year's tournament, why do you pick them?

I try to pick guys who had a good tournament the week before, a good Sunday round, or someone picking their games up. I wonder why you don't often look for players this way? Glen Bailey, "Shank" team

It's an answer that bears repeating, Glen, because the elusive hunt forrecent form and past performances is the most important tightrope for SCC players and League Championship team owners.

Don't beat yourself up too much about not winning an SCC week. There are close to 40,000 participants and less than 40 weeks in the season. The odds aren't that great.

And, truth be told, TFI would much rather hit the lottery than win in SCC, although that's probably just his mortgage talking.

Glen's question is ideally timed, though, because while they're excellent prospects for the rest of the season, Byrd, Love and Matteson are joining the rest of us by watching the Buick from their sofas this week.

That makes them eminently expendable. Other players of that caliber (or better) will be around when TFI needs to make yet another series of changes to field a lineup.

But the real answer, Glen, lies in who TFI took as replacements. If he couldn't get the 60/100 stud he settled for a Marino (four top-30s in his last five starts), an Ogilvie (three straight top 25s) or an Axley (a T-21 and T-22 sandwiched around missing the cut in the U.S. Open).

Does TFI mention past performance at a tournament as a factor? Absolutely.

He wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't, just as an announcer at a horse race will focus on an entry's past performances at that particular track or distance.

It is important to know that Lehman was the Buick runner-up in 1999 by a shot to Tom Pernice Jr., because he'll go into the tournament with some fond memories of Warwick Hills G&CC.

And with this season's emphasis on building a schedule in order to pile up points, we're seeing guys playing opting to play at places they've achieved success.

Now, TFI's thankful for this column gig on many levels. But this time of year the most important is that it prevents him from changing his mind three or four times during the week and making roster or lineup changes in the wee hours Thursday morning.

He sets it once and lets it ride.

You, dear reader, may change your mind any number of times. And TFI says, the more the merrier. Because if you aren't making changes to your lineup, you're going nowhere.

Three players TFI might pick up/trade for to get onto his roster this week:

Jim Furyk. That's two runner-up finishes in three starts (Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, U.S. Open), which gets old kind of fast but works oh-so-well in the fantasy format. He came equally close in the Buick Open in 2001 and last year and he's clearly the cream of this field so almost a slam-dunk selection. Ranks 49th in par breakers stat (19.44 percent) but can make them when needed, and Warwick Hills is one place they're needed.

Stephen Marino. TFI jumped on this guy for the match-play League Championship roster thanks to four top-30 finishes in his last five starts (the odd out was a missed cut at the U.S. Open). Another tournament where he makes his debut but that hasn't been much of a hindrance this season. Also: Ranks 39th in par breakers (19.79 percent) so he's got the chops for a top-10 if he can drain a few putts.

Sean O'Hair. Looked a heckuva lot better a month ago, before that tie for 46th at the St. Jude and the Open missed cut made it onto the chart (he was one of the guys who couldn't break 80 in the second round at Oakmont). A week away from the grind, though, should do him plenty of good, even if he typically takes a week or two to get into a groove. Two top 10s at Warwick Hills in two starts and all four rounds in the 60s last year. Keep the fingers crossed he get a chance to improve this year's last-round scoring average (71.56, ranks 93rd).

One player TFI might waive/drop/trade away to get off his roster this week:

Robert Allenby (WireImage)

Robert Allenby. Don't let that tie for 12th at the Stanford St. Jude Championship three weeks ago fool you. This guy's going nowhere fast with that his only made cut since THE PLAYERS Championship in early May. On paper he looks magnificent: fifth in greens (68.03 percent), third in birdie average (3.84), ninth in scoring (69.65), fifth in par-breakers (21.77 percent). And he's 15th and fourth his last two times in the Buick. But TFI's not feeling the love.

Rotisserie results for Expert League at Travelers Championship: 56.0 points (second, 2.5 points behind Christian Peterson of fanball.com). First in eagles, second in scrambling, putting and birdies. Overall: 62.0 points (2.5 ahead of Peterson). Gotta like a week when four guys make the cut and one (David Toms) takes a run at the title.

Rotisserie lineup for Expert League at Buick Open: Ken Duke, Mathew Goggin, Tom Lehman, Heath Slocum. Not in field: Mark Calcavecchia, Paul Casey, K.J. Choi, Padraig Harrington, Geoff Ogilvy, Steve Stricker, David Toms, Bubba Watson. Lineup changes: Dropped Tim Clark, added Mathew Goggin; dropped Anders Hansen, added Tom Lehman.

Match-play results for Public League 3359 at Travelers Championship: TFI 9.5, Massachusetts Eagles 8.5. Overall:13-8-2 (first in West Division by two games). Another fluke win with only three guys making it to the weekend but big FedExCup point totals from Sean O'Hair (1,700) and Vijay Singh (1,200) taking two crucial points.

Match-play lineup for Public League 3359 at Buick Open: Daniel Chopra, Stephen Marino, Joe Ogilvie, Eric Axley. Not in field: Mark Calcavecchia, Jose Coceres, Ernie Els, Zach Johnson, Bernhard Langer, Nick O'Hern, Vijay Singh, Nick Watney. Lineup changes: Dropped Jonathan Byrd, added Stephen Marino; dropped Davis Love III, added Joe Ogilvie; dropped Troy Matteson, added Eric Axley.

Salary Cap Cup results for Travelers Championship: The main lineup of Justin Rose (650 FedExCup points, tied ninth), Stewart Cink (47 points, tied 75th), Carl Pettersson (375 points, tied 15th), Darren Stiles (0 points, missed cut) and Kirk Triplett (0 points, missed cut) earned 1,072 points and placed 18,901st. Through Week 24 it totaled 3,492 points and ranked 15,438th in Segment 3. For the season it totaled 61,397 points and ranked 4,288th overall. Close but not close enough, especially with Cink's weekend (75-76) and two guys missing the cut.

The "Hey, buddy" backup lineup of David Toms (838 FedExCup points, tied sixth), Woody Austin (88 points, tied 43rd), Nick Watney (0 points, missed cut), Frank Lickliter II (54 points, tied 61st) and Kevin Sutherland (166 points, tied 29th) earned 1,396 points and placed 12,220th. Through Week 24 it totaled 5,193 points and ranked 6,563rd in Segment 3. For the season it totaled 57,541 points and ranked 5,998th overall. Not that he wishes ill one of his favorite players, but if Sutherland had handed that 65 off to Toms, who would have thrown out that 71 that relegated him to seven shots out of the playoff.

Week 24 winner: Don's Dons 8,763 points.

Segment 3 leader: Phantastic Phivesome 16,772 points.

Overall: Outrankin' Rankin 98,977 points.

Salary Cap Cup lineup for Buick Open: Main lineup, Jim Furyk $300,000, Sean O'Hair $257,750, Stephen Marino $189,500, Will MacKenzie $153,750, Eric Axley $75,000. Total: $976,000. ³Hey, buddy² backup lineup, Bo Van Pelt $231,750, Kenny Perry $215,500, Billy Mayfair $202,500, Mathew Goggin $163,500, B.J. Staten $75,000. Total: $888,250. Tiebreakers: 263, 1.

Have a question or comment for TFI? Send it to him at brettavery@aol.com. Please be sure to include your name, where you're from, the name of your team and, if it relates to League Championship, the name of your league and whether you're competing in the rotisserie or match-play format.