Inside the FedExCup: The Greenbrier Classic

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John Daly comes off his biggest FedExCup points payday of his career; can he keep the momentum going?

Just a few weeks remain in the regular season, with the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup set to begin the week of Aug. 22. Here's a look at some of the key scenarios, notables and players going into this week's The Greenbrier Classic.
MORE FEDEXCUP: Biggest Movers after RBC Canadian | Bubble Watch for Greenbrier

SCENARIOS
A brief look at the No. 1, top 10, top 30 and top 125 possibilities

NO. 1 -- Phil Mickelson is the only player in this week's field who can replace Nick Watney at the top of the FedExCup standings. Mickelson is currently fourth but could move up to No. 1 with either a win or a second-place finish. Watney is not playing this week.

TOP 10 -- Mickelson and Webb Simpson are the only two players in the top 10 in points playing this week, but 11 other players could move inside the top 10 with a win -- Gary Woodland (currently No. 11), Brandt Snedeker (12), Jonathan Byrd (17), Spencer Levin (22), Bill Haas (23), Charles Howell III (24), Keegan Bradley (25), D.A. Points (27), Chris Kirk (28), Ryan Palmer (31) and Tommy Gainey (36). Woodland, Snedeker and Byrd could also move into the top 10 with a high finish.

TOP 30 -- Players need to be in the top 30 after the third Playoffs event, the BMW Championship, in order to advance to the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola, the tournament in which the FedExCup champ is crowned. Any player ranked inside the top 106 in points going into this week's event has a chance to move inside the top 30 by winning the Greenbrier Classic. Some of the players in the field this week who fall into this category include J.B. Holmes, Jeff Overton, Sergio Garcia, Ricky Barnes and Anthony Kim.

TOP 125 -- Players need to be in the top 125 after the Wyndham Championship in order to make the Playoffs. Every TOUR player in the field this week, regardless of current FedExCup position, has a chance to move inside the top 125 with a win, and all but four players (Andre Stolz, Chris Baryla, Brad Faxon and Jose Maria Olazabal) could move inside the top 125 with a second-place finish.

NOTABLES IN NEED
Well-known players in this week's field who need to improve their FedExCup position

SERGIO GARCIA -- The Spaniard has picked up 179 FedExCup points in his last two TOUR starts (both top-10 finishes) but still finds himself 63rd in points going into this week. A win would move him to 22nd in the standings and another top-10 finish would move him to at least 51st.

DAVIS LOVE III -- The TOUR veteran had his biggest FedExCup points week of the year when finishing tied for ninth at the British Open. He's now 79th in points and, like Garcia, could move to 22nd with a win.

RETIEF GOOSEN -- In mid-June, Goosen posted his only top-10 finish of the year, a T3 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, and acquired 125 FedExCup points. But a back injury forced him to withdraw from the British Open. He's currently 111th in points and has yet to lock down a spot in the top 125.

JOHN DALY -- A tie for ninth at last week's RBC Canadian Open has given Daly the bulk of his FedExCup points -- and also secured his spot in this week's Greenbrier Classic. Daly has never appeared in a Playoffs event, and he still needs another 273 points to reach the 380-point level, which was the cutoff for last year's Top 125. Daly will play the PGA Championship but is not currently in the field for the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. That means he needs to make the most of his playing opportunities down the stretch, including this week, where he could move inside the top 100 should he finish either first or second.

HOW THEY GOT HERE
Here's a look at a few players and how they achieved their FedExCup ranking this year

SEAN O'HAIR -- High finishes mean big moves as O'Hair proved last week in Canada. Since moving to 92nd in the standings after a T24 at The Honda Classic in early March, O'Hair struggled with his game, falling to 161st after missing four consecutive cuts in March and April. He bounced around the mid-100s for two months and was at No. 147 after missing the British Open cut. But at the RBC Canadian Open last week, O'Hair shot rounds of 66 and 68 on the weekend at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club and outlasted Kris Blanks in a sudden-death playoff. Suddenly, O'Hair finds himself 104 points better than the previous week and is in a battle, at No. 43, to get inside the top 30 before the Wyndham Championship.

SPENCER LEVIN -- Although he has just four top 10s in 22 starts, Levin has been a consistent points earner this season even on weeks when he's not around the top 10. Of the players inside the top 30 (Levin is No. 22 this week), nobody has played more frequently. Levin's best finish this season was a playoff loss at the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun, but he's made 17 of 22 cuts, earning points at each of those tournaments. It's been a career year for the former New Mexico All-American. In his first FedExCup season, Levin missed the Playoffs. Last year, he made the Playoffs for the first time and finished 81st.

KRIS BLANKS -- After missing the cut at the Travelers Championship on June 26, Blanks dropped to 135th in the FedExCup standings and was struggling to get his season going. Although he made the cut at AT&T National a week later, he fell two more spots, to 137th. Then his upward trajectory began. A tie for 12th at the John Deere Classic improved Blanks' position to 123rd, followed by a tie for 34th at the Viking Classic that moved him inside the top 125 (116th). Last week, Blanks lost to O'Hair in a playoff, but the second-place showing moved him to 54th in the standings.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON -- The three-time major winner is precariously on the FedExCup bubble this week at No. 125, but there are positive signs. Harrington has played just 13 TOUR events this year, with three of those starts resulting in top-10 finishes. His average of 23.119 FedExCup points per start is better than 31 players ahead of him in the standings. He is not in the field this week, but he will play the next two weeks.