It’s just a number, rolling through the caverns of the minds of the players on the Nationwide Tour.

It’s somewhere in the six-figure range, very likely over 200,000, but definitely not finite. Pinpointing it -- before the afternoon of Nov. 12 -- is like trying to find a specific sand pebble after a crashing wave hits the beach.

In 2003, the number was $180,000 and change.

It moved to $198,000 in ’04.

Last season it jumped again, this time to a little over $202,000.

For those who haven’t figured out what the number is just yet, it’s the scratch a player will need to take care of his main itch in 2006, what he needs to qualify for playing privileges on the PGA TOUR in 2007. The top 20 players on the season-ending money list will be the lucky ones, having earned their way to The Big Show with exemplary play throughout 2006.

Here’s what we know with 13 events remaining on the schedule. Leading money-winner Tripp Isenhour is a lock to graduate with $266,511 and has been since he scored the second of his two victories in 2006 way back in April. But he isn’t the only sure thing. Don’t bet against Jason Dufner ($226,038), Paul Sheehan ($210,297), Johnson Wagner ($204,669) and Ken Duke ($204,163), each of whom has surpassed last year’s lucky total $202,437 amassed by Bubba Watson, the last man to earn a PGA TOUR card.

After that fivesome, it becomes a guessing game. But one thing is certain, the majority of the players know where they stand and they’re doing the math after each and every event.

“The money list is posted in the lockeroom each week, so it’s impossible to avoid,’’ said Hunter Haas, who finds himself in 15th position this week with $151,869 in earnings. “I mean it’s right there. Everybody sees it or is aware of it. It’s what we all look at. And anyone who says he doesn’t must not be doing very well.’’

Sudden shifts on the list can be as seismic as underground rumblings in quake-prone California. Kevin Johnson is Exhibit A. A week ago, he was mired in 139th place on the money list. Then he rallied past third-round leader Matt Kuchar to win the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open on Sunday. Just like that he had moved past 110 players into 29th position with $104,886.

Like Johnson, someone makes a major move up practically every week. Doug LaBelle, winner of the Price Cutter Charity Championship the previous week, jumped from 33rd to seventh, where he remains this week. It can happen that fast or over a slightly longer period where Tour members sustain solid play. Brandt Snedeker, John Merrick and Haas are prime examples. Each has won an event over the course of the last five weeks, but each also has used the victory to provide momentum in his surge into the top 20.

Snedeker made the quantum leap literally on the wings of eagles, four of them in fact. Five weeks ago Snedeker was spinning his wheels at 93rd on the money list after having missed the cut in Knoxville. But he suddenly found his game, lost in a playoff in Chattanooga the following week and has finished tied for 18th, first, 61st and tied for 18th since then. Snedeker, who currently resides in ninth place on the list, eagled the 72nd hole four of the last five weeks and birdied it in the other. Without those fantastic finishes he likely would have made approximately $50,000 rather than the $160,000 he has banked in the stretch.

Haas, who won in Knoxville, and Merrick, who claimed the title at Peek‘n Peak, have won more than $110,000 and $112,000 in three week rushes.

“This sort of thing has been happening over the last five or six weeks,’’ said Haas, who finished inside the top 20 in 2004. “I’ve been out four years and the money race is so much more important here than on the PGA TOUR where 125 guys keep their cards. It makes each putt and each made cut that much more important.’’

There are other things to play for as well. The top 60 on the money list will play in the Nationwide Tour Championship where fortunes can change drastically with a purse of $750,000. Players between 21st and 35th on the final money list are exempted into PGA TOUR Qualifying School finals, guaranteeing them a place to play in 2007.

That’s the reason why players will continue to keep a close eye on the list and where they stand. Careers, after all, are at stake.

“It (the money list) is always on your mind,’’ Haas said. “And so much depends on how you deal with it. I’ve done it once before and I know I have to keep plugging. But the whole idea out here is to compete to win. That’s where the real money is. That’s how you get there.’’