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By Charles Howell III
Special to PGATOUR.com

Editor's note: Charles Howell III, who won the Nissan Open earlier this year, has been writing a blog periodically for PGATOUR.com. He enters the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup ranked eighth and took time out from his preparation for The Barclays to write another installment.

HARRISON, N.Y. -- I'm excited about the Playoffs. This is something new and I'm really looking forward to these next four events. There's always going to be some things that people will criticize or critique but at the end of the day, it's going to be the first time we've had Playoffs in golf. You're playing for a huge bonus at the end and I see a whole lot of positives. So I'm ready to get going this week. Barring some unforeseen injury, I'll absolutely play all four of them. I think you'll see most guys play all four. After we run through it this year and players see how it all shakes out, everybody will have a much better understanding of it for next year. But I think there's a lot of enthusiasm, and I'm eager to see how I'll play.

Charles Howell got off to a hot start in 2007 with a win at Riviera. (WireImage)

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My game is starting to come around a lot better right now. I wasn't driving the ball in the fairway enough so I worked real hard the last six weeks, not only on the driver, but playing well off the tee just to get the ball in the fairway. I've done a lot of work on that and I drove the ball a lot better at Southern Hills, so it's coming around. I am encouraged. I like the golf course here at Westchester. It's an old style course and it's definitely going to be fun to play. All four courses for the Playoffs are going to be fair. I like the TPC Boston, next week, and obviously, Cog Hill and East Lake. So there are four good venues and like I said, as these things go on, I think they will get a lot more exciting.

This is a good time to be playing well, too. Not only just because of the Playoffs, but also with the Presidents Cup coming up. I'm really looking forward to representing the United States and playing for Captain Nicklaus. It seems to have been a little bit overshadowed and not talked about as much because of the Playoffs, but the Presidents Cup is a big deal and it's coming up in September. So there are a lot of reasons to be playing better this time of year.

I had a nice week off last week. I was home in Orlando. I went to the Tampa Bay Bucs training camp for two days, so my prediction is that the Bucs will win the Super Bowl this year. We can go ahead and throw that right out there for everyone to see. I have all my belief in Coach Gruden. I know they are going to do well. I never played football myself -- and seeing those guys close-up out there on the field is further confirmation that I made the right decision. I could be the water boy, I guess. I'd get them the water on time but that's about all I could do. I do like football a lot, though. My alma mater, Oklahoma State, has a big football game next Saturday against Georgia. So, there's some exciting stuff coming up soon. Football season is really here. It's hard to believe until you come to New York and it's 55 degrees and raining. It feels like football season, especially yesterday. This is a good time of year for a lot of sports fans.

It's interesting, too. Ronde Barber is a friend of mine, and you talk to him about playoffs and stuff of that nature, and that's all those guys play for. That's a big deal for them. They play their whole season for that post season, and it was nice to look at things from a different perspective. As golfers we don't really know much about Playoffs -- yet -- but it's a big deal in other sports. I think there will be a different feel to our Playoffs as they move on. This is still a pretty full field at 144. I think as they start to cut the fields down so they get smaller, I think it will get more and more exciting. I'm quite sure the last events will when it gets down to 70 players and 30 players -- then it will get down to a much bigger deal, for sure. I can't wait.