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By PGATOUR.com staff

What a difference a year makes.

Twelve months ago, Charley Hoffman had returned home to San Diego to prepare for the Buick Invitational after missing the cut in the first PGA TOUR event of his rookie season.

This week, though, he's back in familiar territory as a PGA TOUR champion after winning the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in a playoff over John Rollins on Sunday.

Hoffman's birdie-eagle finish -- coupled with another birdie on the first playoff hole -- did wonders for his bank account with a $900,000 first prize that was roughly $215,000 less than his entire earnings for last year.

Charley Hoffman celebrates his first TOUR win on Sunday. (Feldman/WireImage)

Equally important, though, were the 4,500 FedExCup points Hoffman earned in his 2006 debut. All of a sudden, the 30-year-old with the flowing blonde locks finds himself third on the points list, trailing No. 1 Vijay Singh by only 121 points in the season-long race that awards $10 million to the winner.

Paul Goydos, who broke an 11-year victory drought when he won the Sony Open in Hawaii, closed the gap on the idle Singh when he tied for 48th in Palm Springs. He remains in second, but is just 57 points out of first place.

Rollins moved into the top 10 at No. 4 with his runner-up finish on Sunday and the 3,172 FedExCup points that went along with it. Justin Rose, who finished third on that windswept Sunday, now ranks 10th with the 1,700 points he earned in his 2007 debut.

Robert Allenby, the first round leader, ended up tied for eighth and moved from 18th to 11th in the standings. He has accumulated 1,425 points through his first two tournaments of the season.

Four other players climbed into the top 25 in the FedExCup standings. One of them, Charles Warren tied for sixth in his 2007 TOUR debut to pick up 869 points that left him 23rd.

Heath Slocum, who shared fourth, jumped from 42nd to 14th in the FedExCup standings while Harrison Frazar, who tied with Allenby on Sunday, moved 22 spots to 25th.

Cliff Kresge made the biggest move, though, with his tie for sixth. Kresge, who was playing in his second tournament of the year, went from 73rd to 22nd with 924 points.