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By Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The way Brandt Snedeker sees it, he's got a four-week road trip to claim a winner of a lottery ticket.

And the $10 million that goes to the champion of the inaugural FedExCup is one reason Snedeker decided to play in the Wyndham Championship this week.

"That's pretty tough to beat," he said with a big grin.

Brandt Snedeker is trying to position himself for the FedExCup Playoffs. (Getty Images)

The Wyndham Championship is the last tournament in which players can earn points toward the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. The top 144 in the standings when the tournament is over Sunday are the only ones eligible for the largest bonus in sports.

The points entering the four-event Playoff series are reset based on each player's finish during the regular season. That's where things get interesting.

Tiger Woods clinched the top seed with his win at the PGA Championship last week. He's 11,450 points ahead of Vijay Singh right now, but when the seedings are reset, Woods will only lead by 1,000 points.

So every point is even more important as the 144 players get ready for The Barclays, the first playoff event. The fields for the next three events are trimmed to 120, 70 and 30, based on a player's position in the FedExCup standings.

Only the 30 players who advance to THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola can land the $10 million bonus, although in the unlikely event that someone wins more than one of the Playoff events, the FedExCup champion could already be decided.

The ante is upped even more with the Playoff events awarding 50,000 FedExCup points with 9,000 to the first three winners and THE TOUR Championship offering 10,300. Not to mention, each playoff event has a $7 million purse and offers a two-year PGA TOUR exemption for the win.

"I'm very excited about it," Snedeker said. "I think FedEx did a great thing by stepping up and being a sponsor like they are for ... the largest prize in sports. It's our first playoff system. There's nothing but positive excitement about it.

"I think guys that are leery about it don't know about it. Nobody really knows. It's the first year. We'll all experience it together. Everybody is going to be a rookie going to it. (You) get a chance to play for that kind of money over four weeks. If you get hot, you can win it.

"That's pretty exciting to have a chance to win $10 million."

Snedeker enters the Wyndham Championship, which offers 4,500 points to the winner, ranked 26th in the FedExCup standings. If he wins the Sam Snead Trophy on Sunday, Snedeker could jump up to ninth entering the Playoffs. He'd be $900,000 richer, as well.

Jonathan Byrd, who is 27th and trails Snedeker by 41 points, is in a similar situation.

"I am excited about playing against the best players in the world for four straight weeks," Snedeker said. "We don't get to do that very often. ... I think everyone relishes the chance to win the first FedExCup."

The field at Forest Oaks this week includes 13 of the players who rank Nos. 31-70. A win by Peter Lonard, who currently stands 70th, could mathematically move him as high as 18th and do wonders for his job security as the he goes deeper into the Playoffs.

All but 20 of the players who stand between Lonard and Bill Haas, who ranks 120th, are entered this week at the Wyndham Championship. Should Haas win, he could conceivably move inside the top 30.

The competition gets even tighter around the magic No. 144, which guarantees a spot in the first playoff event and a share of the total $35 million playoff bonus pool.

Only four of the players ranked from Nos. 120-144 opted not to play in the Wyndham Championship and 37 of the 45 on the outside looking in at No. 145 or below are playing in Greensboro. Should D.J. Brigman, who currently stands 190th, wins, he would have 5,153 points, which would be 52nd right now.

So the stakes are high this week at Forest Oaks, as well as in the four Playoffs. Small wonder Snedeker enters the Wyndham Championship with such a sense of purpose.

The 26-year-old Tennessean opted not to play in the Reno-Tahoe Open three weeks ago. He made sure to keep the tournament in Greensboro on his schedule, even though it meant he might play as many as six weeks in a row if he makes it all the way to THE TOUR Championship.

"The way I understand the FedExCup (is that) every position you're ahead of somebody else is points that you're getting starting out," Snedeker said. "Knowing some guys would be taking this week off, I can jump a couple of spots and hopefully, if I play well, you know, jump four, five, six, seven, eight spots. (That would) make a big difference coming down the stretch the last two, three tournaments.

"I like playing golf. I like doing this. I was going to come here anyway. It works out a little bit better that way, trying to get as high as you can going into what is relatively an unknown. Nobody really knows what's going to happen. It's exciting and I look forward to it."