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By Brett Avery
The Fantasy Insider
PGATOUR.COM Contributor

The Fantasy Insider loves this time of year, the hot and humid days rolling one after another with the occasional thunderstorm interrupting with unwanted relief. About the only thing bringing more joy to TFI than a 92-degree afternoon is having a tournament winner in his Salary Cap Cup lineup.

TFI likes Pat Perez's chances this week at the Reno-Tahoe Open. (Getty Images)

At the height of this summer, though, TFI is rooting for one steadily decreasing number. Not the one on the thermometer: The one indicating the FedExCup points standings for his players in League Championship.

Three weeks out from the playoffs, pretty much everyone on the PGA TOUR is entering a stretch of playing week after week. At this point you shouldn't need to make too many roster changes to make it through the season's conclusion.

But whether you're borderline for the playoffs in a match-play league or leading by miles in a rotisserie format, TFI suggests adopting his rule of 10.

The rule of 10 begins this week at 90 for the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and Reno-Tahoe Open. It requires taking a look at the free agents in your league below No. 90 in the points standings and swapping them for any of your roster players who are 91st or higher. Click on the Players tab, click on "free agents only" and "show all" and then sort descending by FedExCup points.

Let's pull out the abacus and do some math. The top 144 players will start in The Barclays in three weeks. Right now the 144th player is Eric Axley at 1,543 points. The 90th player going into this weekend is Fredrik Jacobson with 3,116 points. That realistically means Axley would need to finish second or first in a tournament to pass Jacobson.

Now, TFI estimates between six and 12 guys can pass Jacobson in the next three tournaments if he doesn't earn another point. For anyone deep in the standings it'll take an enormous move, like the tie for third George McNeill had in the Canadian Open (jumping from 147th to 105th). For players just behind Jacobson it'll take a mid-pack finish, perhaps a top 10.

TFI believes that Mike Weir is pulling his game together at just the right time. (Getty Images)

But chances are the guy you have who is above 120th now isn't going to make it past The Barclays and into the Deutsche Bank Championship, where the top 120 in points will play. So unless you have that indisputable gut feeling that he's due for something big, ditch the laggard and pick up someone in the top 90.

Next week for the PGA Championship the target number will be 80th on the points list. For the last pre-playoffs tournament the following week, the Wyndham Championship, the target number is 70th in points. It keeps dropping through the playoffs, 10 spots a week, until the top 30 for whiz-bang wrapup at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.

Now, unless everyone else in your league has amnesia, you're not likely to wake up on Sept. 10, the Monday of THE TOUR Championship week, and find two or three free agents among the top 30 in points. Mommas don't raise that many dummies.

But if you start looking now you might land one or two key acquisitions over the coming weeks. In the match-play league TFI snapped up Jonathan Byrd (24th in points) and dropped Jose Coceres. Byrd is injury prone and sitting out this week. But unless he develops a nasty hangnail (knock on wood) he'll get at least three playoff starts (and probably all four).

Now, if you're border line for a match-play league's playoffs, understand that front-loading the roster could hurt you for the Wyndham Championship in two weeks. Guys who aren't crazy about playing every week for nearly two months might just spend that week on a sofa with a box of bonbons watching "Law and Order" reruns. If you've got too many guys sitting out that week you might not win and make the post-season. Then again, if you don't have the studs, you're not going to have a shot at The Barclays and Deutsche Bank Championship in the mad rush to the top four positions.

So good luck with walking that tightrope.

TFI is no fool. He knows Tiger Woods is a factor whenever he plays -- especially in Akron. (Getty Images)

TFI knows what he'll be doing early every Monday morning from now through the playoffs: flipping on the laptop and checking whether the guys making the biggest upward point move are available in his leagues. That's the last part of the rule of 10: If you wait until after 10 a.m. Monday each week, somebody probably will have snapped up the best guys.

PS: Thanks to everyone who wrote TFI to alert him the Jim Furyk caption on last week's column shorted him a victory last season. Furyk appreciates your sticking up for his Wachovia Championship title (so does TFI!). The caption writes at HQ has been given additional homework.

Oh, and as long as we're on the asides portion of the column, keep your eyes peeled for news of a FedExCup playoffs game. Yet another chance for TFI to beg a fantasy game winner to take him along on a superb first-prize trip!

Three players TFI might pick up/trade for to get onto his roster this week:

• Tiger Woods. So sue The Fantasy Insider for making this guy yet another default selection. His worst placing in a World Golf Championships stroke-play event is ninth in the American Express Championship in 2004. His next-worst placing? Fifth.

• Mike Weir. TFI likes him for the same reasons he did last week in the Canadian Open: he's pulling his game back together (ties for eighth in the AT&T National and Open Championship). Hasn't done much in the World Golf Championships events recently but he looks more comfortable over the ball (especially this week, now that his countrymen aren't dissecting his every move at Angus Glen).

• Pat Perez. Another guy who is peaking at the right time, having gained big boosts at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (solo fourth) and AT&T National (tied third). Yeah, he's missed half the cuts in his 10 starts but only one in the last five.

One player TFI might waive/drop/trade away to get off his roster this week:

• Davis Love III. Four straight missed cuts. TFI doesn't care if he hasn't finished worse than 13th since the World Golf Championships began visiting Firestone CC in 1999. Throw him off the roster. Now.

Rotisserie results for Expert League at the Canadian Open: 38.0 points (sixth, 30 points behind Christian Peterson of fanball.com). Second in 300+ drives, third in eagles and sand saves. Overall: 60.0 points (second, 7.0 behind Peterson). TFI is fractionally behind the next-highest team in five stat categories, so he could boost that point total quickly with a few good weeks. Still, that greens in regulation percentage (63.88, seventh) is dismal.

Rotisserie lineup for Expert League at Bridgestone Invitational and Reno-Tahoe Open: K.J. Choi, Steve Stricker, David Toms, Jay Williamson. Active but not in lineup: Mark Calcavecchia, Paul Casey, Ken Duke, Padraig Harrington, Geoff Ogilvy. Not in field: Mathew Goggin, Heath Slocum, Bubba Watson.

Match-play results for Public League 3359 at the Canadian Open: TFI 11.5, jcurtis1969 6.5. Overall: 15-10-2 (first in West Division, two games ahead of Da4 Skinz). Thanks to Vijay Singh for locking up a big FedExCup point total for this crucial win. It's still not a mathematical lock, because St. Pete Crumbsnatchers could win four straight and bump TFI out of the playoffs, but TFI doesn't have his fingers crossed as tightly as the last few weeks.

Match-play lineup for Public League 3359 at Bridgestone Invitational: Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Mark Calcavecchia, Zach Johnson, Nick O'Hern, Nick Watney. Not in field: Briny Baird, Jonathan Byrd, Bernhard Langer, Stephen Marino, Joe Ogilvie, Pat Perez. Roster change: Dropped Jose Coceres, added Jonathan Byrd.

Salary Cap Cup results for the Canadian Open: The main lineup of Jim Furyk (4,500 points, won!), Mike Weir (118 points, tied 34th), Charlie Wi (240 points, tied 22nd), Steve Flesch (59 points, tied 50th) and Briny Baird (181 points, tied 27th) totaled 5,098 points and placed 5,380th. Through Week 30 it totaled 15,225 points and ranked 7,966th in Segment 3. For the season it totaled 73,130 points and ranked 3,864th overall. Hey, another tournament winner to TFI's credit. And what do you know, TFI also took him (and Weir) as his Expert picks, too!

The "Hey, buddy" backup lineup of Stephen Ames (181 points, tied 27th), Hunter Mahan (950 points, tied fifth), Sean O'Hair (59 points, tied 50th), Tommy Armour III (0 points, missed cut) and Bob Heintz (950 points, tied fifth) earned 2,240 points and placed 17,894th. Through Week 30 it totaled 11,450 points and ranked 15,139th in Segment 3. For the season it totaled 63,798 points and ranked 7,325th. Two outsiders in the top five, not a bad week's work for TFI. Now, where are those bonbons?

Week 30 winner: humphreys hitters 10,879 points.

Segment 3 leader: Tiger's Woodz 34,305 points.

Overall: The Big Stick 115,355 points.

Salary Cap Cup lineup for Bridgestone Invitational and Reno-Tahoe Open: Main lineup, Tiger Woods $300,000, Jim Furyk $296,750, Hunter Mahan $163,500, Kenny Perry $118,000, Charley Hoffman, $105,000. Total: $983,250. "Hey, buddy" backup lineup, Padraig Harrington $283,750, K.J. Choi $264,250, Carl Pettersson $176,500, J.J. Henry $131,000, Troy Matteson $121,250. Total: $976,750. Tiebreakers: 271, 3.

Have a question or comment for TFI? Send it to him at brettavery@aol.com. Please be sure to include your name, where you're from, the name of your team and, if it relates to League Championship, the name of your league and whether you're competing in the rotisserie or match-play format.