Tiger Woods' first place standing is safe for the 13th straight week, but six players could pass Mickelson to move into second. Of course, if Mickelson wins, he would move to within 2,400 points of first place and put significant distance between himself and third. There are 42 players who could potentially move into the top 10 this week with a victory -- Tom Pernice Jr., currently 73rd in the FedExCup points standings, is the last of those.
Following is a list of the top 20 players in the field and how much they could move with a victory at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Of note, all but two of them -- Jeff Quinney and Briny Baird -- have won on the PGA TOUR in the last three years.
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A number of players in the field who did well in 2007 are doing significantly better this year, including at least six who have earned more points this year than in all of last year. Of the players who finished among the top 100 seeds for the 2007 PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, the players below are the ones who are at least 2,000 points ahead of last year's pace. All of these players are in the top 40 in the points standings this year, led by Anthony Kim, in fifth.
There have been 20 different winners of 22 events so far this year, but 11 of those 20 winners are in the field this week, seeking to become the second player this year to record multiple victories. Of this year's winners in the field, only D.J. Trahan, Anthony Kim and K.J. Choi even tallied points at the 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, with four missing the cut and four not playing in last year's event.
A few players are playing very well without much fanfare. Anyone who wins will move up in the standings, but the list below shows players in the field who are averaging more than 400 points per start without benefit of a win. A 400-point average maintained through the year will in all likelihood ensure these players a top 30 seed in the Playoffs.
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The "Quality Starts" statistic is a good indicator of who is playing consistently well. Quality starts are those in which a player earns 350 or more points. Last year, the top 10 seeds averaged 8.2 Quality starts (led by Vijay Singh with 12, followed by Woods and Furyk with 11 each), the top 30 averaged 7.0 QS, the top 50 were at 6.0, top 70 -- 5.5, top 100 -- 4.9 and top 144 at 4.0. Looking at the highest ranked players in the field, several -- including Chad Campbell at 28th -- have 5 or more Quality Starts. Trahan and Chopra, however, have only 1 QS, meaning that, other than their victory, their play hasn't been consistent.
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