FedExCup watch: Shell Houston Open first-round notes

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Player: K.J. Choi
Rank: 4th
Points: 7,189
Last year, the majority of K.J. Choi's points came from his victories at the Memorial and AT&T National, but this year's victory at the Sony Open gave him a leg up on last year's total. He is 3,400 points ahead of last year to this point and nearly half-way to his 5th-seed total of 15,485.

Player: Steve Marino
RankL 22nd
Points 3,693
Steve Marino is well ahead of last year's pace despite missing the cut last week. Last year, he was the 63rd seed in the playoffs. With a 4th-place finish or better this week, he'll pass his total from last year. Marino needs a 1st or 2nd to move into the top 5 in the FedExCup standings this week.

Player: Chad Campbell
Rank: 48th
Points: 2,275
Chad Campbell is ahead of last year's pace but needs to keep it up to be well-positioned in the Playoffs. Last year, he earned only 1,148 points after this point in the Regular Season and finished as the 106 seed.

Player: Angel Cabrera
Rank: 76th
Points: 1,554
Angel Cabrera has played two additional events in 2008 than in 2007 through 13 weeks, and has 836 more FedExCup points. His only top 10 after week 13 of 2007 was his U.S. Open victory, which propelled him to the 44th seed in the Playoffs.

Player: Jason Day
Rank: 92nd
Points: 1,241
Jason Day dropped to 8th among Nationwide Tour and Q-School graduates in FedExCup points standings from 6th last week after missing the cut at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Player: Charley Hoffman
Rank: 100th
Points: 1,049
Charley Hoffman played well at the Shell Houston Open last year and was tied for 12th going into the final round. He needs a good finish this week to get back on track -- he has fallen from 24th on the FedExCup points list to 100th in the past two months.

Player: Tim Herron
Rank: 157th
Points: 386
Tim Herron made 22 of 27 cuts last year but only managed one top 10, finishing as the 104th seed in the Playoffs and missing the BMW Championship. He will need at least two or three top 10s in the Regular Season to finish in the top 70 this year, giving himself a good chance to make the BMW Championship in 2008.

Player: Davis Love III
Rank: 159th
Points: 384
Last year, Davis Love made the cut in all five tournaments in which he played in April and May. However, he earned less than 500 points total, one quarter of what he received for his two T4 finishes earlier in the year.

Player: Phil Mickelson
Rank: 2nd
Points: 8,838
Phil Mickelson had a great February and March period last year but an even better one this year, picking up 862 more points than a year ago. Last year, though, he had a fantastic April and May, with a win and two ties for third -- collecting a total of 7,842 points.

Player: Rich Beem
Rank: 130th
Points: 643
Rich Beem was the 134th seed in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup last year and moved to 113th after finishing seventh at The Barclays. His 30th-place finish the next week wasn't good enough to get him into the top 70, who moved on to the BMW Championship. This year, with the Playoff points changes, that seventh-place finish would move him to 68th, and a 30th the next week would get him into the third playoff event.

Player: Dustin Johnson
Rank: 58th
Points: 2,068
Dustin Johnson struggled in March after a sizzling January and February, earning only 57 FedExCup points of his 2,068 total last month.

Player: Matt Jones
Rank: 54th
Points: 2,122
Matt Jones has not missed a cut all season -- he is 9 for 9 -- and is averaging earning about 235 FedExCup points per event.