Five players to watch during the Fall Series

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Opportunities can be found all around the Fall Series; read more about them here. With countless motivations and various goals in play over the next four weeks, below are five golfers that deserve our attention.

MORE FALL SERIES: Preview | Top 100 money leaders | Current money list

McNeill

GEORGE MCNEILL: If the Fall Series had a poster boy, he'd be on bedroom walls everywhere. Where some fold, he thrives. He's the all-time money leader in the Fall Series with $2,248,894.19. That's over 35 percent of his career earnings, yet it was amassed in just 14.5 percent of his 131 career starts. He's 12-for-19 with a win, three seconds (including two playoff losses) and six more top 25s. One of three PGA TOUR winners whose only victory occurred in the Fall Series (Marc Turnesa, Robert Garrigus). Playing on conditional status in 2011, he's posted four top 10s including a pair of runner-up finishes in 18 starts. Incidentally, Stephen Ames ranks second in earnings ($1.943M) and owns bragging rights as the only multiple winner in the Fall Series (Children's Miracle Network Classic, 2007 and 2009).

Mallinger

JOHN MALLINGER: He's attacking next year from two angles. He has conditional status, which puts him on the bubble to play all four events. He'll start the JT Shriners ranked 187th in earnings. Even better, he's all but locked up a 2012 PGA TOUR card in just six starts on the Nationwide Tour, where he's made five cuts worth over $212K, good for 10th on the money list with five events remaining. (The top 25 graduate.) With that in mind, by choosing to play the PGA TOUR -- at least for the first week of the Fall Series -- he's at the risk of losing ground in the eventual pecking order that will be determined for the first phase of next year's reshuffle. The bold decision is reason alone to keep an eye on him. He's 10-for-17 in the Fall Series with five top 20s, including a pair of T3s.

Immelman

TREVOR IMMELMAN: His next cut made in the Fall Series will be his first. The 2008 Masters champ didn't make an appearance in the set until 2010, and then went 0-for-4. He had surgery on his left wrist in October 2009 and has slowly worked his way back into form. One indication of his quiet return is that he's highest on the money list (100th) among those without a top 10. In fact, his last top 10 was at the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola, just five months following his victory at Augusta National. The South African has a quartet of top 15s this season, including at Bay Hill and two majors.

Curtis

BEN CURTIS: At 142nd in earnings with just over $403K (and approximately $160K back of the top 125), he's in danger of losing his fully-exempt status since bursting on the scene as the PGA TOUR's Rookie of the Year in 2003. He's made only 19 starts this year and hasn't had a top 10 on TOUR in 18 months. However, the 34-year-old is in his prime and has illustrated a knack for staying hot once he finds his groove. During a seven-event stretch in the second half of 2008, he posted four top-sevens to finish ninth in the FedExCup. In eight career starts in the Fall Series, he's made five cuts but has just one top 25 (T15 at last year's McGladrey Classic).

Stanley

KYLE STANLEY: He's done just about everything but win this year, and even that was thwarted by Steve Stricker's incredible birdie at the 72nd hole of the John Deere Classic, where Stanley settled for second place. The rookie also leads his class with 20 cuts made. He finished 34th in FedExCup points, third-best among first-time members (Keegan Bradley tied for 20th; Charl Schwartzel was 32nd). Stanley has been low rookie or shared that honor four times, including at the first two Playoff events. Three rookies have claimed victories in the Fall Series, but none since Turnesa in 2008.