Field: Top 30 FedExCup Pts. Standings •
Yards: 7,154

Season recaps for each player in Final 30

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Sep. 21, 2011

ATLANTA -- Thirty players will compete for the FedExCup title this week at the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. Here's a quick season recap for each one:

PLAYERS 1-15 IN FEDEXCUP STANDINGS BELOW | CLICK HERE FOR PLAYERS 16-30
More Final 30: Winning scenarios for every player | Playoffs Tracker

1. Webb Simpson

For most of the PGA TOUR regular season, the 26-year-old Simpson was having one of the best years on TOUR without recording a victory. Even without a win, Simpson entered the final Regular Season event of the year, the Wyndham Championship, No. 12 in the standings. In three events, he went from one of the best players without a win to one of the few guys on the PGA TOUR with two victories in 2011. Simpson started 2011 with six top 10s and two runner-up finishes in his first 16 starts of the year, missing just three cuts. His leap to No. 1 in the standings was initiated with birdies on the par-5 15th and the par-3 16th during the final round at the Wyndham Championship, which gave him a three-shot lead with two holes to go. The win moved him to No. 3 in the standings entering the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. Following a T10 at The Barclays, it was a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation at the Deutsche Bank Championship that put Simpson in a playoff with Chez Reavie. Simpson went on to birdie the second playoff hole, with seven one-putts in his final eight holes for his second win in three weeks. He moved to No. 1 in the standings halfway through the PGA TOUR Playoffs and maintains that position, thanks to a fifth-place finish at the BMW Championship.

2. Dustin Johnson

Johnson turned a rather lackluster season, by his high expectations, into a winning season with a victory in the first 2011 PGA TOUR Playoff event: The Barclays at Plainfield Country Club. Although shortened to 54 holes due to an approaching Hurricane Irene, Johnson knew hed need a strong performance in Saturday's final round. Thanks to a brilliant long, greenside bunker shot that he holed for eagle on the par four 4th hole, Johnson held off a dogged Matt Kuchar to become the only player since Tiger Woods to go straight from college and win a PGA TOUR event in each of his first four seasons. The victory propelled him from 19th to the top of the FedExCup standings. A T42 at the Deutsche Bank Championship and a T65 at the BMW Championship kept him within the top five in the FedExCup standings and gives him the ability to control his own destiny at East Lake Golf Club.

3. Justin Rose

Rose began the 2011 season looking to build on a career-best campaign in 2010, which saw him win his first two PGA TOUR events and enter the PGA TOUR Playoffs at No. 5 in the standings. Rose started 2011 with nine top-25 finishes in his first 10 starts. Rose entered the PGA TOUR Playoffs ranked No. 44 in the FedExCup standings. Following a solid T6 at The Barclays and a disappointing T68 at the Deutsche Bank Championship, Rose entered the BMW Championship on the bubble for the TOUR Championship, but after earning his third career PGA TOUR victory, he now enters the TOUR Championship at No. 3 in the standings.

4. Luke Donald

Donald has a unique opportunity to make golf history; he has a chance to win the season-long points races on both the PGA TOUR and European Tour. While the Race to Dubai is on the horizon, the FedExCup will be decided this week at the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola in Atlanta. By any measurement, Donald has had a fantastic 2011 season. He won the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship in February and has played at a consistently high level throughout 2011. He has 12 top-10 finishes in 17 starts on the PGA TOUR, including a runner-up finish at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. His remarkable regular season placed him fourth in the FedExCup points heading into the Playoffs. A tie for third at the Deutsche Bank Championship and strong showings at the other Playoff events have protected his position within the top five and put him within striking distance of history.

5. Matt Kuchar

With Webb Simpson winning twice late in the season, Kuchar is now the TOUR's most consistent player without a victory in 2011. Kuchar, who entered last year's TOUR Championship No. 1 in the standings, has 20 top-10 finishes in the last two years combined. Kuchar has 36 top-25 finishes in 47 events over that time and has missed just four cuts. Kuchar has twice finished runner-up this year, the latest at The Barclays, which was shortened 54 holes due to Hurricane Irene. His nine top-10 finishes and his solid play all of this year have been good enough to get Kuchar to No. 5 in the standings. The key to reaching the top 5 in the standings entering the TOUR Championship was his runner-up finish at The Barclays and then maintaining position by finishing inside the top 25 in the second and third PGA TOUR Playoff events

6. Brandt Snedeker

Snedeker has experienced the ups and downs of the FedExCup. Snedeker, whose four-putt at the 72nd hole of the 2009 BMW Championship cost him a spot in the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola that year, shot 61 during the final round of this year's The Barclays, allowing him to jump from a T29 to T3 finish. The T3 moved Snedeker from 18th in the FedExCup to No. 6 in the standings. His tournament-record 61 featured 11 birdies thanks, in part, to a 6-under 29 on the front nine at Plainfield Country Club. Snedeker then backed up his T3 at The Barclays with another T3 at the Deutsche Bank Championship the following week to move to No. 5 in the standings. A T22 at the BMW Championship has him just outside the coveted top five heading to Atlanta. He began the PGA TOUR Playoffs ranked No. 18 after a solid 2011 Regular Season, which included his playoff victory over Luke Donald at The Heritage.

7. Nick Watney

Watney's standing at No. 7 in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup is more about what he did in the Regular Season and less about what he has done over the three Playoff events. Watney began the year with five consecutive top-10 finishes, including his first of two wins in 2011 at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at TPC Blue Monster at Doral. Following that victory, Watney never fell below No. 7 in the FedExCup standings and rose to No. 1 after his second victory of the year at the AT&T National at Aronimik. Watney led through the remainder of the Regular Season and into the first event (The Barclays) of the PGA TOUR Playoffs. A T10 at The Barclays kept him inside the top 5 in the standings, but a final-round 80 at the Deutsche Bank Championship resulting in a T61 finished moved him back. He finished T22 at the BMW Championship.

8. Chez Reavie

You can look at Reavie's bogey on the 72nd hole of the Deutsche Bank Championship in two ways. On one hand, he assured himself a position on his first TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola with a strong runner-up performance at TPC Boston. On the other hand, had he made par on the final hole and won (instead of ending up on the wrong side of Simpson's playoff victory at the Deutsche Bank Championship), Reavie would be ranked No. 5 in the standings and in control of his own destiny at East Lake Golf Club. But looking at where Reavie started the 2011 season, it is safe to say that just reaching the finale of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup is not a bad result. Reavie began the season on a Major Medical Exemption, and coupled with $112,994 earned in 2010, had 13 events to equal the earnings of No. 125 from the 2010 money list (Troy Merritt, $786,977). With top-five finishes at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial and the John Deere Classic highlighting the way, Reavie was able to play his way through his major medical exemption, earning a 2012 PGA TOUR card while also finding himself in the hunt in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

9. John Senden

In a season full of top-25 finishes, Senden picked the right week to have his best performance of the year. The Australian used a runner-up at the final PGA TOUR Playoff event at the BMW Championship to jump 46 spots in the FedExCup standings. Senden was the only player to threaten Justin Rose during the final round in Chicago, but could not secure his second career PGA TOUR victory. In total, Senden has 13 top-25 finishes this year and will be playing the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola for the second time in his career.

10. Jason Day

Despite not entering the winner's circle in 2011, Day has had an outstanding season. Highlighted by runner-up finishes at the Masters and U.S. Open, Day has posted nine top-10 finishes this year. A tie for third at the Deutsche Bank Championship and steady play at The Barclays and BMW Championship have Day well-positioned to make a run at the FedExCup.

11. Gary Woodland

Another of the new breed 20-somethings to win on TOUR this year, Woodland nearly won in his second event of the season, falling in a playoff to rookie Jonhattan Vegas at the Bob Hope Classic. He followed the runner-up finish with three top-10 finishes in the next five events, including his maiden PGA TOUR victory at the Transitions Championship. In total, Woodland has six top-10 finishes and has not missed a cut since THE PLAYERS Championship in May.

12. Steve Stricker

This season, Stricker became the only player to post at least two PGA TOUR titles in each of the last three years. His win at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance in May was followed by an impressive victory at the John Deere Classic in July. Stricker was tied for the lead with rookie Kyle Stanley on the 72nd hole. Facing a fairway bunker shot over water from an awkward stance, Stricker didn't play safe; he took dead aim. Stricker's 6-iron found the back edge of the green. He then drained the putt for birdie to win the John Deere Classic for the third consecutive year. He entered the Playoffs in second place in the FedExCup, but has dropped to 12th after some of his worst finishes this season: a T24 at The Barclays; a T42 at Deutsche Bank Championship; and then a WD at the BMW Championship due to a neck injury.

13. K.J. Choi

Choi's spot at No. 14 in the standings is due, in part, to three clutch putts that took place back in May. During the final round at THE PLAYERS, Choi converted a 10-foot, 4-inch birdie putt on No. 17 and a 4-foot, 10-inch par putt on No. 18 to force a playoff with David Toms. On the first playoff hole, at the signature island green at the par-3 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass, Toms missed a short putt that paved the way for Choi to become the first Korean and first Asian-born player to win THE PLAYERS. The victory moved Choi from 31st to No. 6 in the standings, and he remained in the top 10 all the way into the Playoffs and through The Barclays. An untimely missed cut at the Deutsche Bank Championship cost Choi some positioning, but he rebounded at the BMW Championship with a T10 finish. Still, at No. 14, this is his worst position in the FedExCup standings since before winning THE PLAYERS.

14. Phil Mickelson

Mickelson won this year's Shell Houston Open with a 63-65 final 36 holes. The rest of the 2011 season might not have played out like Mickelson had hoped, but he still entered the Playoffs in sixth place in the FedExCup standings. He heads to Atlanta at No. 13 in the standings, and his record at East Lake, which includes tournament victories in 2000 and 2009, makes him a contender at the FedExCup season finale.

15. Mark Wilson

Wilson was arguably the best player on the planet for a stretch of golf early in the Regular Season. With victories in two of his first three events in 2011 at the Sony Open in Hawaii and the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Wilson was No. 1 in the standings for 11 consecutive weeks. He remained in the top 10 until the final week of the Regular Season, when he didn't play in the Wyndham Championship and fell to 11th to begin the PGA TOUR Playoffs. Once in the Playoffs, finishes of T24 and T56 at The Barclays and Deutsche Bank Championship, respectively, bumped him to No. 17. Wilson played well in the opening 36 holes of the BMW Championship shooting 65-66 to take the lead, but faded on the weekend, finishing T22. The T22, though, was good enough to keep him in the top 15 heading into the TOUR Championship.