Opportunity knocks for the 27 players who are playing in the 20th staging of THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, which this week returns for a sixth time to historic East Lake Golf Club in suburban Atlanta.

THE TOUR Championship was first held in 1987 to provide a meaningful conclusion to the PGA TOUR season, and while Tiger Woods is sitting on the sidelines with the money title and other post-season honors locked up, plenty of others are motivated to finish strong in the $6.5-million event.

Thirty men qualify for the championship via their standing on the money list, but Masters champ Phil Mickelson also is voluntarily sitting out and Stephen Ames, winner of THE PLAYERS Championship, is sidelined with a sore back. Hey, like the lottery, you can’t win if you don’t enter!

(Personally, the TOUR Insider thinks if a guy can’t get to the tee, then alternates starting at 31st on the money list deserve an invitation.)

Some guys really want to win the finale. They have gone asking all season and this is the last chance to punch a ticket to Maui and the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua Resort -- which is also the first event of the new FedExCup campaign.

The hungry men are Retief Goosen, Ernie Els, Brett Quigley, Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson, Adam Scott and Tom Pernice Jr.

Seven of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are in the field.

Fifteen players -- more than half the field -- have never played in THE TOUR Championship or are making only their second appearance.

Seven of the top 13 in the standings for the Fall Finish presented by PricewaterhouseCoopers, ranging from Joe Durant in first place to three-time Fall Finish champ Vijay Singh, are getting all the free Coke they want while seeking a cool bonus.

What’s that tapping sound? Oh, hello opportunity.

Last year:Tiger Woods figured in a six-stroke decision -- finishing second to red-hot Bart Bryant, who opened with a course-record 62 and led wire-to-wire. Bryant shot 17-under-par 263 and bettered the previous tournament record by four shots.

How he did it: Twenty birdies and two eagles (best in the field) were more than enough to offset his occasional hiccups. It was hard to figure what was the key, seeing how he led in driving accuracy and greens in regulation and ranked third in putts per round. It was a dominating performance, and the score reflected that.

Strange but true:Tiger Woods has shot four rounds in the 60s three times in the TOUR Championship and has but one win to show for it (1999).

True but not so strange:Bart Bryant is the seventh player in 19 years to fail to qualify for the TOUR Championship the year after winning it.

Worth knowing:

Being the highest ranked player in the field didn’t save Retief Goosen from missing the cut at the Chrysler Championship, and now the South African needs to win THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola to extend to seven his streak of seasons with at least one PGA TOUR title. Granted, he does enjoy East Lake, having finished third, first and ninth in his three appearances there.

Vijay Singh has finished in the top 10 in 10 of 12 appearances in THE TOUR Championship. He won it in 2002 at East Lake and was runner-up there in 1998.

Ten players are making their first appearance in the TOUR Championship: Geoff Ogilvy, Trevor Immelman, Carl Pettersson, Brett Quigley, Brett Wetterich, Dean Wilson, Arron Oberholser, Ben Curtis, J.J. Henry and Tom Pernice, Jr., the latter who is making his debut at the age of 47.

Ten players in this week’s field competed in the 2005 edition at East Lake: Goosen, Stuart Appleby, Chad Campbell, Luke Donald, Jim Furyk, Lucas Glover, Davis Love III, Adam Scott, Vijay Singh, and David Toms.

Recent tests revealed no skeletal damage to Stephen Ames’ sore back, but he’s resting until at least the Skins Game on Thanksgiving weekend (a perk for winning The PLAYERS Championship). He also intends to participate in the World Golf Championships-Barbados World Cup on Dec. 7-10.

Phil Mickelson is voluntarily passing on the TOUR Championship for the third time in five years, including the 2001 season when he was the defending champion. There has never been a repeat winner in tournament history.

Nationwide Tour grads beat Q-School grads 11-9 in retaining their TOUR cards for 2007. Best of the bunch was Wetterich, who jumped from the qualifying tournament to 10th on the money list and is the only one of the 20 aforementioned players teeing it up this week.

TI’s power ranking for THE TOUR Championship: 1. Jim Furyk, 2. Retief Goosen, 3. David Toms, 4. Vijay Singh, 5. Ernie Els.

Parting shot: “I’ll be the happiest guy there.” – Ernie Els, after preserving his spot in THE TOUR Championship with a tie for sixth at the Chrysler Championship thanks to a par-par finish.