Leonard is the all-time leading money winner at the Valero Texas Open. (Greenwood/Getty Images)

Each week, PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton offers his Power Rankings for the weekly TOUR event as well as his Sleeper picks. But what about the players who don't make the Power Rankings but who can't really be considered Sleepers? Bolton will make one "wild card" selection from the large group of players who fall into that middle range but might rise up to claim the title. This week's pick is ...

JUSTIN LEONARD

Already 8-for-9 on the year, the Texan has survived more than half of his cuts made (15) from 2012 in one-third the number of starts (26). His most notable result this season was a T4 at the Tampa Bay Championship just three weeks ago. Ranks 36th on TOUR in fairways hit, 36th in scrambling and 48th in adjusted scoring. He's also a three-time winner (2000, 2001, 2007) and all-time money leader at the Valero Texas Open, but he's yet to crack the top 25 among three cuts made since the tournament shifted to TPC San Antonio in 2010.

Click here to check out Bolton's Power Rankings for the Valero Texas Open

By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The 2012 season hasn't exactly been a whole lot of fun for Justin Leonard.

After all, he only had one top-10 in his first 20 starts -- and that came back in January. Since that tie for eighth at the Farmers Insurance Open, Leonard hadn't finished higher than 29th (and missed 10 cuts) until he tied for fifth at the Reno-Tahoe Open in his last start three weeks ago.

That performance at Montreux Golf & Country Club just may have turned Leonard's season around, though.

The tournament featured the Stableford scoring system which puts a premium on making birdies. So Leonard went out and made 18 that week and he already has 19 birdies at Sedgefield in three rounds of the Wyndham Championship.

The Texan opened with four straight birdies Saturday, making putts of 13, 16 and 13 feet and chipping in from 69 feet at the fourth hole on the way to a 64. It was his third straight round in the 60s, a welcome first for the 2012 season.

"All day I hit the ball pretty well," Leonard said. "... I'm making a lot of birdies and, you know, it's fun. I'm enjoying these last two weeks I've played, you know, playing a lot better and, you know, certainly in a better mindset." '

Leonard will start the final round at 10 under, which is tied for 10th right now. He sees the difference in the last two weeks and the first 20 as more of an attitude adjustment than a technical change.

"I wish it was technical because that would have been very easy to fix," Leonard said with a smile. "Just a little lighter attitude and not just concerned about the score that I shoot or where I'm finishing in tournaments and am I going to make the cut, those kinds of things. Just really being able to relax and just go out and play golf."

Leonard has applied the same approach to the FedExCup Playoffs, too.

He entered the week ranked 157th, but Leonard now has a shot at returning to the Playoffs -- although he likely needs to finish fourth or better. A year ago he missed a par putt on the 72nd hole and finished 126th on the money list, missing the Playoffs for the first time in his career.

"I know I need a top-3, 4 finish and I certainly gave myself a better chance with my round today," he said. "So I just want to continue on the things I'm doing and hopefully I can come out and play a good round tomorrow and see if I can get in there next week."

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Veterans Justin Leonard and Rocco Mediate are showing the young guns how it's done on Saturday at Sedgefield Country Club.

Leonard, who started the week ranked 157th in the FedExCup, has just made a 17-footer for birdie at the 10th hole to move to 9 under for the tournament. He started the round with four straight birdies, made the turn in 31 and is 5 under for the day.

Leonard likely needs to finish fourth or better to avoid missing the FedExCup Playoffs for the second straight hole. A year ago at Sedgefield, Leonard missed a par putt on the 72nd hole and ended up No. 126 in the standings.

Mediate is a two-time winner at Greensboro, although both of his wins came at Forest Oaks, not Sedgefield. Like Leonard, he made the turn in a bogey-free 31 and stands 9 under and three strokes off the pace set by Jimmy Walker through two rounds.

Mediate, who turns 50 in December, came in ranked 178th in the FedExCup and likely needs to finish second or better to make the Playoffs.

This week’s Wyndham Championship marks the final opportunity for players to move inside the top 125 in FedExCup points and reserve their spot in the FedExCup Playoffs, which begin next week at The Barclays.

Starting with the No. 126 player in points (Brendan Steele) going into this week, 44 of the next 55 players in points are playing at Sedgefield. Notables such as Retief Goosen (127th) and Stewart Cink (135th) are not in the field, meaning they will not make the Playoffs this year.

Here’s a look at some of the notables currently outside the top 125 who are playing this week. Which one do you think has the best chance of having a good week and moving inside the top 125?

Click here for latest FedExCup standings

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Player		Current Rank	Comment
	Y.E. Yang	129th	Made the Playoffs the previous three years, finishing 30th last year. But he hasn’t had a top-10 finish in 19 starts this year.
	Gary Woodland	130th	A year ago, he was ninth in FedExCup points, which essentially clinched his spot for the TOUR Championship. But like Yang, he doesn’t have a top-10 finish (18 starts) this year, has battled injuries and has just two sub-par rounds in his last 21 rounds.
	John Daly	137th	Has never made the Playoffs, but he’s making a late charge this year. He’s move up 26 spots in the last two weeks thanks to a T5 (at Reno-Tahoe) and a T18 (at PGA Championship).
	Stuart Appleby	142nd	Has made the Playoffs in four of the first five years but has just one top-10 finish on TOUR since shooting that 59 in the final round to win The Greenbrier Classic in 2010.
	Camilo Villegas	146th	Villegas has always come up big in the Playoffs – he’s had at least one top-10 finish in every year, and has 10 top-10s (in 18 starts) overall, including two wins in 2008. But his best finish this year has been a T18 in New Orleans.
	Justin Leonard	157th	Last year was the first time Leonard had missed the Playoffs and he’s in danger again. But he comes off a T5 at Reno-Tahoe, his best finish of the year.

By John Schwarb, PGATOUR.COM

Tiger Woods is retaking his place at the top of the golf pantheon. His win on Sunday at the AT&T National – his third in seven starts -- gave him a PGA TOUR-leading three wins on the season, the FedExCup points lead and solo second place on the all-time TOUR victory list.

Where is it all coming from? The added “reps”, as Woods frequently cites? The work with swing coach Sean Foley? The weather? (Tiger’s an especially strong player in the heat.)

The answer may be simpler than that. He’s simply rolling the ball better.

Woods was ninth at Congressional in Strokes Gained-Putting with his Nike Method 001 putter, picking up nearly a shot and a half on the greens for the week. He’s now 14th in Strokes Gained-Putting for the year and 11th in Total Putting, a stat that combines putting averages from various distances.

“I feel like I really controlled the putter well this week,” Woods said. “I had a lot of good putts, and I had a lot of -- for some reason I had a lot of putts that were downhill, big, breaking putts. I hit a lot of good putts this week.”

The Method putter features Nike’s polymetal groove technology, which gets the ball rolling with forward spin more quickly after impact.

Woods wasn’t the only one with a big week at AT&T with a Method 001. Jhonattan Vegas finished T4, his best of the season.

D2 DEBUTS: Titleist unveiled its new 913 drivers for pros at AT&T, and 14 of the 34 players who teed up Titleist drivers in competition used the new models.

Seung-Yul Noh, using a 7.5-degree 913D3, finished highest with a T4, while Nick Watney finished 10th with a 10.5-degree 913D3. Brendon de Jonge, the 54-hole leader at Congressional, ended tied for 11th with his 9.5-degree 913 D3.

The newest members of Titleist’s 900 family (“9” is the designation for metalwoods and “13” is the model year) feature some cosmetic differences and a weight cartridge at the rear of the clubhead. Like the previous 910 models, Titleist’s SureFit Tour hosel helps a player dial in the ideal lie and loft.

There are two models, the D2 and D3, with the D2 having a slightly bigger head. Of the 14 pros at AT&T, 11 played the D3 and three (Bud Cauley, Tom Gillis and John Merrick) chose the D2.

Rory McIlroy put an 8.5-degree 913D3 at the Irish Open, finishing in a tie for 10th.

BEER!: For those of you who consider beer as essential “equipment” for your weekend rounds, there’s a new brew inspired by Sam Snead.

Slammin’ Sam is a craft-brewed American lager developed off a proprietary recipe and made in Wisconsin by Stevens Point Brewery. It debuts this week at The Greenbrier Resort, which is hosting the PGA TOUR’s Greenbrier Classic.

“It makes sense for Slammin’ Sam beer to be introduced here,” said Jeff Kmiec, president and managing director of The Greenbrier Resort. “Sam Snead called The Greenbrier his professional home for more than 60 years and I think he’d be happy to know guests will savor a beer that bears his nickname.”

The beer’s packaging features famous images of Snead and is available in cans, bottles and kegs. The company plans to launch the product soon at other golf resorts around North America.

For more information, check out a fun Q&A with the founder of Slammin’ Sam here.

LOOKING AT LYTHAM: Justin Rose and Justin Leonard had new hybrids built in the TaylorMade truck at Congressional, purposely for the British Open later this month. Rose got a 16-degree Rescue 11, designed for him to hit piercing shots in the wind. Leonard got two 17-degree Rescue 11s and compared the two during practice rounds at Congressional.

BITS: Martin Laird put a new TaylorMade Ghost Spider IB belly putter in play at Congressional, replacing his longtime Ghost Tour DA-12 belly model. He finished T11. … John Mallinger also finished T11 at AT&T, playing a new set of TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC irons. He’s moving away from an older model of TP irons which had “pretty dead” grooves, in his words. … Kevin Stadler had never played a 5-wood but tested a Callaway Razr Fit model and liked how it fit a gap between his 3-wood and hybrid. He tested it, found that he could hit his standard high cut with it, and put it in play at AT&T.

WINNER’S BAG: Woods at the AT&T National:
Driver: Nike VR Tour (8.5 degree, Graphite Design DI 6X shaft)
Fairway wood: Nike VR Pro Limited Edition 3-wood (15 degrees); Nike SQ II 5-wood (19 degrees)
Irons: Nike VR Pro Blades (3-PW)
Wedges: Nike VR Pro (56, 60 degrees)
Putter: Nike Method 001
Ball: Nike ONE Tour D

The pairings have been unveiled for this week’s PGA TOUR Matchups Game on Facebook. You can check out the Matchups for the FedEx St. Jude Classic below, or on the PGA TOUR’s Facebook page.

Participants have until 6 a.m. ET Thursday to make their picks. Log on to the PGA TOUR Facebook page and click the Matchups link to make your picks for this week, or to sign up.

GO TO FACEBOOK PAGE TO PLAY MATCHUPS GAME

Rory McIlroy vs. Graeme McDowell	These two friends have won the last two U.S. Opens
David Toms vs. Justin Leonard	Both have two wins each in this event
Harrison Frazar vs. Robert Karlsson	Can Karlsson enact revenge from his loss in 2011?
Davis Love III vs. Zach Johnson	Both veterans in good form ahead of TPC Southwind
Dustin Johnson vs. J.B. Holmes	Short hitters do well here. They must dial back.

The pairings have been unveiled for this week’s PGA TOUR Matchups Game on Facebook. You can check out the Matchups for the Valero Texas Open below, or on the PGA TOUR’s Facebook page.

Participants have until 6 a.m. ET Thursday to make their picks. Log on to the PGA TOUR Facebook page and click the Matchups link to make your picks for this week, or to sign up.

GO TO FACEBOOK PAGE TO PLAY MATCHUPS GAME

K.J. Choi vs. Matt Kuchar	These two technicians are each seeking first win of year
Brendan Steele vs. Johnson Wagner	Defending champion takes on No. 5 in FedExCup points
Justin Leonard vs. Harrison Frazar	These two Texans have played together for almost 30 years
Charley Hoffman vs. Kevin Chappell	These two finished a shot behind Steele here last year
Bud Cauley vs. Harris English	It's an SEC battle (Alabama vs. Georgia) between rookies.

HUMBLE, Texas -- The 36-hole cut at the Shell Houston Open left 90 players in the field for Saturday’s third round. Only once (91, 1981 Travelers Championship) have more than 90 players made a 36-hole cut in a non-major championship. With more than 78 players making the initial cut, a secondary cut was needed after Round 3 -- again, to the low 70 and ties. Among those missing the secondary cut were FedExCup No. 3 Kyle Stanley and Texas native Justin Leonard. Stanley made the initial cut on the number (2-under 142) but posted a 3-over 75 in Round 3 to fall below the line. Leonard was at 3 under after 36 holes but was one of five players to post a score in the 80s Saturday to eliminate themselves from Sunday’s final round. Padraig Harrington (74), Charley Hoffman (75) and Robert Allenby (78) were among the others to miss the secondary cutline. Miguel Angel Carballo (1-under 215) was the only player to make the cut on the number and will start Sunday at 70th on the leaderboard.

By John Schwarb, PGATOUR.COM

The talk of the golf equipment world last week at the Sony Open in Hawaii was that thing in Matt Every’s hands on the greens of Waialae. It worked very well as a putter but depending on who you watched on TV or followed on Twitter or read on equipment blogs, it was an ashtray, shoebox, VHS tape, dustpan or radar detector – to cite a few of the many nicknames.

It was a mystery then, and in many ways it still is now.

Every’s putter is called Black Hawk, by a company named Orion Golf. Not that you’d know that from looking at it; the black clubhead has no identifiers. Nor would you learn anything else about it by visiting a major golf retailer or 99.99 percent of the country’s pro shops. They won’t have the Black Hawk.

The club is for sale, but serious legwork is required to buy one.

Josh Anderson, PGA Professional at Magnolia Point Golf and Country Club outside Jacksonville, Fla., has fielded calls in the last few days from around the United States and as far away as Germany. Golfers want to buy one, yet he won’t sell them one.

The club’s founder, David Kargetta of Daytona Beach, Fla., has asked Anderson and a select few other pro shops in Florida – the only places where the putter can be found – to not make any sales by mail.

For starters, it’s a putter that must be custom-fit to be used properly. The putter, with its wide and heavy clubhead, can stand by itself and is meant to be held parallel to the ground by a player. But to use it properly it must be fit so the heel or toe is not raised.

“The fact is if you get fit for it, it guarantees your hands are in the exact same spot every time. It takes out that variable,” Anderson said. “The putter has no loft on it, so it takes that bias out of the equation. And the sweet spot is three balls wide – you can’t mis-hit it.”

Kargetta is a mechanical engineer and has all the data behind his invention, plus holds a patent on it, but has been reluctant to talk about it even as golf writers have clamored for more information. Instead, he has sold a few PGA pros like Anderson on the product’s merits, and has earned their loyalty by reimbursing for the time it takes them to fit the clubs to consumers.

The Black Hawk costs $259 while its sister Black Swan, featuring a cutout semicircle in the rear of the clubhead for alignment aid, costs $299. Neither model comes with a headcover.

Had Every held on to win the Sony, word is a website for the company would have launched that night. But he didn’t, so the Black Hawk is still largely under wraps. Orion Golf also won’t have a booth at next week’s PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, where the golf industry gathers to see what’s new in the game.

Instead, the putter will be on display at a few nearby courses, still largely a mystery.

STANDING PAT: With breakout 2011 that included two wins and second-place finishes in the FedExCup and money race, Webb Simpson could have shopped his bag over the offseason and cashed in big. But it never crossed his mind.

“I'm old school in my thoughts of switching equipment; as long as I'm feeling good with what I'm using and its ability to perform well, then I won't switch,” Simpson said last week at the Sony. “I've used the same irons now for ten years, the same ones or I've got newer sets but the same exact model and driver I've used for three years.

“I don't want to change. I've seen players do it over and over again, and they struggle the next year; it takes them a few years to figure it out again. I would rather go win $2 million on the course and make nothing off than win half a million on the course and make 4 off. The way we are wired, we want to play good golf and it doesn't matter the other way.”

CUTTING EDGE: TaylorMade got the last laugh from a golf blogger who was unmoved by the company’s claims of significant yardage gains from its new RocketBallz 3-wood.

The writer said if he gained the 17 or more yards advertised by TaylorMade, he’d shave the company’s logo “T” into his head and dye it green.

The company, not one to miss a marketing opportunity or an offer to back up its products, flew the blogger from upstate New York to its Carlsbad, Calif., headquarters. The blogger picked up some 40 yards Tuesday in a comparison test of the RocketBallz to his old 3-wood, and a hired barber was on hand to help the blogger pay off his bet.

NEW WINNER: Johnson Wagner won at Waialae with TaylorMade’s new R11S driver. The company touts the driver’s “3D Tuning” capability, where golfers can adjust loft up to 1.5 degrees, face angles in five different configurations and tune the club’s center of gravity toward the heel or toe.

Greg Norman, playing at this week’s Humana Challenge, had an R11S built in the TaylorMade truck this week with eight degrees of loft.

COOK’S UTENSILS: John Cook, a winner three times last season on the Champions Tour, revealed last week on the Tour’s Facebook page  that his longtime Nike allegiances are over. He’s playing the TaylorMade R11S driver, a Titleist ball and "everything else is whatever I feel I need to have in my bag.” He also said he’ll be wearing clothing from Leisure Society.

ETC: Brian Gay, T6 at the Sony, has a new driver, hybrid and 3-wood and said he’s hitting it farther . … Justin Leonard, previously with Nike is the newest face in the TaylorMade stable. He was among nine players at the Sony with the company’s new Penta TP5 ball. … Ross Fisher signed with Nike Golf for a club and clothing deal, the company announced Wednesday.

QUOTABLE: Bridgestone signed TV personality and former touring pro David Feherty to a multi-year deal. In the company’s press release, Feherty provided his own material:

"Not a lot of people know this, but I am a huge ball expert. In fact, over the years I played for a living, my balls took a lot of punishment in the form of tops, shanks, cuts, scrapes, and I've even lost a couple. As it turns out, I was playing with balls that should have been hit by someone else in the first place! Well, you live and learn.”

WINNER’S BAG: Johnson Wagner at the Sony Open in Hawaii:
Driver: TaylorMade R11S, 8 degrees (Aldila RIP NV shaft)
3-wood: TaylorMade Burner SuperFast 2.0, 13.5 degrees
Hybrid: Adams Idea Pro a12, 18 degrees 
Irons: Titleist CB 3-9 
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Spin Milled PW, 54, 60 degrees
Putter: Scotty Cameron Prototype 
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

PGATOUR.COM’s countdown of the Top 100 Players to Watch in 2012 begins today.

Starting with Thursday’s unveiling of Nos. 91-100, we’ll unveil our list throughout the rest of December, with the No. 1 Player to Watch unveiled on Dec. 30.

Each day, we’ll also post a note in TOUR Report with the latest list of players.

That will give you an opportunity to weigh in on how you think those players will perform next year – and whether you think we have them ranked too low or too high. After all, just like snowflakes, no two lists will be the same.

So for the debut of this year’s list, here are Nos. 91-100. Click on each player’s link for his preview page, including this year’s new addition of the Three Wise Men – Chris DiMarco, Arron Oberholser and Craig Perks, who offer their takes on each of the players on the list .

Don’t forget to let us know what you think.

No. 91: Angel Cabrera

No. 92: Justin Leonard

No. 93: J. J. Killeen

No. 94: Scott Verplank

No. 95: Jimmy Walker

No. 96: Andres Romero

No. 97: Paul Goydos

No. 98: Ricky Barnes

No. 99: Kris Blanks

No. 100: Billy Hurley

ARCHIVE PAGE/ROLLOUT SCHEDULE OF TOP 100 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2012