By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Jhonattan Vegas learned a valuable lesson last year when he made his debut at THE PLAYERS Championship.

Rounds of 78 and 77 sent the Venezuelan home early and he was determined that wouldn't happen again. Instead, Vegas has been patient this week and landed in contention at 6 under after Saturday's round of 68.

"You've got to realize and know that you're going to miss shots here, as simple as that," Vegas said. "You're going to have to fight for your pars. As long as you know that and you're willing to work hard to get it done, you can really build good rounds around here, because there are holes here that you can take advantage of.
   
"That's my mentality for the week. Last year I tried to be a little too aggressive on the course, and the course kind of spanked me a little bit. This year we are trying to do things a little bit different with a 2-iron, trying to hit it more in play and give myself more chances. That's kind of what I've been doing so far."

So far, so good, too. Vegas opened with a 15-footer for birdie at the first hole, then chipped in for eagle at the par-5 second. Vegas said the chip from 79 feet wasn't easy -- particularly after he watched Jim Furyk send his third shot over the green.

“I was just trying to be a little protective," Vegas said. "But I just had a good feeling about that shot. Just read it perfectly and executed it perfectly and luckily it went in.”

Vegas finished strong, as well, two-putting for birdie from 18 feet at the 16th hole and making a 3-footer at the 17th -- much to the delight of the huge crowd. He said he felt the nerves but fed off the "positive energy" when he stood over his wedge to the island green.

"I'm in a great place," Vegas said. "I'm probably going to be four or five back for tomorrow. I feel like I'm in a good position because I don't feel like the leaders are going to go too far ahead; so, within range, which is good, which is kind of what you want to have going into Sunday."

The pairings have been unveiled for this week’s PGA TOUR Matchups Game on Facebook. You can check out the Matchups for the Transitions Championship 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

THIS WEEK’S MATCHUPS

Gary Woodland vs. Webb Simpson	Woodland handed Simpson a tough loss at Copperhead last year
Justin Rose vs. Luke Donald	Rose working on a season like the one Donald authored in 2011
Brandt Snedeker vs. Jhonattan Vegas	It's Vanderbilt (Snedeker) against Texas (Vegas) at Copperhead
Ryo Ishikawa vs. K.J. Choi	Asia's top young player takes on Asia's best over-40 player
Angel Cabrera vs. Zach Johnson	Two former Masters champions on road to Augusta National

FEDEXCUP: Current standings | Weekly leaders | More By Chris Dunham, PGATOUR.COM Does anyone enjoy the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation more than Bill Haas? The reigning FedExCup champion has found no shortage of success in seven starts in La Quinta. The 2010 champion and 2011 runner-up has posted 20 consecutive sub-70 rounds here. In seven starts, Haas has just one round over par and no finish lower than a tie for 34th (2005, in his event debut). This week presents the 29-year-old’s second opportunity to get a quick start on his title defense. His first attempt didn’t go as well as hoped when Haas started 2012 with two even-par 73s while more than half the field was posting red numbers at Kapalua. Bookends were key for Haas en route to the 2011 FedExCup title. Of his seven top-10 finished, Haas had three to open his year and one to close the FedExCup season. If he doesn’t have a good week here, Haas will be behind his schedule from the last two years and will need to make up ground elsewhere. With more than 30 events ahead, he’ll have plenty of opportunities to rack up points, though. FRAZAR ENTERS THE PICTURE: Sticking with golf is looking like a very good decision for Harrison Frazar. It took 355 starts for Frazar to break through with his maiden victory (last year’s FedEx St. Jude Classic). Prior to that, Frazar hadn’t finished inside the top 10 since the 2009 Turning Stone Resort Championship or the top 3 since 2005 at Disney. Now Frazar is off to one of the best starts on TOUR, earning a tie for fifth and a T2 in two 2012 starts -- the only player with two top-5 finishes -- and a fourth-place standing in the FedExCup race. ROOKIE SECONDS: While the Sony Open in Hawaii has not featured a rookie finisher inside the top 10 since 2009, the Humana Challenge is far more welcoming to the first-year TOUR pros. Three rookies -- Chris Kirk, Keegan Bradley and champion Jhonattan Vegas -- finished inside the top 10 here last year. Interestingly, that trio all ended the season with victories and spots in the top five of PGATOUR.COM’s Rookie Rankings. Ted Potter Jr. (T13 at the Sony Open) is off to the best start in this year’s class.

By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM

KAPALUA, Hawaii -- Jhonattan Vegas was on the outside looking in at The Presidents Cup in November. The Venezuelan finished 30th on the list for the International team – too low for an automatic spot -- and did not get one of Greg Norman's Captain's picks at Royal Melbourne.

Still, he watched on TV with frustrated interest as the Internationals suffered another loss to the U.S. And even though the next Presidents Cup isn't until 2013 at Muirfield Village, Vegas doesn't think it's too early to start setting his sights on making the International team.

"It is one of my goals," he said Thursday. "It's a fun competition, so just to be part of that, it means that you've done something good in two years."

The players who automatically qualify are the top 10 International players (excluding those eligible for the European Ryder Cup team) from the Official World Golf Ranking as of a specified date late in the 2013 season.

Vegas was ranked 187th in the world going into last year's then-Bob Hope Classic (now the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation). But after his surprise win – the reason he’s in this week’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions field -- he moved up 101 spots to 86th in the world.

He struggled for a stretch after that, however, as the added demands that come being a TOUR winner and his interesting background story challenged his and his support team's organization skills.

"I had so much on my plate," he said, "that I wasn't really ready for it."

He's now 111th in the world but feels like he's in much better control of his game and his surroundings. And with Muirfield Village two years away, he has plenty of time to move up and grab an automatic spot on the International team. Ryo Ishikawa, who grabbed the final automatic spot this year, is currently ranked 51st in the world – 60 spots ahead -- so Vegas also has his work cut out for him.

"My goal this year is just to really play consistent, just the whole year," Vegas said.

If he does that, then he may very well achieve one of his other goals in 2013.

Our list of Players to Watch for 2012 continues Sunday with five proven PGA TOUR champions – in fact, all five won last year.

David Toms enjoyed a resurgence at age 44, nearly winning THE PLAYERS Championship and then winning two weeks later at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Jhonattan Vegas was the talk of the TOUR early in the 2011 season, winning as a rookie in what is now the Humana Challenge. He was the TOUR’s first Venezuelan-born winner.

Veterans Brandt Snedeker, Justin Rose and Steve Stricker all added to their win totals in 2011 in impressive fashion. Snedeker won in a playoff over Luke Donald at the RBC Heritage, Rose won in the PGA TOUR Playoffs at the BMW Championship en route to a fifth-place FedExCup finish, and Stricker had one of the year’s top shots in winning a third consecutive John Deere Classic.

Below is a link to each of the 5 players who were revealed on Sunday. PGATOUR.COM will countdown the players for the rest of December, with No. 1 unveiled on Dec. 30.

Be sure to check out 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.

Let’s us know how you think these players will perform in 2012 and whether we ranked ‘em too high, too low or just right.

No. 21: David Toms

No. 22: Jhonattan Vegas

No. 23: Brandt Snedeker

No. 24: Justin Rose

No. 25: Steve Stricker

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE ARCHIVE PAGE/SCHEDULE FOR THE TOP 100 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2012

The six nominees for 2011 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year have been unveiled.

The awards are determined by a member vote, with PGA TOUR members who played in at least 15 official money events in 2011 eligible to vote. The winners are expected to be announced the week of Dec. 12.

Nominees for the PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year are:

Keegan Bradley

Chris Kirk

Charl Schwartzel

Scott Stallings

Brendan Steele

Jhonattan Vegas

For more on the candidates, click here

Now it’s your turn. Which player do you think deserves this year’s Rookie of the Year?

Fredrik Jacobson (-14) has been a constant on, or around, the top of the leaderboard throughout the third round of the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions. He's currently two shots ahead of Louis Oosthuizen, who entered the day one back, but the names behind those two have been undergoing seismic changes. Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer are each 4 under , 14 and 13 holes into their respective rounds, and find themselves just three back. Also in that group is Paul Casey. The four-way tie at 10 under includes Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell. The Northern Irishmen are 5 under and 4 under on the day with a few holes to play. Jhonattan Vegas, a TOUR rookie who won the Bob Hope Classic in January, and Harrison Frazar, who earned his maiden victory earlier this year in Memphis, are the day’s biggest movers. Vegas is finished after a 7-under 65 moved him to 9 under on the week. Frazar has bounced back from a Friday 75 to be 9 under through 16 holes in his third round. Frazar started on the back nine and had seven birdies, one bogey and one par to turn at 6 under. He’s alternated pars and birdies on his first seven holes on the front nine.