After a year off and still with strict player restrictions, The Open is set for its complicated return

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Bud Cauley ... If the Safeway Open was a 54-hole affair in each of the last three years, he probably would have shoved his way into the Power Rankings. However, since 2017, he's finished T7, T46 and T44 after entering those final rounds positioned T3, T15 and T9, respectively. Part of the reason for the fades is the challenge of the course and the conditions, part of it is proof of how hard it is for any touring professional to put four rounds together, and yet another part of it is the learning curve on how to win a PGA TOUR event for the first time. This is his 184th TOUR start as a pro. Class is out for him at Silverado, so all he needs to do is put his skills back to work and trust in why he's had so many close calls. Polished off the regular season with a T15 at Sedgefield where a closing 65 was his lowest final-round aggregate on TOUR in over six years. Doc Redman ... With one season as a PGA TOUR member under his belt, and a successful one at that (71st in the FedExCup), his star continues to rise. Only 22 years of age, he lived amongst the most consistently strong ball-strikers in 2019-20, ranking T13 in fairways hit, ninth in total driving and 12th in greens in regulation. His putting was at TOUR average, so he profiles as a talent who should contend in shootouts. That's not the setup at Silverado where he missed the cut in his debut a year ago, but with a T3 at Sedgefield highlighting four top 25s since play resumed, he won't have to dig deep to connect with the feels of good form. Carlos Ortiz ... Embarks on his fifth season as a PGA TOUR member after finishing 51st in the FedExCup with a T25 at the BMW Championship. While impressive, it was his lowest ranking after he logged a T4 at the Sanderson Farms Championship in his second start. The following week, he finished T40 at Silverado to improve his record to 4-for-4, albeit sans a top 30. His scoring average in 16 rounds here is 70.94. Accentuates an average game off the tee and into targets with masterful touch around greens. With his knowledge of the undulations and the confidence of another solid season behind him, he projects to record a personal best this week. Vincent Whaley ... No longer a rookie, but he was one of four among his outgoing class who competed in the Korn Ferry Tour's Lincoln Land Championship presented by LRS last week. He beat them all with a T17 after opening with a 63. (He placed T3 in the same event on the same track last year.) When he cut his teeth on the KFT in 2019, the Georgia Tech product was the sum-is-greater-than-hits-parts guy at 13th in the all-around with nothing specific about his game standing out. A bonus is that he finished T13 in par-5 scoring. A year later and little has changed analytically despite the absence of experience at this level. Now he's benefited by cycling through familiar venues. That includes Silverado where he missed the cut despite birdies (and no bogeys) on half of the par 5s that he played. Joohyung (Tom) Kim ... It's impossible to overlook what he's already achieved abroad. He first attracted serious attention with a T4 in Singapore in January. That yielded an exemption into the 2020 Open Championship that eventually was canceled. He won thrice internationally in 2019, and did so again in the KPGA this past July. That was in advance of his PGA TOUR debut at the PGA Championship where he missed the cut. Currently leading the KPGA in scoring average, sixth on the Asian Tour's Order of Merit and 111th in the Official World Golf Ranking (after climbing to a career-best 92nd two months ago). Oh yeah, he turned 18 in June. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. - There's a lot on the line at this week's Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club. The top 125 in the FedExCup standings advance to the Playoffs next week and the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 competition will be decided. Here's a quick look at each one after Saturday's third round, which ended shortly after 2 p.m. after tee times were moved up to avoid a spate of thunderstorms and heavy rain. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Kim takes lead after 54 holes | Season’s final stretch in full swing at Sedgefield FedExCup Update At stake: The 125 spots in the upcoming FedExCup Playoffs. Players who finish outside the top 125 after this week will see their seasons end. Unlike in past seasons, though, all players who were exempt this year will retain their eligibility for the 2020-21 campaign due to the schedule reduction caused by COVID-19. Latest projections: Three players — Rob Oppenheim, Zach Johnson and Peter Malnati - have entered the Playoff picture with Fabian Gomez, Russell Knox and Charl Schwartzel potentially moving out of the top 125. … Oppenheim, who turned 40 in January, grew up about 70 minutes from TPC Boston, which hosts THE NORTHERN TRUST, and has never made the Playoffs. He is currently tied for second in the Wyndham Championship after shooting 62 on Saturday and projected to move from No. 145 to 77th. … Johnson, who was named the winner of the Payne Stewart Award earlier this week, tied the day's low round of 61 to move into a tie for ninth. He is projected to move from No. 129 to 109th in the FedExCup. Johnson has only missed the Playoffs twice since the competition's inception in 2007. … Malnati is 13 under and tied for seventh after his third-round 64. He has moved from 144th to No. 123 in the FedExCup. … Both Gomez and Schwartzel missed the cut and are projected to drop five spots to No. 127 and 130, respectively. Knox is still playing but he is currently tied for 75th and has moved from No. 124 to 129th in the FedExCup. On the move: Johnson raced up the leaderboard with a furious finish, playing his final five holes in 6 under. He started on the back nine and birdied his final three holes to turn in 32, then made a 15-footer for eagle at No. 5 and followed that with birdie putts of 15, 8 and 24 feet before holing it from the fringe at the ninth. "The irony is the first two days I really didn’t play that much worse, I just didn’t score," Johnson said. "I didn’t make many putts. Hit it close a few times, I had three three-putts and a four-putt. That just kills you. So, I mean, those that have been around me and know me, my team in particular, obviously my caddie and my coaches know that something like — maybe not to this degree, but something like this is not that surprising based on what I’ve seen. Is it big? Yeah, sure, it’s big. But, I mean, every round’s big." Particularly when it helps get a player closer to the top 125. Wyndham Rewards Top 10 At stake: The top 10 spots in the FedExCup standings and its bonus pool money of $10 million. Justin Thomas already has wrapped up the top prize of $2 million. For the third straight day, there was no movement in or out of the top 10. Webb Simpson, who has two wins this season, bogeyed his last hole on the way to a 65 that left him at 13 under and five behind Si Woo Kim. He remains ranked third in the Wyndham Rewards. … Sungjae Im, who is ranked fifth in the bonus competition, shot 66 and is 11 under through three rounds, tied for 14th. … No. 6 Patrick Reed, the 2013 Wyndham Championship winner, shot 67 Saturday and is eight back at 10 under. … Brendon Todd, who has also won twice this year, missed the cut but remains in the No. 9 spot.

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