PGA playoff spots up for grab at Wyndham

Padraig Harrington, Justin Leonard and Paul Casey make up the marquee group that will be chasing PGA Tour playoff spots at the Wyndham Championship that begins Thursday. The star-studded trio, who have four major championships among them, will be competing in the final tournament before the start of the PGA Tour's playoffs. All three are on the playoff bubble. "If I do qualify, I'm really looking forward to the fact that I can be the underdog and come through and win it outright," Harrington said. "I suppose that's what the FedEx Cup was designed for." The top 125 players in points standings are eligible for the FedEx Cup playoffs. Harrington is currently 130th, Leonard 142nd and Casey 147th. Harrington is just four points behind No. 125 Camillo Villegas. South Africa's Ernie Els is number 126 and is calling this event the "last chance saloon." Said Harrington, "I hope that I'll be the fairy tale story, but any of us guys who are slightly outside the FedEx Cup at the moment, if we qualify, we can go on and win the playoffs." Other notable names in the field include, No. 106 Retief Goosen and reigning playoff champion Jim Furyk. American Jason Dufner could use a moral boosting performance after blowing a five-shot lead last week at the PGA Championship and losing in a playoff to Keegan Bradley. "I think it'll make me a better player," said Dufner. "I feel like there's been more guys who have lost leads or lost tournaments in that situation and then have had greater finishes in the future than guys that have lost leads and you never heard of again." Olafur Loftsson will make PGA Tour history when he tees off Thursday by becoming the first player from Iceland to compete in a tour tournament. Loftsson got into the field on a sponsor's exemption. "People over there are very pleased to see me have some success," Loftsson said. "(I'm) very excited to be able to represent Iceland here and kind of show the world that we do play golf in Iceland and we can be pretty darn good."