Not that he needs it, but Jason Dufner could further cushion his chances of winning the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bounty with a third victory this season on Sunday at the Wyndham Championship.
Dufner, ranked third in FedEx Cup points coming into the regular-season finale in Greensboro, N.C., shot 7-under 63 at Sedgefield C.C. to trail leader Sergio Garcia by two shots heading into the final round at 12 under par.
Dufner would pass Tiger Woods with no worse than a two-way tie for second place, taking over the top seed heading into the FedEx Cup playoffs that begin next week on Long Island at The Barclays.
The Auburn product, however, will not be there. He has announced he will skip the week at Bethpage Black to rest up for the remaining three playoff events and the Ryder Cup in the coming five weeks.
Skipping the first of four playoff events, however, will not have much impact on Dufner's chances to win the FedEx Cup at the Tour Championship.
The No. 1 seed after the regular season has made it to Atlanta in all but one year. In 2008, Tiger Woods missed the finale because of injury. Despite not playing after winning the U.S. Open, Woods was still the No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs.
In 2007 and '09, Woods was the regular season leader in points, then went on to win the FedEx Cup. The regular season leader may have held the cup just twice in five seasons, but that person has never finished worse than ninth in the final standings, which comes with a $550,000 bonus.
Vijay Singh won in 2008 after finishing seventh in the regular season. Jim Furyk won in '10 from the third spot. Bill Haas was 15th last year heading into the playoffs, but won the Tour Championship ranked 25th after the points reset heading into the finale.
Already a winner at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and HP Byron Nelson Championship this season, a third win would tie Dufner with Woods for the most on the PGA Tour in 2012.
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