Golf Events / Paul Krishnamurty / 29 September 2010 /

An unholy scrap begins in the US this week as struggling PGA Tour members attempt to secure their playing privileges for next season. Paul Krishnamurty outlines a quintet to follow over the next few weeks

With the Fedex Cup over the PGA Tour schedule enters it's closing Fall Series section. This is a series of five generally 'second-division' events; a late chance for players to climb the money list and earn playing privileges for next season. The top-125 earn full rights and predictably, many further back tend to seize this last chance to turn their season around.

Eight of the last ten Fall Series winners began the week below the cut line, including two huge-priced winners for this column last year. Here are this year's five to try and emulate those wins on Martin Laird and Troy Matteson...

John Mallinger
Money List: 128th
Viking Classic Odds: [44.0]
Currently sitting three places below qualification in 128th place on the money list and with plenty of good recent form under his belt, Mallinger looks a likely candidate over the weeks ahead. He closed the regular season strongly with six top-25s from ten events, finishing third in the most recent. Unlike most of his fellow non-qualifiers, however, Mallinger opted to stay busy during the Fedex Cup series, playing in two Nationwide Tour events, finishing seventh and third. Having apparently retained his good form by doing so, that approach could well pay dividends in this week's Viking Classic, against a field mostly lacking a recent event.

Jonathan Byrd
Money List: 130th
Viking Classic Odds: [48.0]
There are always a few surprising names to be found down amongst the strugglers. Three-time PGA Tour winner Byrd has played Fall Series events before, but never with his playing privileges under threat. He appears to have grasped the urgency of the situation after a terrible start to the season, registering top-25s on four of his last seven starts. This week's opening Fall Series event looks a particularly likely target, as he made the top-five at Annandale back in 2002, and has never finished worse than 17th there.

Mike Weir
Money List: 133rd
Speaking of struggling big-names, there is no bigger name outside the top-125 than the former Masters champion. There is absolutely nothing in his recent form to warrant a bet - he hasn't made a top-25 since the opening event of the year - but remains an interesting candidate in this lower grade nonetheless. In five Fall Series starts over the last three seasons, Weir has made every top-ten.

George McNeill
Money List: 138th
Viking Classic Odds: [200.0]
Having missed nine of his last 11 cuts, again there is nothing recent to recommend McNeill, but his record around this time of year is worthy of closer consideration. McNeill's sole victory came during a Fall Series, in the 2007 Frys.com Open, and he's finished runner-up in three more such autumn events since. A [200.0] chance this week at Annandale, McNeill is exactly the type of outsider to have dominated these events in recent years.

Brett Wetterich
Money List: 165th
Viking Classic Odds: [200.0]
During this Ryder Cup weekend, Wetterich may well reflect on the fact that he was in the last American side to play in Europe, and all that has happened since. While his team-mates thrived, Brett's career has been plagued with a shoulder injury that forced him to miss the entire 2009 season. Things are looking up though with form slowly but surely returning, making eight of his last nine cuts. From 165th place, he'll need to do something special to earn his card, but at his best, Wetterich was classier than most of these Fall Series rivals.

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