A top-15 finish at the Wyndham Championship.

That’s the equation facing Aaron Baddeley if he is to qualify for the richest month in professional golf, the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

This week’s Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina is the final regular season event on the PGA Tour schedule and the last barrier between that and the riches on offer in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Five Australians playing this week currently sit outside the top 125 who automatically qualify for the first playoff event, the Northern Trust Open, and only a finish up near the top 10 on Sunday will deliver a stay of execution.

At 137th in the rankings, Baddeley is the closest to the playoff cut-off, currently 53 points adrift of the player currently in 125th position, South African Tyrone Van Aswegen.

Finishing in 15th position would yield 55 FedEx Cup points for Baddeley who would then need those between he and the top 125 to finish below him on the leaderboard in order to progress.

Tied for 26th in his last start at the Barracuda Championship, Baddeley has recorded just the one top-10 result in the wraparound season and doesn’t have a good recent record in the Wyndham Championship, playing three rounds last year and missing the cut in his three starts prior to that.

Despite the reality of the task ahead of him, Baddeley told AAP that thinking about his ranking was only going to make the situation worse.

“You can’t think about those numbers because it’s not helpful to playing good golf,” Baddeley said.

“I have no doubt I can get it done this week. But even if I don’t there are plenty of options for me to have enough PGA Tour starts next season.”

Nine spots behind Baddeley in the FedEx Cup standings is New South Welshman Matt Jones who would need nothing less than a top-five finish this week to extend his season by at least a further week.

Top 15 at both the John Deere Classic and Barracuda Championship over the past month, Jones will be hoping to draw on his performance at Sedgefield five years ago where he shot 62 in the final round to finish tied fifth.

For Cameron Percy (170th), Stuart Appleby (196th) and Rod Pampling (200th), nothing short of a win will suffice in order to secure their place in the playoffs.

It’s a different kind of pressure for the sole Kiwi in the field this week with Danny Lee currently sitting in 107th position.

Almost 100 points clear of 125th position going in, Lee’s playoff berth is secure but starting with a strong week at Sedgefield he can bolster his chances of advancing closer towards the Tour Championship.

Only the top 100 players in the standings advance following the Northern Trust Open and given he was tied for sixth in his most recent start in the RBC Canadian Open Lee will be desperate to break his run of four consecutive missed cuts in the Wyndham Championship, his best finish coming a decade ago when he was tied for 20th.