(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-20 14:35

RALEIGH, North Carolina - American Brandt Snedeker was elated after achieving twin goals with his two-shot victory at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro on Sunday.

Brandt Snedeker poses with the Sam Snead trophy after winning the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship golf tournament in Greensboro, N.C., Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007. [AP]

The PGA Tour rookie claimed his first title on the world's biggest circuit and climbed into the top 15 in the inaugural FedExCup points standings to enhance his prospects for the big-money playoff events starting next week.

"Everything the Tour has been telling us, to have a legitimate chance to win the FedExCup you got to be inside the top 15," the 26-year-old from Tennessee told reporters after the final event of the Tour's regular season.

"I know my game can leave me tomorrow and I can have the shanks. I wanted to go as high as I could."

"I got a feeling a lot of guys would take this week off and then play four in a row," added Snedeker, who piled up 10 birdies and one bogey in the closing round to finish 22-under 266.

"That gave me a chance being a rookie out here to jump those kinds of guys."

"I think the guys who were 25th or 35th or 40th that didn't play this week could have really jumped up and made it a whole lot easier, but I think everybody is kind of leary this first year."

"I've been playing very well as of late and when you're playing well the rule of thumb is to keep playing. I was never going to take this week off, and it's worked out great."

Snedeker, who closed with a sparkling nine-under-par 63 at Forest Oak Country Club, vaulted 17 spots in the FedExCup standings to all but guarantee he will play in the first three playoff events.

The leading 144 players after the Wyndham Championship automatically qualify for next week's Barclays Championship in Harrison, New York.

The field will then be cut to 120 for the following week at the Deutsche Bank Championship outside Boston before 70 players qualify for the September 6-9 BMW Championship near Chicago.

The playoffs end with the top 30 competing at the Sept 13-16 Tour Championship in Atlanta, Georgia where a $10 million bonus in deferred compensation will be earned by the overall champion.

"These next four weeks are all about trying to get myself in the right frame of mind, make sure I go in and try to win each one of them," Snedeker said after lifting his season's earnings on the PGA Tour to more than $2.5 million.

"I'm obviously going in playing well, and that's the best-case scenario for me. I look at it as a guy who could have a chance of winning it. When I get on hot streaks, I make a lot of putts and give myself some chances."

Others making significant moves in the FedExCup standings included Americans Tim Petrovic, who rose from 124th to 82nd after tying for second at Forest Oaks, and Jeff Gove, who secured the 144th spot despite missing the cut on Friday.