Stallings jumps into top 120 after Greenbrier, Woods slides to No. 28

Needing a birdie on the 168-yard 18th hole to get into a playoff at the Greenbrier Classic, Scott Stallings remembered the approach shot he hit from the same distance back on No. 11.

Same club. Same result.

He sent a 9-iron shot 5 feet from the pin on the final hole and made the putt, joining Bill Haas and Bob Estes in sudden death tied at 10 under par Sunday on the Old White TPC course.

Luckily for Stallings, the playoff headed right back to the 18th.

Another 9-iron. Another pin-seeker.

The PGA Tour rookie then curled in a 7-foot putt after Haas and Estes missed their birdie tries, giving the 26-year-old his first PGA Tour win and securing his spot in the FedExCup playoffs.

Stallings who began the year at No. 562 in the Offcial World Golf Ranking, also climbed into the top 120 with a jump from 224th to 119th, by far the biggest move of the week. Simon Dyson of England, who won the Irish Open, climbed up to No. 48 from his previous spot at No. 67.

Elsewhere in the rankings, Tiger Woods continued to pay the price for his injury-induced inactivity, as he slipped from No. 21 down to No. 28. After almost three months out, he plans to return to action this week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, and spent Monday practicing at Atlanta Athletic Club in advance of next week’s PGA Championship.

The top three in the world ranking remain Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer, but Steve Stricker moved from fifth up to fourth, knocking Rory McIlroy down a peg. Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Jason Day remained in the sixth, seventh and eighth spots, respectively, while Nick Watney climbed from 11th up to ninth place. Charl Schwartzel slid from ninth to 10th, and Matt Kuchar dropped from 10th to 11th.

After Kuchar, the second 10 includes No. 12 Graeme McDowell, No. 13 K.J. Choi, No. 14 Bubba Watson, No. 15 Paul Casey, No. 16 Ian Poulter, No. 17 Adam Scott, No. 18 Robert Karlsson, No. 19 Hunter Mahan and No. 20 Retief Goosen.

A native of Worcester, Mass., and die-hard Red Sox fan, Stallings will likely realize one of his biggest goals to play in the Deutsch Bank Championship, the second stop in the FedExCup playoffs outside of Boston. The top 100 in the points standings after the Barclays, the first playoff stop, will qualify.

All this seemed implausible halfway through the final round, when Stallings seemingly had played himself out of contention.

He started the day one shot out of the lead, but four bogeys in the first nine holes had dropped him to 5 under. At No. 10, caddie Josh Graham starting ribbing Stallings about his wayward tee shots.

“`Finally, we’re going to hit the fairway,”’ Stallings recalled Graham saying.

“I said, `I promise, I promise we can play better from the fairway,”’ Stallings replied. “He said, `We’re going to get back to even par and we’re going to have an opportunity to win the tournament.”’

Graham reiterated that theme throughout the back nine, and Stallings responded with six birdies.

However, Stallings’ group waited a half-hour on the par-5 17th tee and he hit his drive into the water and had to take a penalty stroke. Instead of going after the outright lead, he made bogey.

Heading to the 18th tee in regulation, all Stallings could think about was that shot on No. 11.

“Repetition and visualization is something I work with my coach and my sports psychologist really well on,” Stallings said. “I hit a great shot on 11, hit it in there about four or five feet and made a birdie. My caddie said, `I want to see that same one.”’

That he got, not once, but twice.