Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

With strong finishes in his last two tournaments and with a season that's only had two missed cuts, Dardanelle's John Daly has put himself in position to make golf's post-season, the FedEx Cup, and secure a PGA Tour card for 2013. The only drawback for Daly is that he needs a 13th or better finish in this week's Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., to crack the No. 125 mark and play in the FedEx Cup.

Currently, Daly stands at No. 137 in the FedEx Cup standings. He also needs to rank No. 125 or better at the end of the season to avoid Q School and be automatically exempt on the Tour for 2013. Daly qualifies for Tour events now with sponsors exemptions.

"I'm not going in feeling any pressure about how I have to play," Daly told PGATour.com on Wednesday. "It would be great, but I'm just going to go out and play golf and see what happens."

Daly finished fifth two weeks ago in the Tour's Reno-Tahoe Open — the top 100 international players were in Akron, Ohio, the same weekend in the WGC's Bridgestone Championship — and followed it up with a surprising tie for 18th in the PGA Championship last week at Kiawah Island in South Carolina.

Sunday's finish in the PGA marked only the fifth time Daly had made the cut in the PGA Championship since stunning the world by winning it in 1991 as an alternate at Crooked Stick in Indiana. That was the first of two major wins for the former Razorback.

But Daly hasn't won a Tour event since 2004 and hasn't had a season of note since 2005, at least until this year. The 46-year-old is just $21,000 shy of the half-million mark is earnings this season. He's been bolstered by four Top 25 finishes this season in 11 events.

The FedEx Cup takes the top 125 players in the Cup standings for the first event, the Barclays, scheduled for Bethpage Black on Long Island, N.Y., next week.

UPDATE: Daly completed round one of the Wyndham Championship at 2-over 72 on Thursday morning. He will play in the Friday afternoon tee times.

Henderson State alum Ken Duke has a great shot at eventually reaching the Tour Championship for the first time, sitting 39th on the Fed Ex Cup standings (the top 30 advance to East Lake in Atlanta after the first three Fed Ex Cup events). Duke had an even-par 70 on Thursday.

Conway product Bryce Molder is all but assured of his PGA card for next year and a spot deep in the Fed Ex Cup events, thanks to his 79th place currently. Molder shot 3-under in his first round at the Wyndham on Thursday.

The cut for the Wyndham is likely to be even or 1-under par after Friday's round.

PRIDE FOR GREERS FERRY: The PGA Tour's "Inside the PGA Tour" weekly telecast for the Golf Channel provided some interesting insight into former Alabama Crimson Tide golfer Dicky Pride and revealed an Arkansas connection.