Kisner ready to get 'back in the fire'

Kevin Kisner will aim to put his PGA major disappointment behind him on Thursday as the final event of the regular season tees off at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina. Kisner led or shared the lead for the opening three rounds of last week's final major of the season at Quail Hollow before stumbling in the last round to finish seventh behind eventual winner Justin Thomas. But while most of the PGA Tour's top-ranked players are skipping the Wyndham this week, the 33-year-old Kisner is hoping to crown a recent run of steady form with a victory at Greensboro's Sedgefield Country Club. "Playing well breeds playing well, in my opinion," Kisner said Wednesday. "Hopefully I'm on the rise up to a peak and that's why I'm here, to get back in the competition, back in the fire." Kisner, the world number 24, said he had already been able to draw positives from his failed flirtation with a first major victory. "It's always great to be in the hunt," he said. "You learn about yourself, you learn about tough conditions, how you're going to handle it. "Any time you have that opportunity and it doesn't work out you can re-evaluate things you can do next time ... It's just extremely difficult to win. Major championships are much more difficult than regular PGA events." The intrigue around much of this week's tournament will concern the players who are battling to ensure their participation in the FedEx Cup playoffs, the four-event postseason finale which begins next week. The top 125 players on the points list will be assured of a place in the field at the opening leg of the playoffs, next week's Northern Trust at Old Westbury in New York, and are also granted a full exemption for next season's tour. Sweden's Henrik Stenson, who is currently 75th on the FedEx standings, hopes a solid performance at Sedgefield can help boost his position. After next week's event in New York, the field is whittled down to the top 70 for the second tournament. "It's a great opportunity to put myself in a better spot heading into next week's playoffs," said Stenson, whose form has fluctuated in recent tournaments. "My form has been OK, it hasn't been great but it hasn't been poor either. So lingering somewhere between the middle," added the Swede, who finished tied for 17th at the PGA Championship last weekend.