Xander Schauffele winning back-to-back weeks and now Tony Finau!? What else are we going to see this year in the remaining weeks. Finau won the 3M Open in Minnesota and followed that up with another victory in motor city last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Last year at the Wyndham Championship, we saw Kevin Kisnerat 55-1 take home the trophy winning in dramatic style in a six-man playoff. Prior to that, Kisner had lost every playoff he was in (five). Kevin Na, Branden Grace, Si Woo Kim, Adam Scott, and Roger Sloan were the other five players in that playoff.
The Wyndham Champion concludes the FedEx Cup Regular season. Next week, the three-event FedEx Cup Playoffs will begin at TPC Southwind.
Tournament Information:
- Dates: August 4th, 2022 – August 7th, 2022
- Location: Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
- Course: Sedgefield Country Club
- Course Type: Parkland
- Par: 70 (4x 3’s / 12x 4’s / 2x 5’s)
- Length: 7,131 Yards
- Format: 72-hole stroke play
- Greens: Champion bermudagrass .120”
- Fairways: Bermudagrass .400”
- Rough: Bermudagrass 2.5”
- Bunkers: 52
- Water Hazards: 5 (In-Play 6 Holes)
- Average Green Size: 6,000 sq. ft.
- Stimpmeter: 12 ft.
- Purse: $7,300,000/ $1,314,000
- FedEx Cup Points: 500
- Field/ Cut: 156 Players| Top 65 and Ties after 36 Holes
- Course Scoring Average:
2021: 68.88 (-1.12), Rank 34 of 51
2020: 68.78 (-1.22), Rank 29 of 41
2019: 68.18 (-1.82), Rank 41 of 49 - Historic Cut Line:
2021: -3
2020: -3
2019: -4
Course Architect/ Comparable Courses:
- Course Architect: Donald Ross (1926)
- Renovation: Kris Spence (2007)
- Comparable Courses:
Detroit Golf Club – Rocket Mortgage Classic
Colonial Country Club – Charles Schwab Challenge
TPC River Highlands – Travelers Championship
Waialae Country Club – Sony Open
TV Information:
- Round 1: Thursday August 4th, 2022
Golf Channel – 2 PM – 6 PM - Round 2: Friday August 5th, 2022
Golf Channel – 2 PM – 6 PM - Round 3: Saturday August 6th, 2022
Golf Channel – 12 PM – 3 PM
CBS – 3 PM – 6 PM - Round 4, Sunday August 7th, 2022
Golf Channel – 12 PM – 3 PM
CBS – 3 PM – 6 PM
Weather:
- Thursday: Mostly Sunny 83 F, 8 mp/h SSW, 62 % Humidity, 20% Chance of Rain
- Friday: PM Thunderstorms 81 F, 9 mp/h SW, 69% Humidity, 50% Chance of Rain
- Saturday: PM Thunderstorms 79 F, 8 mp/h SW, 74% Humidity, 40% Chance of Rain
- Sunday: PM Thunderstorms 80 F, 9 mp/h SW, 70% Humidity, 30% Chance of Rain
Course/ Tournament History:
The Wyndham Championship was founded in 1938 as the Greater Greensboro Open. In 2007 the title sponsor changed, and the event was renamed to what it’s current called. Along with the name change, the tournament was also moved from autumn to mid-August.
This tournament has been held in the greater Greensboro area throughout its entire history. In the first four years of the event, it was played at both Sedgefield Country Club and Starmount Forest Country Club. Following the most recent renovation, the Wyndham Champion has been exclusively held here at Sedgefield CC.
In 2018, Brandt Snedeker posted a 59 in the first round. This was just the tenth sub-60 round in the history of the PGA Tour.
In 2021, Kevin Kisner won the six-man playoff which tied the PGA Tour record for the largest number of participants in a sudden-death playoff.
72-Hole Record: 258, Henrik Stenson (2017), J.T. Poston (2019)
18-Hole Record: 59, Brandt Snedeker (1st round, 2018)
Course Guide/ Scorecard:
Sedgefield Country Club is one of the easier courses on Tour as seen by the historical scoring average. Playing at a Par 70 just over 7,100 yards it’s a short course that forces players to play very positional golf. Off the tee accuracy is more crucial than distance.
In terms of Par 3’s, Sedgefield has four of them ranging from 174 to 235 yards. Last year, holes No. 7 and No. 12 had a scoring average over par. The other two par 3s, No. 3 and No. 16, had a scoring average below par.
There’s twelve Par 4’s at Sedgefield with the majority (eight) of them ranging between 400 and 450 yards. The two toughest holes are No. 14 and No. 18, which both play over 500 yards. Give the length of these two holes, they also had the highest scoring averages for Par 4s last year.
The two Par 5’s on the course, No. 5 and No. 15, are where players need to take advantage of scoring opportunities. These holes both played under par last year with just eight bogeys being made on No. 5 throughout of the entire tournament.
This course revolves around approach play. It starts with players having a nice drive in the fairway off the tee allowing them to attack the pin on their second shot.
Key Statistics:
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Strokes Gained: Tee to Green
- Strokes Gained: Putting (Bermuda)
- Greens in Regulation %
- Driving Accuracy
- Birdies or Better Gained
- Bogey Avoidance
- Par 4 Scoring: 400-450 Yards
- Comparable Courses and Event History
The Field/ Odds:
Sung-Jae Im (+1500), enters the week as the current favorite coming off a T2 finish in the 3M Open. He’s played here at Sedgfield three times with those performances getting worse over time. Im made his debut here in 2019 finishing T6, he would follow that up by finishing T9 in 2020, and T24 last year.
Shane Lowry (+1600), hasn’t played since The Open where he finished T21. He made his debut here in 2016 finishing T42. Since then, he’s played in the Wyndham Championship three additional times where he finished T7-MC-23.
Will Zalatoris (+1600), has been close to a win this season with three runner-up finishes. He’s been in good form as of late finishing T28 (The Open) and T20 (Rocket Mortgage Classic) in his last two starts. Zalatoris has played in this event two times before missing the cut in 2018 and finishing T29 last season.
Previous Winners in the field; Kevin Kisner (’21), Jim Herman (’20), J.T. Poston (’19), Brandt Snedeker (’18), Si Woo Kim (’16), Davis Love III (’92, ’06, ’15), Camilo Villegas (’14), Webb Simpson (’11), and Ryan Moore (’09).
Notable Withdraws: Brandt Snedeker, Francesco Molinari, Jhonattan Vegas
Previous Winners/ Scores:
- 2021: Kevin Kisner (-15)
Price: 55-1 - 2020: Jim Herman (-21)
Price: 600-1 - 2019: J.T. Poston (-22)
Price: 100-1 - 2018: Brandt Snedeker (-21)
Price: 28-1 - 2017: Henrik Stenson (-22)
Price: 14-1
Picks (Outrights):
- Corey Conners (+2500) – PointsBet
Risk 0.32 to win 8.00 Units - Si Woo Kim (+2800) – Caesars
Risk 0.29 to win 8.12 Units - Denny McCarthy (+3500) – BetRivers
Risk 0.23 to win 8.05 Units - Adam Long (+6600) – BetMGM
Risk 0.13 to win 8.58 Units
Total Risk on Outrights: 0.97
Picks (Top 20):
- Shane Lowry (+100) – FanDuel
Risk 1.00 to win 1.00 Units
We haven’t seen Shane since The Open Championships at St. Andrews where he finished T21. He’s played a Sedgefield four times before finishing 42-T7-MC-23. In terms of course history, I wouldn’t say that’s overly great. However, he ranks 11th in SG: Approach and 13th in SG: Tee to Green which has been the path to success in the past here. Given the strength of the field and how he compares to it, he should be able to finish inside the top-20 this week.
- Webb Simpson (+125) – Caesars
Risk 1.00 to win 1.25 Units
Opposite of Lowry, when you talk about a guy who’s had success in the past here, Webb Simpson is probably at the top of the list. He’s played here thirteen times before, winning in 2011, and finishing inside the top-10 ten other times. In the past five years at Sedgefield CC he has yet to finish worse than T7, which was last year.
Webb also needs to play well this week if he wants to make the playoffs next week as he’s currently 126 in the FedEx Cup standings. In terms of his overall form, he hasn’t been great missing the cut in two of his last three events. However, I’m hoping he can find his form again at a place he absolutely loves. My major concern with him is his putting but he’s lost strokes putting in the past and still had success with his approach play carrying him.
Total Risk on Top-20s: 2.00
Just missed T20 Placements; Sungjae Im (+100), Billy Horschel (+130), Russell Henley (+145)
Picks (Top 40):
- Adam Svensson (+105) – FanDuel
Risk 1.00 to win 1.05 Units
Svensson has really seemed to have found his form as of late. He’s only missed one cut since the Wells Fargo Championship, which was two weeks ago at the 3M Open. Svensson rebounded well from that and went on to finish T24 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. In his last nine events on Tour, he has finished inside the top-40 six times. He’s only played at Sedgefield CC once before which was back in 2019 when he finished T31.
While he’s not long off the tee by any means, he is very accurate ranking 45th on Tour. As I mentioned before accuracy off the tee is more crucial than distance this week. He’s also a great iron player ranking 38th in SG: Approach. This course sets up nicely for him so I anticipate him finishing inside the top-40 again.
- Kevin Steelman (+120) – FanDuel
Risk 1.00 to win 1.20 Units
Kevin Steelman has been in good form recently, making the cut in each of his last four starts in Tour. During that span, he hasn’t finished worse than T49 with his best finish coming at the Barbasol Championship where he was the runner-up. He’s played in the Wyndham Championship seven times before finishing inside the top-40 four of those times. Last year at Sedgefield CC, he finished T7.
He’s accurate off the tee which should help him this week, but the major flaw of his game has been his iron play. Steelman ranks 115th on Tour in SG: Approach but has turned things around gaining strokes in that category in five of his last six starts. His putting can also be an issue, but he’s been trending upward in that category as well gaining strokes on the green in his last two events. Given the way his play has been trending, I like him to snag another top-40 finish this year.
Total Risk on Top-40s: 2.00
Total Risk on the Wyndham Championship: 4.97 Units
Best of luck, and as always you can find me on Twitter @GatorBetting and Instagram @Gator_Sports_Betting. Any feedback whether positive or negative is always encouraged.
