WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP: The PGA Tour’s annual stop in Greensboro, North Carolina now represents the end of the regular season, as the FedEx Cup Playoffs will begin next week with The Barclays at Bethpage Black. That means it’s crunch time for the players hovering around the top-125 bubble, with all those finishing this week inside that magic number locking up not only a spot in the Playoffs, but their Tour cards for next year as well. Ryder Cup points are also a consideration for several guys, giving this tournament just a bit more juice than it normally has.
Formerly known as the Greater Greensboro Open, the Wyndham Championship has been around since 1938 and has been won by some true legends of the game. The tournament is perhaps best known for the starring role it played in the career of the great Sam Snead, who, when he was victorious in 1965 at the age of 52, became not only the oldest winner in PGA Tour history but also the first player to win a single event eight (EIGHT!) times. Both records still stand, though Davis Love III gave Snead a run in the age department last year when he shocked the golf world by winning this tournament at age 51. Love’s final-round 64 erased a 4-shot deficit and earned him his first victory since 2008, and it should serve as a reminder that at an old-style course like Sedgefield Country Club the crafty vets can’t be overlooked.
First designed by Donald Ross in 1926 and then modernized and lengthened in 2007, Sedgefield has hosted this event for each of the past nine years after taking a 30-year break. Like most Ross designs, it features small, undulating greens that can be tricky to both find and navigate, and its small, tight doglegs and subtle difficulties make precision and intelligence more important than length and aggressiveness. A par-70 that measure just 7,130 yards, it’s certainly short by Tour standards, and indeed the scores have been quite low since the tournament returned to Sedgefield in 2008, with Patrick Reed’s 14-under total in 2013 representing the highest winning score in that span. Reed heads BETDAQ’s Win Market this week at 20.0, but he’ll be fresh off the plane from Brazil and has played a grueling schedule of late, so I’d advise looking elsewhere. Here’s what I’m thinking:
WIN MARKET
Recommendations to BACK (odds in parenthesis)
Jim Furyk (25.0)- While some may even call shooting 58 a distraction of some sort, I have absolutely zero worries about Furyk in that regard. He’s seen it all, done it all, and his mind won’t be on anything but the business at hand– this week’s tournament. Obviously the wrist injury is no longer much of a concern, and the 5th-place finish at the Travelers was his 8th consecutive made cut and his second top-15 in his last three starts. I fully believe he’s making a late push for the Ryder Cup– even though he won’t be an automatic qualifier, a win or two in the coming weeks would give Captain Love a lot to think about. That’s why Furyk is teeing it up at Sedgefield for the first time since 2011, when he broke 70 in all four rounds and went on to finish ninth. Don’t be surprised if he does a little better than that this week.
William McGirt (44.0)- A mini-tour journeyman throughout much of his 20s and early 30s, McGirt has finally solidified himself on the PGA Tour and is now playing the best golf of his career. Recent highlights include a 10th-place showing in his last outing, the PGA Championship, a 7th-place finish in July’s WGC-Bridgestone, and, of course, the victory at The Memorial back in June. McGirt has a good history in this event, finding the top-15 in each of the past two years, and that shouldn’t come as a surprise– after all, he hails from Lumberton, North Carolina, went to college at Wofford (in South Carolina), and prior to making it on Tour played much of his professional golf on a Carolina-based circuit once known as the Tarheel Tour, then the E-Golf Tour, and now, at last report, the Swing Thought Tour (ahh… the wonderful world of mini-tour golf!). In other words, McGirt has played courses like Sedgefield all his life and surely feels very comfortable with his surroundings this week. Probably my favorite bet on the board…
Scott Brown (112.0)- Like McGirt, Brown is a Carolina boy who has played old-style, Bermuda-covered courses like Sedgefield his entire life. He may not have a win at The Memorial or a top-10 at the PGA in his recent past, but he’s been playing well of late, logging top-25 finishes in each of his past two starts, including a T16 at the John Deere Classic last week. He finished third in this event last year, so we know he can get the job done at Sedgefield, and he’s currently priced at a whopping 112.0. Need I say more?
TOURNAMENT MATCH BETS
Brandt Snedeker (1.9) vs. Jon Rahm (2.0)
Snedeker seems like the sensible play here– at ninth in the Ryder Cup standings, he’ll be extremely motivated, and his three previous top-10s at Sedgefield make him a known commodity this week. Rahm, on the other hand, is making his debut in this event. He’s a unique talent, however, and watching him rip through the first few weeks of his professional career has left me quite taken by his abilities. That’s not a bold statement to make about a guy who has gone T2-T25-T14 in his last three starts, but I think I’m even higher on Rahm than most people. The youthful aggressiveness, the look in his eye… this guy is going to be something special, mark my words. But even if you’re not as taken with Rahm as I am, you should keep in mind that Snedeker has registered four missed cuts and only two top-20 finishes in his last ten starts. Recommendation: Rahm at 2.0
Webb Simpson (1.91) vs. Ryan Moore (1.91)
There’s a lot to like about both Moore and Simpson this week: for starters, they’re both past champions of this event and they’ve both played well recently. Moore in particular is on a roll after his win at the John Deere Classic last week, where he opened with three consecutive 65s and cruised to a 2-shot victory at 22-under. There could be a bit of a hangover effect after a performance like that, but then again Moore has certainly experienced following a success with another success, especially in his legendary amateur career. Simpson has a slightly better overall record at Sedgefield, but all things considered I think I’ll go with the guy who putts better and is coming off a victory. Recommendation: Moore at 1.91
