Wyndham Championship
Greensboro, North Carolina
Sedgefield Country Club – Par 70 – 7,131 yards
Field – 156 entrants
Purse – $7.9M
The Preview
Like any other tournament, a champion will be crowned at the conclusion of the regular season finale, but those who land among the top 70 in the FedExCup standings come Sunday night are also rewarded with a trip to the FedEx St. Jude Championship. This certainly helps create suspense while a fairly weak contingent of 156 entrants tees it up in Greensboro, as many top names save their energy for a playoff run.
Sedgefield Country Club has hosted the event since 2008, but its undulating and normally fast bermuda greens have only been in play for the past 12 editions after bentgrass failed to live up to Tour standards in the Carolina summer heat. These putting surfaces are relatively easy to hit from the fairway as GIR percentages inflate, but three-putt rates also climb as proximity is more important when targeting the correct tier or bowl on these dance floors.
The Donald Ross design features two reachable par-5s that lend plenty of eagle opportunities, while eight par-4s measure between 400-450 yards. Driving accuracy is key on this shorter layout, and there are several chances to take less than driver off the tee in order to secure preferable angles, thus creating a healthy amount of approach shots from the 150-200 yard range. It’s therefore not entirely a wedge fest with an average of just 16.9 percent of approaches historically hit from 125 yards and in at Sedgefield, but birdies will still come in bunches. All but one of the last eight winners reached the 20-under-par mark, though Tropical Storm Debby could shake things up with a severe rain/wind combination expected to sustain throughout at least Rounds 1 and 2.
Recent Champions
2023 – Lucas Glover
2022 – Tom Kim
2021 – Kevin Kisner
2020 – Jim Herman
2019 – J.T. Poston
2018 – Brandt Snedeker
2017 – Henrik Stenson
2016 – Si Woo Kim
2015 – Davis Love III
2014 – Camilo Villegas
Key Stats to Victory
SG: Approach
Par-4: 400-450 efficiency
SG: Putting (bermuda)
Proximity: 125-200 yards
Yahoo Value Picks
Based on $200 salary cap
Cream of the Crop
Sungjae Im – $40
Since a missed cut at the U.S. Open, Im has rebounded in a big way with results of T3-T12-T4-T7 from the Travelers Championship to The Open Championship, earning a top-3 ranking in each of P4: 400-450 Efficiency, Prox: 125-150 and Birdies or Better Gained over his last 24 measured rounds. His impressive track record at Sedgefield Country Club is similarly strong, reaching the 10-under-par mark in all five appearances. Most notably, the bermuda specialist tied for runner-up honors here in 2022 when he racked up 19 total birdies and three eagles.
Shane Lowry – $38
The Irishman broke par in just one of four rounds at the Olympic Men’s Golf Competition last week in France, but his game shouldn’t be far removed from a T9-6 stretch at the Travelers and The Open, securing his fifth and sixth top-10 finishes of the 2024 season through just 16 starts. He’s top-20 on Tour in both SG: Approach and driving accuracy, and Lowry has made the cut in five of six prior Wyndham Championship outings.
Glue Guys
Cam Davis – $35
The Aussie is second to none in SG: Tee-to-Green and third in Birdies or Better Gained over his past 12 rounds, which date back to his relatively unexpected win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic after a run of poor form from April’s RBC Heritage through June’s Travelers Championship. He followed the victory in Detroit with T26-T19 finishes at the Genesis Scottish Open and the 3M Open despite losing a collective 5.6 with the flat stick, and Davis has placed T7-T15-T22 in three career trips to Greensboro with a solid putting performance each time.
Aaron Rai – $35
Considering he’s short and straight off the tee, eighth in SG: APP over his last 24 rounds and putting extremely well since mid-June’s U.S. Open, Rai looks like a perfect course fit on paper, so I’m not concerned with a small course history sample of MC-T71 that might turn other gamers away. The Englishman has gained an average of 6.2 strokes from tee to green per event throughout his last eight measured tournaments.
Si Woo Kim – $34
This is a pretty glaring misprice compared to Kim’s value elsewhere in the betting and DFS markets, so expect plenty of ownership to come in on the former past champion here back in 2016, also adding three consecutive top-5s at Sedgefield C.C. from 2019 to 2021.
Bargain Bin
Doug Ghim – $27
Ghim’s putter is a major concern, but his ball-striking prowess represents DFS upside in risk-friendly GPP formats as he ranks third in SG: APP, fifth in Opportunities Gained and ninth in SG: T2G over his past 24 rounds. Ghim has not lost strokes with his irons since the Texas Children’s Houston Open in late March, and he’s gained strokes off the tee in all five of his previous Wyndham Championship appearances.
Alex Smalley – $26
The Sedgefield C.C. member and former Duke Blue Devil enjoys home-court advantage this week in Greensboro, where he posted back-to-back top-30s during his first two Wyndham Championships in 2021 and 2022 before missing the cut last year, despite gaining 4.2 strokes on his approaches across just 36 holes. Smalley is coming off a T12 at the 3M Open where he gained a season-high 7.3 strokes with his irons and 9.9 strokes from tee to green, improving to No. 1 in P4: 400-450 Efficiency over his past 24 rounds.
Luke Clanton – $22
The 20-year-old Florida State University standout finally regressed with a missed cut at the 3M Open after placing T41-T10-T2-T37…
