This article is part of our DraftKings PGA DFS Picks series.
Wyndham Championship
Purse: $7.9M
Winner's Share: $1.422M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Greensboro, N.C.
Course: Sedgefield Country Club
Yardage: 7,131
Par: 70
2023 champion: Lucas Glover
Tournament Preview
Who can forget one year ago at this time when Justin Thomas was frantically trying to qualify for the PGA Tour playoffs at the last possible moment -- and he didn't get in. This year, there is no marquee name of the same magnitude as Thomas on the outside looking in. But this is still a precarious time of year for a golfer by the name of Jordan Spieth.
Spieth sits 63rd in the FedExCup Standings heading into the Wyndham Championship, which is the final event of the regular season. The top 70 make the playoffs, meaning that Spieth is safely in. But of course qualifying for one playoff event is the bare-minimum goal for a player such as Spieth, who is accustomed to playing in all of them and reaching the TOUR Championship.
So it was little surprise that Spieth committed to the Wyndham, a tournament he normally skips, having played the Wyndham only three times and lastly in 2020. That's what happens when you've totaled only four top-25s finishes all season in 20 tournament starts and fallen almost outside the top 40 in the world rankings.
Beginning on Thursday at Sedgefield Country Club, the somewhat tarnished Golden Boy has a lot of work to do to reach even the second playoff event, which takes the top 50 players in the point standings, much less all three and get to East Lake.
This is the second year since the Tour implemented a rejiggered playoff structure in which only 70 players get in instead of the longstanding 125. The importance of being in the top 125 -- and keeping your PGA Tour card for next season -- has been shifted to the end of what's called FedExCup Fall, a series of seven tournaments concluding just before Thanksgiving. So there's plenty of time to sort all that out; for now, getting into the top 70 is paramount.
We were planning to note that Rickie Fowler was the biggest player in trouble. But, sitting in 104th position and needing a win this week to advance, Fowler has packed it in, choosing not to play. We'll probably see him sometime during the fall, though Fowler's card is secure thanks to winning the 2023 3M Open. So the next name player in dire straights is Matt Kuchar. He's the only golfer to have played in all 17 editions of the playoffs, and he begins the week at No. 113.
Otherwise, most attention will focus on the guys just inside and just outside the top 70. Here they are:
66. Nick Dunlap
67. Jhonattan Vegas
68. Emiliano Grillo
69. Seamus Power
70. Brendon Todd
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71. Victor Perez
72. Davis Riley
73. Andrew Putnam
74. Kurt Kitayama
75. Luke List
76. Lucas Glover
77. Lee Hodges
78. Adam Schenk
79. Keith Mitchell
80. Nicolai Hojgaard
Last year, only one guy made it into the top 70 at the Wyndham. That was Glover, who began the week at No. 112 and had to win the tournament to push out hard-luck Austin Eckroat.
Besides Thomas, other big names trying to get in last year but didn't were Shane Lowry, Adam Scott, Gary Woodland and Billy Horschel. Since last year was the first year of the setup, it doesn't do much good to examine prior years, but just an educated guess suggests there could and should be more than one position changing hands this week. Maybe two or three?
So who's here this week? Every guy from No. 58 to No. 93 in points is in the 156-man field. But others who are much higher are here too, trying to fortify their positions or move into the top 50 or top 30. A total of 21 players in the top 50 of the OWGR are here.
Lowry is already through to the playoffs and will go all the way to the TOUR Championship this year, as he sits at No. 10 in points right now. But he'll play this week, along with Sungjae Im at No. 9 in points, No. 12 Byeong Hun An, No. 15 Akshay Bhatia, No. 17 Robert MacIntyre, No. 21 Brian Harman, No. 22 Christiaan Bezuidenhout and No. 24 Davis Thompson.
Other of note in the field are Horschel (No. 27). Stephan Jaeger (31), Thomas Detry (32), 2019 winner J.T. Poston (34), Cameron Young (35), 2016 winner Si Woo Kim (36), Will Zalatoris (45), Min Woo Lee (62) and the aforementioned Hojgaard at No. 80.
There are many perks that go along with getting into the postseason and then advancing each week. The big one for most of the top players is moving from the top-70 at next week's FedEx St. Jude Championship to the top-50 the following week at the BMW Championship. Those 50 will automatically qualify for all eight signature events next season and their $20 million purses.
The Wyndham is steeped in PGA Tour history, much of it centering around Sedgefield Country Club and Sam Snead. He won the inaugural Greater Greensboro Open in 1938 and went on to win seven more, the last one famously coming in 1965 at age 53.
Sedgefield, a Donald Ross design that opened in 1926, was the tournament's main host into the 1970s. It has now been back since 2008. It is among of the shortest courses on the PGA Tour schedule.
One of its prime defenses is narrow fairways. They average only 28 yards wide at the 275-yard mark, dropping down to 26 at 300 and 23 at 325. In truth, Sedgefield offers little hindrance to today's golfers. The tournament had long been a birdie-fest, with the winning score falling between 20- and 22-under in seven of the past eight years. The past two years, Tom Kim and Glover won at 20-under. Kim shot a 61 and Glover shot a 62. 'Nuff said.
Brandt Snedeker famously shot 59 in the first round in 2018 en route to his most recent Tour win. The one caveat to the birdie-fest mentality is that getting the ball in the fairway matters this week. From there, the approach shots will often be with wedge in hand in attacking the bermudagrass greens that are a bit large for such a short course (about 6,000 square feet). Ross countered that with undulations and run-offs. There are just 52 bunkers and there is water on six holes. There are only two par-5s, and they're both short at 529 and 545 yards. There are also six par-4s under 425 yards and half the course is made up of par-4s under 450.
The hardest holes are the longer ones. The back nine is harder than the front, and the six hardest holes last year were all after the turn. The three hardest annually are the 486-yard 11th, the 505-yard 14th and the 507-yard 18th.
As for the weather, in a word: rain. Or two words: Hurricane Debby. It was moving north from Florida. Rain was in the forecast significantly through Friday, and still somewhat on the weekend. From the looks of things, tee times will matter and some guys might not finish two rounds on schedule. It's not an exact science, but we tend to favor guys who will complete their second round on Friday, which would mean the late/early wave. But you should check an updated forecast closer to the lock to see whether things favor either wave.
Fun Wyndham factoids: Sam Snead won this tournament eight times, seven more than CBS' Frank Nobilo, who won his lone PGA Tour title here in 1997, in a playoff over fellow broadcaster Brad Faxon when the tournament was known as the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic. Nobilo's former Golf Channel colleague, Brandel Chamblee, was also in that field, but he missed the cut.
Key Stats to Winning at Sedgefield Country Club
The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.
• Driving Accuracy
• Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green/Strokes Gained: Approach/Greens in Regulation
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Birdie Average/Birdie or Better Percentage
• Par 4 Efficiency 400-450 yards
Past 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
Champion's Profile
A year ago at this time, Glover suddenly became a great putter. He ranked 15th in the Wyndham field in SG: Putting, then went on to win the FedEx St. Jude the following week (ranking 12th in putting). That of course led to a fairly large uprising saying he should be on the Ryder Cup team. But the clock soon struck 12, and Glover has now returned to his rightful place at No. 148 on Tour in SG: Putting.
At the Wyndham, he led the field in fairways hit, greens in regulation, SG: Approach and SG: Tee-to-Green. So he had lot else going on in beating Russell Henley and An by two strokes. They were similarly proficient in the same areas, though putted even better -- Henley led the field.
Two years ago, Kim putted like he may never again. He not only finished first in the field in SG: Putting by a wide margin, he made nearly 500 feet of putts, an incredible total. But he also did other stuff well, ranking fourth in fairways hit, 12th in approach and 16th in greens in regulation.
Except for 2021, this has been just a flat-out birdie-fest of late. Glover made 24 birdies. Kim had 25 birdies and one eagle. Herman had 23 birdies and three eagles in 2020 en route to 21-under. The year before, Poston didn't have as many birdies as the champion normally does, but that's only because he had ZERO bogeys. That's right, zippo. He had 20 birdies and one eagle for 22-under.
The over/under on the winning score as posted on golfodds.com is 260.5 -- 19.5 under par. That's down one stroke from the past three years.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS
Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap
$10,000+
Sungjae Im - $10,700 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +1400)
Im was a mess in the first half of the season. But after the Masters in April, he's been on a different level. He finished top-12 in six of his past nine starts, and now heads to a tournament in which he's been great. Im has posted a top-25 in all five of his Wyndham appearances, three of those top-10s, including a runner-up two years ago.
Billy Horschel - $10,200 (+2200)
Like with Im, Horschel's switch flipped in April, too, though not quite as markedly. He won in the Dominican Republic, had a top-10 at the PGA Championship and was runner-up last month at the Open Championship. Also like Im, Horschel has excelled at the Wyndham, finishing in the top-6 in four of his past seven visits, including solo fourth last year.
$9,000-$9,900
Davis Thompson - $9,200 (+3500)
Thompson's ascension over the summer fully put him on the PGA Tour map: 9th at the U.S. Open to shared runner-up at the Rocket Mortgage to a win at the John Deere. He then made the cut at both tournaments in Britain, clearly showing he can adapt his game to a different style of golf. Thompson tied for 22nd last year at the Wyndham, and now we know how much better he is a year later.
Min Woo Lee - $9,000 (+3500)
Lee is a very aggressive player, one whom GPP players might be targeting this week looking for as much upside as possible. That was evident when he tied for second at the Rocket Mortgage at the end of June. Lee is among 18 Olympians who are playing the Wyndham and the only one we are tabbing. He tied for 22nd in Paris.
$8,000-$8,900
Cam Davis - $8,900 (+4000)
Despite having a win this season and sitting 41st in points, Davis' stats are brutally bad, losing ground in every strokes-gained metric. But since capturing the Rocket Mortgage, he tied for 26th at the Scottish Open and for 19th at the 3M. So his season-long stats are not indicative of how he's play now. Further, Davis has finished top-25 in all three of his Wyndhams, notably tying for seventh last year.
Aaron Rai - $8,800 (+3000)
Rai has been one of the hottest players over the past couple of months. In a recent five-tournament stretch, he had a runner-up, a top-5, a top-10 and two top-25s. The Englishman has always been an elite ball-striker, but now his putting is vastly improved (ranked 54th). Rai ranks fifth on Tour in par-4 scoring overall.
Robert MacIntyre - $8,300 (+5000)
With his breakthrough win at the Canadian Open followed by a life-altering win at the Scottish Open, MacIntyre sits 17th in points. He's probably in the TOUR Championship already, so he doesn't need to play this week. But why not keep going when you're hot? MacIntyre is a top-50 putter and top-25 in par 4 scoring overall.
$7,000-$7,900
Eric Cole - $7,700 (+6000)
Cole certainly has turned around a sophomore season that had been a step back from his PGA Tour coming-out party a year ago. He has made five straight cuts, two of them top-10s, and zoomed to 54th in the point standings. He's got a good chance to get to the BMW. Cole debuted here last year with a T14 and our model places him inside the top-25 once again.
Taylor Moore - $7,500 (+7500)
In his past two starts stateside, Moore has finished T10 and T12. That's enough for us to discount the two missed cuts in between in Britain. Besides, Moore loves him some Sedgefield, tying for 22nd last year and fifth in his 2022 debut. He's one of the better putters in the field.
Mackenzie Hughes - $7,400 (+7500)
Hughes sits 46th in the point standings, which means he's having a pretty darn good season. As we all know, he can thank his putter, which has him ranked fifth on Tour in SG: Putting. Hughes has top-20s in his past two starts.
Ben Griffin - $7,300 (+7000)
The burgeoning TikTok star can't keep his drives in the fairway but still is well above the Tour average in greens in regulation and is gaining strokes on approach. Griffin has missed his past two cuts, but one of them was the Open Championship and then the 3M Open the next week. Before that: five of six cuts made with two top-5s. Griffin also tied for fourth here two years ago.
Andrew Novak - $7,100 (+9000)
Novak is another guy who has been peaking at the right time to make a late run at a playoff berth. He's made five straight cuts with four top-25s, one of those a top-10, to move to 84th in points. He missed the cut in his Wyndham debut in 2022 but tied for 33rd last year. Novak is ranked 21st on Tour in SG: Total, which is the best all-around indicator of how good a golfer is playing.
Brendon Todd - $7,000 (+9000)
Todd finished seventh here last year and 10th two years ago. A similar finish this year would be most welcome for him, since he's right on the playoff bubble at No. 70. The veteran is one of the best putters in the field, and he's made 11 of his past 13 cuts.
$6,000-$6,900
Ben Kohles - $6,900 (+10000)
Kohles didn't make our list above showing the 10 guys just outside the top-70 in points. That's because he's 11th. Kohles sits 81st, meaning a good but not necessarily great week could get him to Memphis. Our model shows he's been the best in the field at hitting fairways over his past 24 rounds, and sixth in putting. Kohles has made nine of his past 10 cuts and is coming off a top-25 at the 3M Open.
Pierceson Coody - $6,900 (+15000)
Regular readers will know we've been on Coody a bunch of late. He surely didn't pay off with a solo 72nd at the 3M Open last time out. But as long as he can putt like he can -- ranked sixth on Tour -- and is playing in a weaker field, we'll gamble on his puncher's chance.
Trace Crowe - $6,400 (+25000)
A few weeks back at the 3M Open, our model said Crowe was a good long-shot play. But we couldn't pull the trigger. And then he notched his third top-25 of the season (T24). So here we are, one tournament late. Crowe is a better-than-average putter who is 28th on Tour in birdie average, fifth in par-4 scoring and 16th in par-4 birdie or better -- how are those numbers even possible for him, he's 159th in points?
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