This article is part of our DraftKings PGA DFS Picks series.
WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Purse: $7.3M
Winner's Share: $1.314M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Greensboro, N.C.
Course: Sedgefield Country Club
Yardage: 7,131
Par: 70
2021 champion: Kevin Kisner
Tournament Preview
We've reached the end of the 2021-22 PGA Tour regular season. That was fast, right? This is always the week where there's a tournament within a tournament, the last chance to secure a spot in the top 125 of the FedExCup Standings, which ensures a spot in the upcoming playoffs and, more importantly, playing privileges for next season. There is an added wrinkle this year -- it's not really a wrinkle, it's more like the elephant in the room: LIV Golf.
A bunch of LIV guys are in the top-125 right now, the ones who did not resign from the PGA Tour. Guys who did resign, among them Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed, have been removed. To tackle this thorny issue, the Tour has issued a second set of standings, one that removes the LIV guys. So this is a great time for maybe 10-12 golfers who wouldn't be inside the top-125 if LIV hadn't happened.
As a reminder, guys who finish between 126th and 150th have some status for next season, and guys from 126th to 200th qualify for the upcoming Korn Ferry playoffs, which is another way for them to keep their PGA Tour cards for 2022-23. All of this will change for 2023-24, but that's a story for another day.
The guys teetering on either side of 125 are No. 123 Rickie Fowler, No. 124 Matt Wallace, No. 125 Austin Smotherman, No. 126 Max McGreevy, No. 127 Danny Willett and No. 128 Justin Lower. Fowler is exempt for one more season regardless of finishing inside the top-125; Willett's five-year exemption for winning the 2016 Masters expires this week.
This is a good time to point out it is not easy to enter the top-125 at the season-ending Wyndham. In the first 15 years of the playoffs, an average of 2.67 players a year have gained entry at the last possible moment. There were three the past two years and two each in the two years before that; as many as five players have made the jump and as few as zero. The playoffs will trim to the top-70 for the second event and to 30 for the season-ending tour Championship.
All of this drama has had little impact on the field. There are zero guys in the top-10 in the world rankings, four in the top-25 and 14 top-50s. The names of note are Will Zalatoris, Shane Lowry, Billy Horschel and Sungjae Im from the top-25, plus defending champion Kevin Kisner, Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton and Tom (nee: Joohyung) Kim, and then Fowler, Webb Simpson and Jason Day. Those last three will still keep their cards for next season, even if they finish outside the top-125, because they have recent enough tournament victories.
This tournament 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 opened in 1926 and was the tournament's main host into the 1970s. It has now been back since 2008 and is the second consecutive Donald Ross design the golfers will see after last week's Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club. Sedgefield is among of the shortest courses on the schedule.
One of its prime defenses is narrow fairways. They average only 28 yards wide at the 275-yard mark, dropping down to 23 by 325. In truth, Sedgefield offers little hindrance to today's golfers. The tournament has long been a birdie-fest, with the winning score being 21- or 22-under-par for five straight years until last year's winning score dipped to 15-under. 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 only two par-5s, and they're both short at 529 and 545 yards. There are also six par-4s under 425 yards. The toughest hole on the course usually is the par-4 505-yard 14th. There are only 52 total bunkers on the course and there is water on six holes.
Weather-wise, rain can play a role this week, not so much on Thursday but with afternoon Thunderstorms in the forecast for Friday to Sunday. Otherwise, highs will be around 90 all four days and right now the wind is predicted to be light.
Fun Wyndham fact: 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
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
2013 - Patrick Reed
2012 - Sergio Garcia
Champion's Profile
Last year was an aberration, at least we think it was. So we'll concentrate on the five-year window beforehand, when the winning score was at least 21-under every year. Herman had 23 birdies and three eagles in 2020 en route to 21-under. 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. Snedeker, beginning with his 59, shot 21-under with 24 birdies and two eagles. Stenson shot 22-under and Kim was also at 21-under. Stenson made a whopping 29 birdies. Kim had 26 plus an eagle. When you birdie more than a third of the holes, it's almost as if "birdie-fest" doesn't fully tell the story. Driving distance means nothing this week, but driving accuracy counts for more than most weeks. Greens in regulation numbers are always high across the board. Herman and Poston led the field in GIR. Herman did have eight bogeys, inordinately high for a Wyndham winner, but he countered that by being third in putting, making more than 440 feet of putts on the week, second in the field. The over/under on the winning score as posted on golfodds.com is 259.5 -- 20.5 under par. That's the same number as last year, so they are not swayed by Kisner winning at 15-under.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS
Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap
Tier 1 Values
Shane Lowry - $10,600 (Winning odds via DraftKings Sportsbook: +1200)
The top two guys on the board are Will Zalatoris at $10,900 and Webb Simpson at $10,700. Zalatoris' price at least makes some sense, though he continues to show he does his best work at longer, harder tracks. Simpson has been a mess all year, with zero top-10s since November. Simpson will be highly owned because of his spectacular track record at the Wyndham. We aren't biting, and we'd have to see him in the $8,000s before even considering him. So we begin with Lowry, who has played here sporadically through the years, with a best result of seventh in 2017 and a 23rd-place finish in 2019. Lowry is ranked top-15 on Tour in both SG: Approach and Tee-to-Green. He's well rested, with no action since a T21 at the Open Championship.
Sungjae Im - $10,500 (+1400)
Im has played Sedgefield three times, recording two top-10s and a top-25. He's perhaps the steadiest guy on the entire PGA Tour. He's ranked 10th in SG: Tee-to-Green and 12th in greens in regulation. And his putting, ranked 61st, is good enough to go low.
Billy Horschel - $10,300 (+1400)
Horschel skipped the Wyndham last year after being runner-up in 2020. He also has a fifth and a sixth in recent years. This track certainly is a better fit for him than most. Like Lowry, he's been idle since a T21 at the Open Championship. There's very little weakness in Horschel's game. Length might be the only one. He's ranked top-25 on Tour in both driving accuracy and greens in regulation and he's 13th in SG: Putting.
Russell Henley - $9,800 (+2500)
We saw last week how well Henley can play, how low he can go, even without being an elite putter. He's been top-10 here the past two years but as you may recall, he really should've won last year before a late collapse plummeted him all the way to seventh place.
Tier 2 Values
Si Woo Kim - $8,800 (+2500)
Sometimes it's best to not overthink things. Kim has finished top-5 here three years running. Unlike Simpson, Kim is playing good golf, coming off top-15s at the Rocket Mortgage last week at the Open Championship before that.
Kevin Kisner - $8,700 (+4000)
Kisner let us down big-time last week with a startling missed cut, thanks to some very bad putting. It would be very easy to look another direction this week, but Kisner is the defending champion and was third here the year before. That won't instantly make his putting woes go away, but he remains a good value at this price.
Joohyung Kim - $8,600 (+3000)
Kim has fulfilled his first goal by getting his PGA Tour card for next season. He did that with a great week at the Rocket Mortgage. Short of a win, this will be KIm's last tournament of the season -- winning the Wyndham is the the only way for him to get in the playoffs. So he does have that to shoot for.
J.T. Poston - $8,200 (+4500)
Poston won here in 2019 and he recently won his second career tournament at the John Deere. He was playing great leading up to the Deere and didn't really let up afterward, tying for 11th at the 3M Open two weeks ago. With his putter, anything can happen. Most of it good.
Tier 3 Values
Mark Hubbard - $7,900 (+7000)
Last week was Hubbard chalk week and this week isn't. That's one good reason to turn to him now. His big shortcoming is lack of distance off the tee, something that won't matter much this week. Everywhere else, Hubbard's game is solid. He had made eight straight cuts before last week's MC. He's made his last thee cuts here, two of them top-25s.
Scott Stallings - $7,800 (+6000)
Stallings continues to play, turning in yet another top-10 last week, his fourth in six starts. If you look at his season-long stats, the accuracy is woeful. But lately, much better. And he's a top-50 putter. Stallings does not have a great history at the Wyndham, so that's a concern, but at age 37 he might be playing the best golf of his career.
Kevin Streelman - $7,600 (+6500)
Streelman is coming on strong, with four straight made cuts, including a runner-up at the Barbasol and top-25 at the Travelers, where his streak began and where he historically plays well. Streelman was seventh here last year and he's made six of seven Wyndham cuts.
Nick Hardy - $7,300 (+13000)
It's a little hard to figure out why Hardy is a mere 140th in the FedExCup Standings. He's ranked top-25 in GIR, 62nd in putting. He had made seven straight cuts before missing last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Long-Shot Values
Hayden Buckley - $6,900 (+18000)
Buckley has made six straight cuts, including a top-25 last week in Detroit. He's ranked in the top-20 on Tour in both driving accuracy and greens in regulation. At that point, things get dicey with a woeful putter.
Chesson Hadley - $6,900 (+15000)
Hadley is a great putter, ranked 18th on Tour, and that masks so many other difficulties for him. He had made six straight cuts before missing at the Rocket Mortgage. At the Wyndham, Hadley has made four consecutive cuts and five of six overall.
Andrew Putnam - $6,800 (+15000)
Putnam had a brutal start to 2022 but has rebounded to make five of his past seven cuts, two of which were top-15s, including last time out at the 3M Open. He's an accurate driver with a better-than-average game with wedge or putter in hand. Putnam has played the Wyndham only twice, missing the cut last year and also way back in 2015.
Jonathan Byrd - $6,400 (+30000)
Byrd has been coming here forever, making the cut 10 times in his 14 starts. Going back the past five years, he misses about half his cuts, but many of those are in deeper fields. Byrd will rely on his quality short game this week. He won't make the playoffs, short of winning the tournament, but at 157th in the standings he has a strong impetus to get inside the top 150.
