This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
Wyndham Championship
Course: Sedgefield Country Club (7,131 yards, par 70)
Purse: $7,600,000
Winner: $1,368,000 and 500 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
The Wyndham Championship is yet again the final event of the regular season and a lot will be on the line for the players. Instead of the Top 125 making the playoffs and securing their cards for next season, only the Top 70 will do that this season. Austin Eckroat currently holds that all-important 70th spot in the FedExCup standings with Cam Davis, Ben Griffin, J.J. Spaun, and Vincent Norrman right in front of him. Ben Taylor is the first man out at No. 71 with Garrick Higgo, K.H. Lee, and David Lingmerth right behind the Englishman. Shane Lowry (76th), Justin Thomas (79th), and Adam Scott (81st) are some playoff regulars that will need a good week in Greensboro to make it back inside the cutline. Those players that finish outside the Top 70 this week will be fighting to stay inside the Top 125 over the course of seven fall events to keep their PGA Tour card for the 2024 calendar season if they don't have status already.
Players that are securely in the playoffs will also have a chance to improve their seeding with a strong week at Sedgefield Country Club. The top players in the FedExCup that will be teeing it up this week are Si Woo Kim (18th), Sam Burns (19th), Adam Schenk (23rd), Denny McCarthy (25th), Chris Kirk (26th), and Taylor Moore (27th). All of those players could move inside the Comcast Business Rewards Top 10 with a victory at the Wyndham Championship, which would earn them some bonus money for being inside the Top 10 in points at the conclusion of the regular season. Another new wrinkle is that the Top 50 in the FedExCup standings at the end of the season will be eligible for the 2024 designated events that will feature fields of 70-80 players with at least $20 million purses and elevated FedExCup points. Suffice to say, everyone teeing it up at this week has something to play for.
Sedgefield Country Club will play host to what was formerly known as the Greater Greensboro Open for the 16th consecutive year. Henrik Stenson (2017) and J.T. Poston (2019) hold the tournament aggregate scoring record of 258, which nets out to 22-under-par on this par 70. The scoring has been pretty consistent over the last 15 years at Sedgefield with all the winning scores coming between 14 and 22-under-par. The Wyndham Championship is often impacted by weather as expected in North Carolina in August. We should expect to see at least a delay or two for lightening over the course of the event, and any significant rain would lead to a lot more low scores. There won't be enough wind to stop players from taking dead aim this week.
Recent Champions
2022 - Tom Kim (-20)
2021 - Kevin Kisner (-15)
2020 - Jim Herman (-21)
2019 - J.T. Poston (-22)
2018 - Brandt Snedeker (-21)
2017 - Henrik Stenson (-22)
2016 - Si Woo Kim (-21)
2015 - Davis Love III (-17)
2014 - Camilo Villegas (-17)
2013 - Patrick Reed (-14)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach
- GIR Percentage
- SG: Putting
- Driving Accuracy
Champion's Profile
Sedgefield Country Club is a classic Donald Ross design that feature tree-lined fairways and undulating greens that roll as pure as any on Tour. Tipping at just over 7,100 yards, Sedgefield is a course that anyone can win on. Just look at the last five winners above and I can promise you distance is not something that is a pre-requisite like some other courses on the PGA Tour. What all of those players have in common, however, is they are really good putters. I think with this expected to be another shootout it is best to try and follow the formula of hitting greens and sinking putts. Tom Kim led the field in SG: Putting when he won last year and Jim Herman was third in 2020, while J.T. Poston led the field in SG: Approach in 2019 and Brandt Snedeker was third in 2018.
The fairways are on the narrow side, but the bermuda rough typically doesn't present that much of an issue as long as you don't stray way off line into the trees. Players usually end up hitting it to around the same spots, so good short iron and wedge play can be a separator at Sedgefield. There are only two par-5's on this course, and while both of them extremely easy, the challenging quartet of par-3's mean that a lot of the score will be made on the par-4's this week. Unlike at TPC Twin Cities, there is not a lot of hazards on this course which should limit big numbers, although Kim did open with quadruple-bogey here last year before shooting 24-under the final 71 holes.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Russell Henley ($11,600)
It might look like a big number for Henley, but in this field that price tag is well worth it. The former Georgia Bulldog has finished top-20 in eight of his last 11 starts. He also has great course history at Sedgefield, going T9-T7-T5 the last three years. It really isn't a huge surprise given his stat profile as the most accurate driver on Tour, an elite iron and wedge player and a streaky putter.
Denny McCarthy ($10,700)
Despite an ugly missed cut at The Open, McCarthy has played some really high level golf this season, with five top-10s and 11 top-25s over his last 17 starts. He is putting together another top-3 season in SG: Putting and ranks third on Tour in par-4 scoring and 16th in SG: Total. I would have easily gone up into the $11K range for McCarthy on a course where he has gone 4-for-5 with a trio of top-25 finishes.
Aaron Rai ($10,200)
Rai carded four rounds in the 60s for a T20 last week at the 3M Open -- his fifth top-25 in his last seven starts. Rai's stat profile fits the bill for Sedgefield as he ranks fifth in driving accuracy, 14th in GIR percentage and eighth in par-4 scoring average. The one hole you might be able to poke in his game is the putter, but he has gained on the greens in four of five and around the green in all five.
Stephan Jaeger ($10,000)
Perhaps the most consistent player in the field sits at a flat $10K. Jaeger has missed only three cuts in a whopping 27 events this season. There aren't really many holes in his game. He has gained strokes off the tee in eight of 10, on approach in six straight, around the green in eight of nine and putting in five of seven. Jaeger also leads the PGA Tour in total birdies and finished T13 after a closing 62 last year in Greensboro.
Longer Shots with Value
Alex Smalley ($9,500)
Smalley is rested since just missing the cut at the Scottish Open. Prior to that he had racked up five top-25s in an eight tournament stretch, including a runner-up at the John Deere Classic. The ball striking was fantastic over that stretch, as he gained an average of 5.48 strokes per tournament off the tee and approaching the green. The putter can be streaky, but he seems to like these bermuda greens, finishing T29 and T13 the last two years at Sedgefield.
Adam Schenk ($8,900)
Schenk is your ultimate high-risk, high-reward player. Over his last seven starts he has four top-seven finishes, but the other three were missed cuts. At just under $9K in this field I think that the upside is too high not to take a shot. In those four recent top-7 finishes, Schenk gained an average of 9.49 strokes per tournament approaching the green and with the putter. That is the ultimate combination we are looking for at Sedgefield.
Doug Ghim ($8,700)
It's too bad Ghim didn't play as well early in the season as he has the past couple months, because he would easily be in the playoff hunt. His only missed cut in his last eight starts was in Scotland, and the other seven events all were finishes of T33 or better. Ghim is somewhat of a poor-man's Henley, ranking 14th in driving accuracy and fifth in GIR percentage. As long as the putter is decent, Ghim is going to get you a solid finish.
Lucas Glover ($8,600)
This price did not add up to me. Glover drops $1,400 from last week after missing the cut on the number at the 3M Open in what is a pretty similar strength of field. Prior to that missed cut, Glover had four top-20s in a five event stretch where he gained on average 6.61 strokes ball striking per tournament. The broomstick putter seems to have given him a jolt on the greens and he has as much experience as anyone at Sedgefield with seven top-30s in 14 starts.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
The $11K range is pretty weak and I would certainly be a fan of skipping it entirely and starting in the $10K range this week. On what is a relatively short course that should be a birdie fest, you have to be aggressive in DFS formats and go after players who have been stuffing it on approach or filling it up on the greens. Those are going to be the two ways to separate with the majority of the field playing from the same spots and likely not a lot of opportunities to gain around-the-greens. Course history at Sedgefield is awesome, but it's tough to back guys with amazing records here who have really struggled this season like Billy Horschel ($9,700) and Webb Simpson ($9,300) when there are so many better options at those numbers or below it. If your looking for some bargain bin options give Nicholas Lindheim ($8,400), Andrew Putnam ($8,200), Peter Kuest ($8,000) or Doc Redman ($7,800) a shot.
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