It is a big week on the PGA Tour as the qualification for the FedEx Cup playoffs end. At the end of the week we will know the identity of the 125 men going into the four week marathon where the winner will come out of the Tour Championship millions of dollars richer.
All of that goes on at the Wyndham Championship. In many ways there will be two or three tournaments within the one and that will dominate much of the coverage over the week. We have the tournament itself, the battle for the top 125 and then a battle for the top 200 in the FedEx rankings as those ranked between 126-200 can go on the Web.com tour finals to try and retain their tour card. Whichever way you look at it this is a huge week for plenty of players.
Recent Winners
2015 – Davis Love III
2014 – Camilo Villegas
2013 – Patrick Reed
2012 – Sergio Garcia
2011 – Webb Simpson
2010 – Arjun Atwal
2009 – Ryan Moore
2008 – Carl Pettersson
2007 – Brandt Snedeker
2006 – David Love III
The Course
Sedgefield Country Club is renowned for being one of the easiest courses on the PGA Tour. It is a nice warm up for the four tough events that follows and as such the scoring is always low here so immediately we are looking for players who create a lot of scoring chances.
The course itself is a par 70 which measures just 7,127 yards which isn’t very long at all in modern standards. The greens are small which is the only defence this golf course has although I have read players saying they have never known them be as firm and fast as they currently are which might make getting near the pins trickier.
Generally in tournaments like this good ball strikers are the order of the day and a run through those who do well here would very much support that. A hot putter is never a bad thing either.
The Field
As you would expect with both FedEx points and Ryder Cup points up for grabs in this tournament a pretty decent field has been assembled. Davis Love III doesn’t defend the title because of injury but with all his Ryder Cup commitments he may not have defended anyway.
Olympians Patrick Reed and Rickie Fowler are in the field this week as is the most recent major champion Jimmy Walker. Hideki Matsuyama and Jim Furyk are just two more big names in the field while former champions Ryan Moore, Brandt Snedeker and Webb Simpson also go for another Wyndham title.
Market Leaders
Patrick Reed begins the week as the 16/1 favourite. The former champion should be nicely inspired by his Olympic experience and ready to win again. Apart from the price there isn’t a lot to not like about him heading into this tournament.
Hideki Matsuyama and Jim Furyk shared the tag of second favourites at 22/1. Matsuyama found some form at the USPGA which he’ll hope to take into the playoffs with him while Furyk will be playing his first tournament since that history breaking round of 58 at the Travelers. Neither can be ruled out.
Neither can former champions Brandt Snedeker and Ryan Moore. While the Olympics was going on last week Ryan Moore was winning the John Deere Classic but I’m not one for backing winners the next week. The comedown is inevitable and the price is often shorter than it should be off the back of that. Snedeker has flattered to deceive in a couple of tournaments so even at 25/1 I’ll pass them over.
It is 28/1 bar those five men in a competitive little field but in a tournament which has an open feel to it just purely because of the nature of the low scoring and the fact that so many players are playing for so much.
Main Bets
I’m going with two main bets this week. I’m not going near anyone who went to the Olympics last week. I’ve a feeling that whole experience will have taken plenty out of those players and that is a real concern.
My first pick is Bill Haas. Haas has an excellent record around here. He has broken 70 in 15 of his last 16 rounds which is an excellent platform to build from. The American has had no less than seven top 10 finishes this season including a couple in low scoring events at the beginning of the year.
We know Haas is in good form from his first top 10 at The Open a few weeks ago and back on a course which he clearly loves he is entitled to be right in the mix come the end of the week.
The other main pick also did well at a major recently. Indeed he actually won it and that is of course the USPGA champion Jimmy Walker. Walker’s year hadn’t gone to plan until he got to Baltusrol but he made up for it there and he’ll be looking to build on that for the big events to come.
He should be well suited to this course too because there is no issues to tackle off the tee and his iron play has been bang on it for a few weeks now and if he continues to strike his irons well he will create a lot of birdie chances which he showed us when winning the USPGA he is likely to take advantage of.
Outsiders
It is worth taking a couple of outsiders in this tournament. The last two winners would be described as outsiders and both were actually outside the top 125 in the FedEx rankings going into the week so just because they’re having a bad season doesn’t mean they can’t win. As it goes both my outsiders are inside the top 125.
Ben Martin showed at the John Deere Classic last week that he is coming back into form. He was second in that tournament and shot a third round of 62 which shows how his scoring is coming along and we can see that in the statistics where he is inside the top 20 for birdies and better on the PGA Tour.
Clearly his problem has been the number of mistakes he has made but this is a much easier course than most he will play and that can automatically limit the errors that comes from him and with that in mind I think he is worth a punt to go one better than last week.
Although he sits outside the top 100 in the FedEx Cup rankings Andrew Loupe could give us a run for our money this week. He is as high as ninth on Tour for birdies or better so he is going to give himself a lot of chances to pick up shots here. If he can cut out the silly errors then he is entitled to be right there when the back nine on Sunday comes along.
Tips
Back B.Haas to win Wyndham Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-7)
Back J.Walker to win Wyndham Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-7)
Back A.Loupe to win Wyndham Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 201.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-7)
Back them here:
Back B.Martin to win Wyndham Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 71.00 with Bet365 (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
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