Only one tournament remains until the FedEx Cup Playoffs officially begin. The Wyndham Championship is this week, as a field highlighted by Webb Simpson, Hideki Matsuyama, and Brandt Snedeker will tee off at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Sedgefield is definitely a player’s course, evident by each of the last three winners of the Wyndham Championship putting up scores of -21 or better. A Par 70 stretching out 7,127 yards, there are only two Par 5s, but still plenty of longer Par 4s with minimal hazards. If there is one tough part about this course, it’s the greens which are smaller than the Tour average and run a little fast. However, with some rain in the forecast, the greens should slow a bit, leading the way for some very low scores.
For this tournament, putting will be the thing that makes or breaks it for golfers this week. As a straightforward course, there will be lots of fairways found and strong approach shots, but whoever gets hot with the putter will be at a big advantage. Additionally, Par 4 scoring should be looked at given the amount of Par 4s on the course.
So with all that said, here are some golfers who should be in contention this week.
Webb Simpson 10/1
Last week’s runner-up in Memphis is this week’s betting favorite. Simpson has found his putting stroke this season, ranking 12th in SG: putting to go along with ranking fourth in scoring average. The North Carolina native has finished second in two of his last four tournaments against some elite fields, and now returns to a course he won at in 2011. Expect Simpson to be very much involved with the top of the leaderboard.
Collin Morikawa – 18/1
Morikawa is still a name lots of golf fans don’t know, so how does he have the third-best odds to win behind only Simpson and Matsuyama? Well for starters, Morikawa has only appeared in six tournaments on the PGA Tour slate in 2019. But he is coming in with three straight finishes in the top-4, most recently a victory at the Barracuda Championship. If he qualified, he would be leading the Tour in greens in regulation as well as adjusted scoring. The 22-year old Morikawa is the real deal.
Jordan Spieth 18/1
It has been an interesting year for Spieth, but no one in this field has the career resume that he does. While the off-the-tee game has been inconsistent, Spieth has crushed it with the putter, ranking fourth in putting: birdies-or-better. It also helps that he has some familiarity with Sedgefield, although it has been six years since his last appearance. If Spieth cleans up his off-the-tee performance, he should be right there.
Brandt Snedeker – 25/1
The defending champion Snedeker knows Sedgefield all too well. That was evident after last year’s first round, where he shot a 59 en route to a comfortable win. That was Snedeker’s third top-five finish in his last four trips to Greensboro, and fifth top-10 overall. Even with the shaky 2019 he’s having, it would be unwise to doubt Snedeker bounces back this week.
Lucas Glover – 50/1
Glover ranks in the top 50 in nearly every stat, including top-20 in SG: tee-to-green. That has been backed up by his results this season, where he has six top-10s and another nine top-25s. In terms of his history at Sedgefield, he has five top-25 finishes in 10 appearances, including a round of 61 back in 2016. Glover seems like a good bet to be in the running to win.
With some intriguing options to choose from, I’m taking Jordan Spieth to get the victory this week before gearing up for the playoffs. The first round tees off in Greensboro at 7:00 A.M. EST.