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Wyndham Championship: Champ can contend again

Steven Rawlings
02 August 2022
5 min read

Cameron Champ - the Punter's sole selection at Sedgefield

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The PGA Tour pitches up in North Carolina for the last event before the FedEx Cup playoff series starts and our man's here with his comprehensive preview...

"Last year’s winner, Kisner, has finished fourth and second at Sawgrass and as many as five of the last 11 Wyndham winners have also won the Players."

Tournament History

Sam Snead won the first Wyndham Championship in 1938, when it was known as the Greater Greensboro Open, and he won it for the eighth time in 1965, at the age of 52 years, 10 months, and eight days. That still stands as the most wins of a single PGA Tour event and he's still the oldest winner on Tour.

The Wyndham is the last counting event before the FedEx Cup Playoff series begins next week with the FedEx St Jude, so players are looking to finish inside the top-125 on the rankings to secure a place in the field in Memphis next Thursday.

Venue

Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, North Carolina

Course Details

Par 70 7,131 yards
Stroke index in 2021 - 68.88

Founded in 1926, the Donald Ross designed Sedgefield Country Club was the event's original venue but between 1977 and 2007 the tournament's permanent home was Forrest Oaks Country Club. The Wyndham Championship returned to Sedgefield Country Club in 2008 - a year after Kris Spence had restored and lengthened the course so it could stand up to the modern game.

In typical Ross fashion, the greens are smaller than average, undulating and fairly fast, and they're usually set to run at around 12 on the stimpmeter. Since the event returned to Sedgefield, low scores have been the norm. We've seen three winners, Carl Pettersson, Arjun Atwal and Jim Herman, all shoot 61 on the way to victory and the 2018 winner, Brandt Snedeker, went two better, firing a 59 on day one.

SEDGEFIELD 16th 2022 1.jpg

Changes were made to the greens prior to the 2012 renewal and they're now the same strain of Bermuda (previously bent grass) used at another North Carolina Tour stop, Quail Hollow, but it hasn't made the difference to the scores anticipated.

Patrick Reed's winning score of -14 in 2013 was the highest since the event returned to Sedgefield and 15-under-par was the winning score last year the previous five winners all reached either -21 or -22 so it's not a tough track.

Sedgefield also hosted the Greensboro Open on the Web.com Tour between 1998 and 2000.

Weather Forecast

TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, beginning with Red Button at 11:45 UK time on Thursday and full coverage at 20:00.

Last Seven Winners with Pre-event Exchange Prices

2021 - Kevin Kisner -15 (playoff) 60.059/1
2020 - Jim Herman -21 1000.0
2019 - J.T Poston -22 270.0269/1
2018 - Brandt Snedeker -21 32.031/1
2017 - Henrik Stenson -22 15.014/1
2016 - Si Woo Kim -21 180.0179/1
2015 - Davis Love III -17 1000.0

What Will it Take to Win the Wyndham Championship?

There are certain courses where short hitters just don't stand a chance but this is a track at which Driving Accuracy is most definitely a more important stat than Driving Distance.

The last seven winners here, starting with Davis Love III in 2015, have ranked 32nd, 51st, 71st, 25th, 51st, 51st and 65th for Driving Distance. This is not a bombers track, this is a course for the accurate types.

Brand Snedeker won here four years ago with some bizarre stats and there were none more bizarre than his 51st for Driving Accuracy as finding the fairways at Sedgefield is very often the key to victory.

The rough is awkward to play from and getting within birdie range is nigh on impossible if you stray from the cut and prepared.

Last year's winner, Kevin Kisner, only ranked 31st for Driving Accuracy but the first six players home in 2020 ranked fourth, fifth, first, eighth, 13th and 17th for DA.

Kisner wins Wyndham.jpg

In 2019, the first and second, J.T Poston and course-specialist, Webb Simpson, ranked second and first for DA and other than Kisner and Snedeker, in the 14 renewals since the event returned to Sedgefield, 16th (Patrick Reed) is the worst any other winner has ranked for Driving Accuracy.

As many as eight of the 14 players separated by just two strokes at the top of the leaderboard last year ranked inside the top-14 for Greens In Regulation.

Kisner only ranked tied eighth but the two winners before him both ranked number one for GIR.

The last three winners have had unusually poor Putting Average rankings of 37th, 23rd and 20th and that's a bit odd given this is essentially a birdie-fest.

In addition to topping the GIR stats, the 2019 and 2020 winners, J.T Poston and Jim Herman, both topped the Par 4 Scoring stats and had Kevin Na won the playoff last year, the last three winners would have topped the Par 4 Scoring stats.

For the first seven renewals back at Sedgefield, the number one ranked player on the par fours finished either first or second and that trend was back on the agenda after the 2017 renewal, with Henrik Stenson ranking second for Par 4 Scoring, behind the runner-up, Ollie Schniederjans. Stenson played the par fours in a combined total of -10, Schniederjans played them in an incredible -15.

Snedeker won in 2018 despite only ranking 12th for Par 4 Scoring and Kisner only ranked 14th last year but it's usually the key stat so the best figures to peruse are the Driving Accuracy stats here and the Par 4 Scoring stats here.

Is There an Angle In?

This is the last event of the PGA Tour season before the FedEx Cup Playoffs begin with the FedEx St Jude Championship and that looks like it might offer up a couple of good angles in.

Firstly, those players bobbing around the 125 mark in the FedEx Cup standings (here) often raise their game in order to ensure they qualify. Secondly, the 2020 runner-up, Billy Horschel, and two of the last five winners of the Wyndham, Brandt Snedeker and Henrik Stenson, have both won the FedEx Cup. Were Horschel, Snedeker and Stenson inspired by former FedEx Cup glory on the eve on a new series?

From a course correlation angle, form at Donald Ross designed tracks tends to cross over well so a look at last week's Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club, Aronimink Country Club, which hosted the AT & T National in both 2010 and 2011 and the BMW Championship in 2018, and East Lake in Atlanta, home of the Tour Championship.

Away from the Ross designed tracks, form at the Champions Course at the Keene Trace club in Kentucky, which has hosted the last four Barbasol Championships, might be of interest. In the last four years, Kevin Streelman has finished second and seventh and Horschel has finished second in both events, Herman has won both and Poston should have done. The 2019 Wyndham winner was matched at 1.011/100 to win the Barbasol in 2020 before eventually going down to Seamus Power in extra-time but if you want a really strong course link you need to head to Florida and to the Pete Dye designed home of the Players Championship, Sawgrass.

Last year's winner, Kisner, has finished fourth and second at Sawgrass and as many as five of the last 11 Wyndham winners have also won the Players.

Is There an Identikit Winner?

Snedeker was winning the event for a second time four years ago and the 2015 winner, Davis Love III, has won the title three times but this has been a decent tournament for first timer winners of late. Poston got off the mark here three years ago and six of the last 13 victors were breaking their duck on the PGA Tour.

Snedeker was a solid 32.031/1 chance four years ago and Stenson was a well-fancied 15.014/1 favourite in 2017 but Kisner was a 60.059/1 shot 12 months ago, Herman went off at 1000.0 in 2020 and outsiders have fared really well of late. Having been matched at a high of 290.0289/1 before the event, Poston was relatively unfancied in 2019 and the four winners before Henrik were also all matched at a triple-figure price before the off.

This is most definitely an event for outsiders - and Herman was the third 1000.0 chance to win in 11 years following Arjun Atwal in 2010 and Davis Love III in 2015.

With length off the tee an irrelevance, this is somewhere the oldies can really shine. As already mentioned, Snead is the oldest ever PGA Tour winner and when Love won here in 2015, he became the third oldest to win on the PGA Tour. Herman was 42 when he lifted the trophy in 2020.

Winner's Position and Exchange Price Pre-Round Four

2021 - Kevin Kisner - trailing by four 17.016/1
2020 - Jim Herman - trailing by four 50.049/1
2019 - J.T Poston - trailing by three 40.039/1
2018 - Brandt Snedeker led by one stroke 2.111/10
2017 - Henrik Stenson led by one stroke 2.8615/8
2016 - Si Woo Kim led by two strokes 7.26/1
2015 - Davis Love III trailing by four 130.0129/1

In-Play Tactics

Since returning to Sedgefield the in-running stats at the 14 renewals are just odd. We've seen eight 54-hole leaders win but Poston won from three back and after Kisner's success last year, we've had five winners come from four back with a round to go. In the last 14 years, nobody's won the title having trailed by one or two strokes after 54 holes.

Market Leaders

With Sedgefield form figures reading 6-9-24, it's not a surprise to see Sungjae Im heading the market following his second to Tony Finau at the 3M Open two weeks ago.

Im ranks third for Par 4 Scoring on the PGA Tour and his accurate tee-to-green is made for the venue.

Shane Lowry has a mixed set of results here that really should read better than 42-7-MC-23. He was just one off the lead at halfway 12 months ago after a 63 in round two but he fell away on Saturday with a disappointing 70.

He's in fair form but no more and I'm happy to swerve him.

Will Zalatoris continues to search for his first PGA Tour title and with Sedgefield form reading MC-29, the wait may continue but it's impossible to ignore Billy Horschel's chance.

Billy Horschel wins memorial.jpg

The Memorial winner looked to be finding his form again last time out when 21st in the Open and his last five visits to Sedgefield have yielded form figures reading 5-60-11-6-2.

Webb Simpson is a standing dish around Sedgefield, but he hasn't been at his best in a while and Russell Henley needs to overcome the disappointment of blowing a three-stroke 54-hole lead here 12 months ago.

Selection

I'll have a couple of outsiders in tomorrow's Find Me a 100 Winner column but for now I'm going with just one - Cameron champ.

After a string of missed cut, Champ has found a bit of form as he bids to sneak into next week's field.

Ranking 130th, he needs another strong week to make it to TPC Southwind and if he can string four rounds together, he could go very close to winning. Champ was 16th in the 3m Open two weeks ago and 20th last week despite posting a 75 in round one a fortnight ago and another in round two in the Rocket Mortgage Classic last week.

Selections:
Cameron Champ @ 85.084/1

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter