Wyndham Championship: 29/1 Billy the bet at Sedgefield

• Accuracy off the tee is key at Sedgefield

• Look to Sawgrass and Keene Trace for clues

---

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-70 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 2023 - 69.47

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 four winners, Carl Pettersson, Arjun Atwal, Jim Herman, and Tom Kim, all shoot 61 on the way to victory and the 2018 winner, Brandt Snedeker, went two better, firing a 59 on day one.

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 that some 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 two years ago. The previous five winners all reached either -21 or -22, however, and the last two winners have got to -20, 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, starting at 11:45 on Thursday

---

Last Eight Winners with Pre-event Exchange Prices

2023 - Lucas Glover -20 90.089/1
2022 - Tom Kim -20 36.035/1
2021 - Kevin Kisner -15 (playoff) 60.059/1
2020 - Jim Herman -21 1000.0999/1
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

---

What Will it Take to Win the Wyndham Championship?

Driving Accuracy is most definitely a more important stat than Driving Distance.

The last nine winners here, starting with Davis Love III in 2015, have ranked 32^nd, 51^st, 71^st. 25^th, 51^st, 51^st, 65^th, 79^th and 27^th for Driving Distance. This is not a bombers track, this is a course for the accurate types.

Brand Snedeker won here six years ago with some bizarre stats and there were none more bizarre than his 51^st 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.

Kevin Kisner, the 2021 champion, only ranked 31^st for Driving Accuracy but last year's winner, Lucas Glover, ranked first. When Tom Kim won in 2022, he ranked fourth for DA and the first six players home in 2020 ranked fourth, fifth, first, eighth, 13th and 17th.

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 16 renewals since the event returned to Sedgefield, 16^th (Patrick Reed) is the worst any other winner has ranked for Driving Accuracy.

Kim only ranked 16^th for Greens In Regulation two years ago but seven of the top 12 ranked tied seventh or better for GIR. Eight of the 14 players separated by just two strokes at the top of the leaderboard in 2021 ranked inside the top 14 for Greens In Regulation.

The winner three years ago, Kevin Kisner, only ranked tied eighth but the two winners before him both ranked number one for GIR, as did Glover 12 months ago.

The three winners between 2019 and 2021 had unusually poor Putting Average rankings of 37^th, 23^rd and 20^th. That's a bit odd given this is essentially a birdie-fest.

Glover ranked only 10^th for Putting Average but Kim topped both the PA and Strokes Gained Putting stats and the three winners between 2016 and 2018 all ranked second for PA.

For the first seven renewals back at Sedgefield, the number one ranked player on the par fours finished either first or second and three of the last five winners (Glover, last year, and the 2019 and 2020 winners, J.T Poston and Jim Herman) have topped the Par 4 Scoring stats.

Finding plenty of greens and putting well are usually important here but the best stats to peruse are probably Driving Accuracy and Par 4 Scoring.

---

Check out the Bubble Boys

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 70 mark in the FedEx Cup standings often raise their game in order to ensure they qualify, and a big move can still be made from even further down the standings

Last year's winner, Lucas Glover, climbed from 112^th to 49^th and two weeks ago we saw Jhonattan Vegas jump from 149^th to 67^th in the standings with his victory in the 3M Open.

And secondly, the 2020 runner-up, Billy Horschel, and two of the last seven winners of the Wyndham, Brandt Snedeker, and Henrik Stenson, have both won the FedEx Cup. Could Horschel, Snedeker and Stenson have been inspired by former FedEx Cup glory on the eve on a new Playoff Series?

From a course correlation angle, form at Donald Ross designed tracks tends to cross over well so look at the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club, Aronimink Country Club, which hosted the BMW Championship in 2018, East Lake in Atlanta, home of the Tour Championship and Oak Hill, which hosted last year's US PGA Championship.

---

Three course correlations to consider

Away from the Ross designed tracks, form at the Champions Course at the Keene Trace club in Kentucky, which has hosted the last six ISCO Championships, might be of interest.

In the last six years, Kevin Streelman has finished second and seventh and Horschel has finished second in both events, Herman has won both and Poston and Glover arguably should have done.

The 2019 Wyndham winner, Poston, was matched at 1.011/100 to win the ISCO Championship in 2020 before eventually going down to Seamus Power in extra-time. Last year's winner here, Glover, had led at Keene Trace by two at the halfway stage before a lacklustre weekend saw him finish fifth.

Last year's renewal showed how well Sony Open form holds up at Sedgefield. Glover was fifth at the Sony in 2022, when Russell Henley (who finished tied second here 12 months ago), was beaten in a playoff and the man to finish alongside Henley here last year, Byeong Hun An, traded at as low as 1.422/5 to win the Sony in January before losing in a playoff. The 2022 Sony Open was won by Si Woo Kim, who won the Wyndham by five strokes in 2016.

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. Glover has finished third and sixth at Sawgrass, the 2021 winner, Kisner, has finished fourth and second there and as many as five of the last 13 Wyndham winners have also won the Players.

I backed Anirban Lahiri at 200.0199/1 two years ago on the strength of his second at Sawgrass earlier in the year and, although he could only finish tied for eighth, he was matched at a low of 8.07/1 on Saturday so he made for a nice trading vehicle.

---

Is there an Identikit Winner?

Snedeker was winning the event for a second time six 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. Tom Kim got off the mark here two years ago and seven of the last 15 victors were breaking their duck on the PGA Tour.

Despite his inexperience, Kim was an extremely well-backed 36.035/1 chance, Snedeker was a solid 32.031/1 chance six years ago and Stenson was a well-fancied 15.014/1 favourite in 2017. Glover was matched at a triple-figure price when the market first opened, Kisner was a 60.059/1 shot three years ago, Herman went off at 1000.0999/1 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 Stenson in 2017 were also all matched at a triple-figure price before the off.

This is most definitely an event for outsiders. Herman was the third 1000.0999/1 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 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 and Glover was 43 last year.

---

Winner's Position and Exchange Price Pre-Round Four

2023 - Lucas Glover - tied for the lead 3.185/40
2022 - Tom Kim - tied third, trailing by two (Not available)*
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

*After lots of rain throughout the week, the third round needed to be finished off on Sunday before round four could start, so I don't know what price Kim was between rounds three and four.

---

In-Play Tactics

Since returning to Sedgefield the in-running stats at the 16 renewals are just odd.

We've seen nine 54-hole leaders win but Poston won from three back and, after Kisner's success three years ago, we've had five winners come from four back with a round to go.

In the last 16 years, nobody's won the title having trailed by just a stroke and Kim (two years ago) is the only winner in all that time to be two back after 54 holes.

Kim was a remarkable winner two years ago given he drifted out to 200.0199/1 after he made a quadruple-bogey at his first hole on Thursday. But he ended up winning the weather-affected renewal by five after a sensational 61 on Sunday, having shot 27 on the front nine.

---

Koreans head the market

With current form figures reading 3-12-4-7 and course form numbers reading 6-9-24-2-14, Sungjae Im is the obvious favourite in a wide-open affair.

The 26-year-old Korean is highly likely to contend but it's now almost three years since he won his second PGA Tour title - the Shriners Children's Open - although he did win in Korea as recently as the end of April.

He's clearly in form and he's putting nicely but, digging a little deeper, he's perhaps been a fraction disappointing in-contention.

He finished seventh in the Open last time out after a slow start (sat tied for 96^th after round one) but he arguably finished a bit weakly at both the Scottish Open and the John Deere Classic.

Im sat second after a 63 in round one in Scotland but never really looked like winning (finished fourth - beaten by four). Having sat fourth and just two off the lead at the John Deere Classic, he shot 70 on Saturday to drop outside the top-20 before rallying on Sunday to finish 12^th.

It's now eight years since Im's fellow Korean Si Woo Kim got off the mark on the PGA Tour here and he's been backed into second favourite.

A winner of the Players in 2017 and the Sony Open last year, Kim should have arguably won this title at least twice.

With Sedgefield course form figures reading MC-1-MC-5-3-2-W-33, he has a mixed bag of results, but the venue clearly suits his eye. Another strong performance wouldn't be a big surprise but he hasn't finished inside the top-10 anywhere since finishing sixth at the Players Championship back in March.

Kim has current form figures reading MC-56-15-32-31-26-43 and others are preferred.

Shane Lowry would be my idea of the least likely to win towards the head of the market. His participation is a bit of a surprise given he sits 10^th in the FedEx Cup Standings, his course form is nothing to write home about and he's been quite busy of late.

Lowry finished 26^th at the Olympics last week, two weeks after his disappointing finish at the Open Championship, and he has course from figures reading an ordinary 42-7-MC-23-83-51.

His seventh in 2017 looks decent enough at first glance but he was actually beaten by seven strokes, and he looks like one to oppose this week.

---

Billy backed at 30.029/1

I'll be back later today with my outside fancies in the Find Me a 100 Winner column but my only pre-event fancy at a double-figure price is Billy Horschel.

We haven't seen the 37-year-old since his brilliant tied second in the Open, but he's had enough time off for his best major performance to sink in. This is a perfect venue for him to go in again, having won his eighth PGA Tour title at the Corales Puntacana Championship back in April.

Horschel took his time to get to grips with Sedgefield but with course form figures reading 30-46-47-MC-5-60-11-6-2-27-4, it's somewhere that clearly fits his experienced eye.

No bigger than 25/126.00 on the High Street, Horschel has drifted out to 30.029/1 on the Exchange and that looks very fair.

---

Now read more golf betting previews and get tips from our experts

---

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter

---