The PGA TOUR heads east to Greensboro, N.C., for the final tournament of the season before the FedEx Cup Playoffs start next week. Many of the big names are using this as a week off to rest up for the playoff run.
Hideki Matsuyama, Webb Simpson, and Louis Oosthuizen highlight the top of the field this week at the Wyndham Championship. The big story however will be the implications for many other players, starting with Will Zalatoris who has one final chance to capture a win, his official TOUR card and a spot in the playoffs.
Many others are looking to secure a spot inside of the top 125, including several big names like Tommy Fleetwood, Rickie Fowler, and Adam Scott. They don’t have concerns about their job security next season as others do, but it is still interesting to see so many stalwarts of the game competing just for a chance to tee it up next week.
Let’s get right into the course and those players that have had the most success at Sedgefield over the years.
The Course
Sedgefield Country Club – Greensboro, NC
7,131 yard, Par 70
- Two Par 5s (509/538)
- Four Par 3s (174/223/235/175)
- Twelve Par 4s (418/442/428/423/374/416/440/486/405/505/406/507)
- Average green size of 6,000 square feet
- Bermudagrass tee to green, with 2.5″ rough
Started in 1938, the Wyndham Championship is the sixth-oldest event on TOUR. It moved to the current host site, Sedgefield Country Club, in 2008 following a renovation to the original Donald Ross design. This year, it will set up as a 7,131-yardar 70 with two par 5s and four par 3s. Hole No. 14, a Par 4, was extended by an additional 25 yards to 505 yards after it played as the third-toughest hole in 2019.
Otherwise, the course will set up similarly to years past, featuring Bermudagrass from tee to green, with just 2.5″ of rough. The champions in each of the past five years of this event have finished at 21-under par or better, and with perfect weather forecasted, there is no reason to expect anything other than a birdie-fest this week.
The two par 5s, Nos. 5 and 15 are traditionally played as the easiest holes on the course. The 509-yard fifth hole saw birdies 55.9 percent of the time and an additional 6 percent of eagles. It has played more like a long par 4 with a 4.37 scoring average and a spot in the outward nine to really get a low round going. Anything short of birdie will be losing strokes to the field this week at this hole.
The 15th hole has seen similar scoring results, yielding 51.2 percent birdies and 4.2 percent eagles, for this 538 yard par 5. While there are only two par 5s this week, it is imperative that players score well on these holes, as these are some of the best scoring opportunities on the track.
All of the first six holes on the course traditionally play at or under-par, making for an exciting start to rounds, especially on the weekend. The back nine played much tougher, relatively speaking, as five of the six hardest holes were on that side of the course. There will be plenty of birdies available throughout the course this weekend, as the last three winners have been 21- or 22-under par.
Both the front and back nine feature one long par 3 of over 200 yards. The seventh played as the fifth-toughest hole last year, while the 238-yard twelfth was the sixth-toughest hole. Both of these par 3s have played just a touch over par while the two others at 174 and 175 yards respectively, have played just a shade under par.
The hardest hole on the course was the eighteenth, which has played to a scoring average of 4.2 and only saw a 9.7 percent birdie rate. It plays as a 505-yard par 4 during the event, though it is a par 5 for members, and it will set up as a difficult finishing hole to decide this year’s champion.
Course Horses
Webb Simpson (T3-2-T2-3-T72)
There is no other place to start in this event than with Webb. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone with better tournament history at any TOUR stop than what Simpson has done in his career at Sedgefield. He isn’t in the best of form this season, but it will be really hard to look past him at the top of lineups this week.
Si Woo Kim (T3-5-MC-DNP-1)
It’s not overly surprising to see some boom-or-bust results for Si Woo, as that has been the story for him most of his career. He has the ability to top 5 or even win in a given week, which he has done three of the last four times at the Wyndham, or he could miss the cut. He’s always an interesting GPP play, and certainly the upside is there for that at Sedgefield.
Ryan Armour (T25-T22-T8-T4)
If you are looking for a cheap play with both upside and security, it certainly looks like Ryan Armour is your guy. He hasn’t finished worse than T25 in any of his last four trips to this event, and has a couple of top 10s during that stretch as well. He’s a perfect fit this week at just $7,000 on DraftKings.
