Preview
Course Info
Designer: Donald Ross
Used Since: 2008
Fairways: Average
Greens: Small - Bermudagrass
Water Hazards: On 6 holes
Par 5's: 5th and 15th
Premium on: Approach play
Significant Info
The 2019 Wyndham Championship was notable as the first PGA Tour event since 1974 where the winner did not record a bogey or worse. The course has also seen a 59 with Brandt Snedeker having achieved this feat in 2018.
Players from North Carolina have a strong record here with J.T. Poston winning in 2019 and Webb Simpson being somewhat of a course specialist. Carl Pettersson is another past champion with North Carolina links.
Weather
Thursday
Isolated thunderstorms with a max wind speed of 7mph.
Friday
Thunderstorms with a max wind speed of 7mph.
Saturday
PM Thunderstorm with a max wind speed of 7mph.
Sunday
PM Possible thunderstorm with a max wind speed of 7mph.
Trends
Winning Score
Last year, the winning score was only -15. In the previous five editions, the winning score had been between -21 or -22.
Course Form
A mixed bag, course form isn't essential. Three of the past six champions had no course form to speak of prior to winning (Si Woo Kim, Henrik Stenson and JT Poston). However, 2018, 2020 and 2021 champions - Brandt Snedeker, Jim Herman, and Kevin Kisner - had both posted top 12 finishes prior to winning.
Recent Form
Last year's champion, Kevin Kisner, had two top 10's in his last four starts but two most recent starts had been mediocre.
2020 champion Jim Herman, had no form whatsoever coming into the tournament. However the previous four champions had each posted a top 45 finish the week before (three of those four had recorded a top 30 the week before).
World Ranking
The last five winners have ranked 52-318-158-88-9-114. Outsiders do win here.
Nationality
Since the event moved back to Sedgefield in 2008, we've had eight winners from the USA and six winners from a range of countries.
Stats Analysis
SG: Off The Tee
The last six winners have ranked 34-7-44-83-55-1.
Driving Accuracy
The last six winners have ranked 60-5-4-86-9-6. Accuracy is preferred over length.
Driving Distance
The last six winners have ranked 137-98-101-41-130-86. Distance is not essential!
SG: Approach
The last six winners have ranked 12-4-1-4-3-2. Approach play is key.
Greens In Regulation
The last six winners have ranked 8-1-3-23-3-8. As indicated above, approach play is key.
SG: Around The Green
The last six winners have ranked 26-94-28-10-47-63. We don't need to focus on this category this week.
SG: Putting
The last six winners have ranked 8-3-17-24-3-56. A hot putter helps but isn't essential.
In Play
Tough Holes
The 14th and 18th played as the hardest holes last year, both are par 4s measuring over 500 yards.
Birdie Holes
The two par 5's are ranked as the easiest holes on the course. The short par 4, 8th hole plays as the 3rd easiest on the course.
Closing Stretch
The 16th and 17th, averaged around 0.1 strokes under par last year but the 18th played 0.14 stokes over par.
Fast or Slow Start
You can recover from a slow start here. Winners in the last six years have placed 9th, 13th, 16th, 1st, 2nd and 41st after Round 1.
Two winners in the last six years has been outside the top 10 at halfway (Jim Herman 2020 and Kevin Kisner last year).
Every winner in the last six years has been inside the top 5 through 54 holes. Three of those six have led with 18 holes to go. It should be noted Si Woo Kim got into a playoff last year from 15th place in round 3.
In-play
Wyndham Championship In-Play Blog
7 August 2022, 10:30am (UK time)
Player | Total |
B Wu (thru 11) |
-12 |
Im (thru 11) |
-12 |
J Kim (thru 1) |
-11 |
Huh (thru 10) |
-11 |
Six players tied |
-10 |
Round 3 Summary
Brandon Wu holed out from 147 yards on the 11th just before play was suspended and he's tied with Sungjae Im at the top. Players were unable to resume their 3rd round yesterday and the remaining holes will now be completed today.
Notable Round 3 Quotes
"I played this place I think since 2010 prior to the redo and I love it here." Will Zalatoris
Round 4 Weather
Mostly cloudy with a consistent wind of 5-6mph throughout the day.
How do we expect the market favourites to perform?
Sungjae Im is into 5/2 and is now clear favourite to win his 3rd PGA Tour title. The South Korean has a ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Golf Betting Club Pressure Performance Rating and is expected to go close this weekend.
Joohyung Kim is 2nd favourite at 11/2. In contrast to his opening two rounds, he was unable to hole a putt longer than 6ft yesterday and he'll need to find his putting touch again to have a chance.
Brandon Wu is next in the betting at 15/2 with Russell Henley just below at 8/1. As we mentioned yesterday, Henley makes little appeal given his recent weak efforts in contention. Brandon Wu is a future winner on the PGA Tour and can't be discounted.
Where is the value?
With the third round yet to be completed, there aren't many markets to take a look at other than the outright market. Brian Stuard made appeal at 33/1 given the way he is striking the ball (3rd SG: Tee to Green) but he starts on the difficult 12th hole when play resumes. We'd prefer to see him secure a par there before backing him. We have existing interest with Anirban Lahiri and Alex Smalley and we are content to cheer them on.
Round 4 Bet
6 August 2022, 9:30am (UK time)
Player | Total |
B Wu |
-9 |
J Kim |
-9 |
R Moore |
-9 |
Huh |
-8 |
Henley |
-8 |
Im |
-8 |
Round 2 Summary
Three players are tied at the top, with 38 players within five shots of the lead.
Notable Round 2 Quotes
"I think last week I think was a little bit more intense, I felt like a lot of shots were a little bit more of I wouldn't say stress, but a little bit of like knowing that I needed to play well last week to kind of give me some breathing space this week, and once I had done that, I told myself, you know what, I'm going to come out here, I'm just going to enjoy it, just try to be as happy as I can and that's what I'm doing. So hopefully, two more 2 days to go." Joohyung Kim
"I thought it was maybe just slightly tougher in the morning. The ball doesn't fly quite as far and it's a little bit wet. That rough, if you get in the rough when it's wet, it's super thick, so tough to get the club through it. Played about the same. Not too much breeze both rounds." Brandon Wu
Round 3 Weather
Mostly cloudy with a consistent wind of 5-7mph throughout the day.
How do we expect the market favourites to perform?
Sungjae Im has eased slightly to 4/1 from yesterday's 7/2 but remains the market favourite. Im missed several short putts during his round and whilst he has to be respected, we are happy to bypass him again today.
Joohyung Kim is 2nd favourite at 9/2. The youngster has completed a remarkable comeback after a quadruple bogey on his opening hole on Thursday. He's holed over 300ft of putts on the opening two days and there has to be a worry the putter cools down over the weekend.
Russell Henley is 11/2 but makes little appeal given his inability to close tournaments out.
Where is the value?
Winners at Wyndham in recent years have come from off the pace and we're content to back several outsiders at this stage. We backed Jim Herman at 300/1 in 2020 at this stage and he duly delivered. Kevin Kisner was seven shots off the pace last year at this stage.
Round 3 Bets
- 0.5pts Each Way Chesson Hadley 100/1 @ General (1/4 1-4)
Hadley is four shots off the pace but ranks 5th SG: Tee to Green for the opening two rounds. A previous winner on the PGA Tour, he came close to winning the Palmetto Championship last year. Three top 10 finishes in his last six starts emphasise just how well he is playing at the moment and he's a sound each way play.
- 0.5pts Each Way Richy Werenski 200/1 @ General (1/4 1-4)
We considered a small play on Max McGreevy at 300/1 but given Werenski has a win already on the PGA Tour, we sided with him. Werenski is also four shots off the pace and will need a fast finish. Like Hadley, he's capable of low scores when the putter gets hot and we're happy to back him at 200/1.
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5 August 2022, 10:10am (UK time)
Player | Total |
Huh |
-9 |
Im |
-7 |
Malnati |
-6 |
Wu B |
-6 |
Nine players tied |
-5 |
Round 1 Summary
John Huh flew out of the traps early on to finish 9 under par, with pre-tournament favourite Sungjae Im his closest challenger at 7 under par. The best of the afternoon scorers were Brandon Wu and Peter Malnati who are three behind the leader.
Notable Round 1 Quotes
"It’s kind of strange because like earlier I mentioned, I wasn’t really feeling great with my game and (to) shoot my career low, it’s kind of weird. I know what’s on the line, I know how important this tournament would be." John Huh
"I think everything was pretty solid. Chipped well, putted well, hit it pretty straight for the most part, so yeah, I was really pleased with that." Brandon Wu
Round 2 Weather
Mostly cloudy all morning with potential thunderstorms to arrive from 1pm onwards. Wind will start at 5mph at 7am picking up to 9mph in the afternoon.
How do we expect the market favourites to perform?
We talked up Sunjae Im on the Bet Rivers podcast this week, we were in no doubt that he was the man to beat and he showed us why yesterday. A turnaround in his putting was all he needed and he ranked 9th in that department yesterday. We expect him to kick on today and odds of 7/2 are tempting.
John Huh was sublime yesterday but there are a number of concerns with how his tournament might play out. Firstly, he admitted his game coming in this week didn't feel great and secondly he is right on the bubble of the FedEx so playing under a lot more pressure than some. We were happy to leave him out at 8/1.
Aaron Wise is the only other man under 20/1, but doesn't have a great record here at Sedgefield and there are plenty of other venues that are better suited.
Where is the value?
There are several players catching our eye this morning from an each way perspective. Austin Smotherman (66's) and Brian Stuard (125's) narrowly missed out.
Round 2 Bets
- 1pt Each Way Peter Malnati 40/1 @ Bet365 (1/5 1-5)
Malnati is impressing in almost every department, especially off the tee where he ranked 5th off the tee and 4th for accuracy. He had a lot of positive things to say post round, "But my game felt so good and I traveled here this week just trying to keep that feeling. And today was exactly how like I want to play golf. I hit it -- I was in control off the tee, approach shots were almost always in position and it was just no real mistakes on or around the greens, so it was awesome". Malnati has already won on tour and looks a value price sitting in T3rd currently.
- 0.75pts Each Way Anirban Lahiri 70/1 @ Unibet/Bet Rivers (1/5 1-5)
Lahiri looked back to his best yesterday tee to green, the putter let him down from posting a really good score. He too had some positive comments about his game after the round where he said, "No, I'm really excited about how I'm playing. I think I played really, really good today. Putted pretty bad, to be honest, and still shot a good score. Yeah, I think the time off working with my coach, going back to India, like I can feel that confidence. I'm seeing shots better, I'm hitting much, much better golf shots. So I'm really happy". He is a player to side with when things are clicking as he showed at the Players Championship and we can still get on at a nice price.