BlogWyndham Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

• Justin Thomas wins the PGA Championship and just like that, he becomes the leading person to be Player-of-the-Year.  That is because he won three tournaments before the end of January and with his major, he has the best record this year.  Of course there are still a couple of people that could overtake him, the first is Jordan Spieth.  He has three wins with one of them being the British Open, so if he can win the FedExCup or a couple of FedEx Cup events he could win it.  There is also Hideki Matsuyama who is leading the FedExCup list.  He has two wins with one of the them being a World Golf Championship so if he was to win a couple of the FedExCup events and win the point total, yes he would be a strong candidate.  Now if Sergio Garcia or Brooks Koepka or Dustin Johnson does the same, that could also give them player-of-the-year honors, but winning a major gives you a very big advantage.
• In looking at the winners of the majors, I can’t think of the last time that we saw three of the four were 27 years old and younger.  It’s amazing that half of the PGA Tour events in 2017 have been won by players under the age of 30 and if you look 16 of the 43 events have been won by players 25 and under.  Younger players are not afraid of winning, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth could be the cockiest players on tour, they know how to win and don’t fear anything.  Thomas was a perfect example, he learned so much at the U.S. Open when he shot a final round 75 after shooting a third round 63.  So it’s going to be exciting for years to come with all of these new breed of players that are coming on the PGA Tour.
• So here it is, for a good share of those in the field of the Wyndham this could be the end of the line.  In the past, this was the last week for those to make it into the FedEx Cup playoffs.  Those in the top-125 move on, while the others waited for the playoffs to finish.  Then they had five to seven event to get into the top-125 of the money list and save their Tour cards for the following year.  The system is drastically different since 2013.  The Wyndham is now the last regular tour event for 2017, so for many its a two edge sword.  Not only are they looking to finish in the top-125 and move onto the FedEx Cup playoffs, but for those that don’t finish in the top-125 they have lost their PGA Tour cards.  So what happens to those that don’t finish in the top-125?  A more expanded hell that is now called the Web.Com Tour finals.  Before it was the PGA Tour Qualifying tournament which if you made it to the final leg (there was three for the unfortunate that had gone through all three stages) it was six days of golf in which 25 cards were on the line for the 144 player field.  So if you had a bad first day or first couple of days, that was it you wouldn’t be able to recover and had to endure the Web.Com Tour for a year.  Now the pain of qualifying is based on four events over the course of five weeks.  So in a way the torture is greatly expanded but in a sense you have more chances to qualify and regain your card.  Here is how it runs.  For those that are not in the top-125 of the FedEx Cup point totals, those between 126 and 175 they get into the four tournament Web.Com Tour finals.  The events are the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio (August 31st – Sept. 3), the Albertsons Boise Open in Boise, Id (Sept 14 – 17), the DAP Championship in Beachwood, Ohio, (Sept. 21-24),  and then the Web.Com Tour Championship played at the Atlantic Beach C.C. in Atlantic Beach, Fl. (Sept 28 – Oct. 1).
• Those between 126 and 175 will be joined by the top-75 money winners off the Web.Com Tour.  The premise is that 50 cards will be given out.  The top-25 of the Web.Com money list will receive a card.  So for those that have played the tour all year they will have a big advantage over the PGA Tour players because the PGA Tour players will have zero dollars while those on the Web.Com Tour will have their money.  But with each event having a bigger purse with the first place of $180,000 those PGA Tour regulars will be able to make up the difference quickly.  The other 25 cards will go to players who earn the most-cumulative money in the four Web.Com Tour events.  So you can see, in a way there are more chances for players. If you play bad in the first couple of events and then catch fire, you can gain a card.  The only problem is that now your pain is over five weeks, not just six days.
• A lot of us miss the old PGA Tour qualifying tournament, but in a way this will be easier for players to regain their cards.  Only problem, new players aren’t finding a way into the final qualifying tournament and can’t have that shining moment, something that about a half dozen players a year get to do.  So to break into the PGA Tour it will now be a two-year process of qualifying for the Web.Com Tour and then having to endure the Web.Com Tour finals.
• So in a way this week’s Wyndham will be important for those not only getting into the top-125 but also to have some chance and get into the top-175.
• For those that want to look and see what players have to do, the PGA Tour has a very good sheet with the scenarios for those in the Wyndham, who is playing this week and who isn’t.

For those wondering, here is the Noteworthy players on the FedExCup top 125 bubble in the Wyndham Championship field

(note: all are in the Wyndham Championship field)

• FEC Standing        Player
• 123                           Seamus Power
• 124                           Daniel Summerhays
• 125                            Geoff Ogilvy
• 126                            Cameron Tringale
• 127                            Sam Saunders
• 128                            Ryan Palmer
• 129                            Billy Hurley III
• 130                            J.T. Poston
• 131                            Graeme McDowell
• 132                            Trey Mullinax
• 133                            Aaron Baddeley
• 134                            J.J. Henry
• 135                            Smylie Kaufman

Tournament information:

Created in 1938, the 2017 edition of the Wyndham Championship will be the 78th tournament. Initially known as the Greater Greensboro Open, the tournament has blossomed from its paltry roots. The event was the vision of the Greensboro Jaycee’s Chapter, which was but a year old when the idea was conceived. Many were in favor of the creation of a golf tournament; however, no one took steps to creating an event until, at a meeting in the summer of 1937, Joseph Bryan put up capital to back the event. The PGA Tour placed the tournament on the 1938 schedule.

If Joseph Bryan is credited with being the backer, then Sam Snead is the owner of the event. His eight victories at Greensboro, including the inaugural event, was a record for most victories by a player at one tournament until Tiger tied him in several events. The Greensboro-based tournament had been played every year except for 1943 and 1944, when the event paused because of World War II.

The tournament name held until 1988, when Kmart became the title sponsor, and the event became known as the Kmart Greater Greensboro Open.  After an eight year run, Chrysler took over in 1996 and in 2003 the Greater was dropped in favor of Chrysler Classic of Greensboro. That name held until 2006, when Daimler Chrysler pulled out as title sponsor and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts took over. The 2014 Wyndham Championship has ramifications for the FedEx Cup Championship. The Wyndham Championship is the last event in which golfers, vying for position in the playoff system, can earn points.

For 31 years between 1977 and 2007, Forest Oaks Country Club hosted the event, but it wasn’t considered “fan friendly” and the course wasn’t very memorable.  One of the reasons that Forest Oaks got the event in 1977 from Sedgefield was because the course was too short and didn’t have the room and parking to handle big crowds.  It was a big disappointment for the members when they lost the event and many had been lobbying to get it back.  With Wyndham taking over the sponsorship and having it’s offices nearby, and the membership invested $3 million dollars to renovate the course and opened the doors for the return.  When the course was reopened in 2007 to rave reviews, it was decided to change venues for 2008 and has held the event ever since.

Course information:

• Sedgefield Country Club
• Greensboro, N.C.
• 7,030 yards   Par 35-35-70

Between 1938 and 1976 Sedgefield held the Wyndham Championship 26 times and was considered a great old Donald Ross course.  Unfortunately the course was short and small for galleries so the event moved on.  Still the course was considered a gem and for years membership tried to lure it back.

Sedgefield founded in 1925, is located in the rolling hills of Greensboro’s Sedgefield neighborhood. The club has hosted many amateur golf tournaments as well as 32 years of the Wyndham Championship. In addition to its Donald Ross-designed golf course, Sedgefield is perhaps best known for its signature clubhouse, a Tudor-style building housed in the framework of the original Sedgefield Inn built in 1925, the Atlantic Coast Conference was founded in this building in 1953.

Couple of years ago the club entrusted North Carolina course architect Kris Spence with the job of restoring the course back to its original Donald Ross design while making adjustments to bring the course in line with the modern game.  Spence’s renovation added another 400 yards to Sedgefield, bringing its length to 7,130 yards. Par will be 70 as the 18th hole will be converted into a par 4.

Emphasis must be put on ball placement in the fairway in order to get the appropriate angle to the green. The greens at Sedgefield are very undulating and slope from back to front, with many falling off the edges into collection areas.  In 2013 Sedgefield played to a 69.383 scoring average, more than a shot under par for the field.  It ranked as the 23rd hardest of 43 courses for 2013.  Last year it played to a scoring average of 69.209 and ranked 38th out of the 48 courses for the year.

It will be an interesting scenario for the players that a Donald Ross course will be used to get players ready for next month’s Tour Championship that will be played on another Ross course at Eastlake, outside of Atlanta.

Let’s take a look at key stats that are important for those playing at Sedgefield Country Club:

This is based on the most vital stats from Sedgefield C.C., based on data from last year’s Wyndham Championship and using data from all the players in the field with stats from 2017.
For the second week in a row, the tour plays a course that driving it straight matters a lot, the key to playing well at Sedgefield is to hit it straight and position your drives for the shot into the green. A look at the list of champions at the Wyndham since the event went back to Sedgefield in 2008 shows that the list of winners are guys that either hit is short and straight, or in the case of hitting it long players like Webb Simpson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and last year’s winner Si Woo Kim that also can hit it straight and long. Another important aspect of driving, the holes that dogleg need players to lay it up to avoid going through the fairway and it’s always best to be in the fairways. The course is tree line and that is more of a hazard than the rough which is not as penal as it could be.
Like any other great Donald Ross course the greens are tough, first in hitting them if you miss them it’s a hard up and down. The greens are also pretty flat and lot’s of putts are made, but good and bad putters. So it’s a course that favors short hitters, those that do scramble well and average putters. Last week was a perfect example, winner Justin Thomas was able to scramble ok and putt great and yes he did make a lot of birdies.

So in looking at our four categories, we see how much driving and getting the ball on the green makes a difference. So we pick Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green because at Sedgefield putting the ball in play off the tee is very important, probably one of the most important items on this Donald Ross course. Then getting the ball on the greens is important and we all know how hard it is to hit a Donald Ross green. That is why next up is scrambling, because the greens are hard to hit, when you miss the green you have to get it up and down to win. After that putting average is important, last year Sedgefield was T-11th in putting average so it’s important to play well to putt well on this course We are going to take it a step further and use the strokes gained putting stat for our third category. Last we have birdies, last year 1,740 birdies were made, only three other courses saw more birdies made. So we are using the Birdie average for our final category.

*Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green: Looks at the combination of length off the tee and accuracy, then getting the ball on the green so it determines who is best at all of these items.

*Scrambler: Who gets it up and down after missing a green.

*Strokes Gained Putting: Look who picks up the most strokes on the greens.

*Birdie average: Players who average the most birdies made per round.

Here are the 125 of 156 players from this year’s field with stats from 2017:

Click any column title in the table header to sort columns.

Here is the link to the full 125 players that have PGA Tour stats for 2017

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Wyndham Championship:

Key stat for the winner:

Sedgefield is a very versatile course. Length is not critical because the course plays at about 7,130 yards, just a notch below average for a PGA Tour event. With length not being a factor, players are afforded the opportunity to use either driver or long iron off the tee. The most-critical thing for the field is to manage the slope of the course. To do that, ball control and accuracy are key.

Now this tournament was made famous by Sam Snead, who won it eight times, the PGA Tour record for the most victories by a player in a single event. Snead captured the inaugural event in 1938, and when he won it for the eighth time in 1965, he became the oldest winner in PGA Tour history at 52 years, 10 months and eight days.

Between 1949 and 1965 Snead was never higher than 8th and won $37,827 or about the same amount that the player in 28th place will win this week.  For the record, if Snead would have played all 17 events at the present purse of $5.8 million his Greensboro earnings would have been around $8 million.  Oh Snead is the only winner in Greensboro history to defend his championship and with Davis Love III not playing due to surgery last month that record will stay intact for another year.

Here are some more key stats to look to for this week:

• Length is obviously not an issue so that opens things up quite a bit. Look for the winner to be someone who doesn’t like to muscle up with the driver, and just settle for using a long iron for control. Past winners of the event are some of the best iron players on tour. The likes of Sergio Garcia, Webb Simpson, Mark O’Meara, Davis Love III, and Steve Elkington have hoisted the trophy. Look for the winner to be able to manage the surroundings, as the undulations are the most difficult part of the golf course. There is a reason that last year’s winner Davis Love III won at age 51 and that is experience.  The past winners from Sedgefield with the exception of Arjun Atwal in 2010 are experience players so look for someone like that to win.
• Hitting greens will be at a premium at this Donald Ross gem, just like it was last week at Quail Hollow.   Hitting lots of greens goes a long way at the Wyndham Championship.  Look for the winner to hit greens in bunches.
• North Carolina in the summer time is rife with heat and humidity, specially since it was hot last week. This will be important because the bent grass greens will bake making the undulated greens even more challenging.
• Talking about the weather, the weather will be a lot like the predicted weather for last week’s PGA Championship which was about 75 miles away.  It was forecast to have a lot of thunderstorms and rain but the prediction never happened.  Weather is suppose to be some of the same with scattered thunderstorms on Thursday and Friday, with nice weather over the weekend.  Unfortunately for the players and fans it will be in the high 80s with a lot of humidity.