9-0; +4.14pts Pre-tournament plays: LAY 20pts liability Brandt Snedeker 25 3rd Meen-Whee Kim 230 mc Bill Haas 34 22nd Thomas Aiken 420 22nd Hideki Matsuyama 24 3rd Billy Horschel 95 7th Snedeker won the first Wyndham Championship in 2007, but that was on a different course and he has managed just one top-25 finish in the last five years so there is good reason to oppose him at these odds as well as his performance when leading the Canadian Open last month Kim is on the bubble - 125th in the FedEx Cup standings in the final event before the Playoffs - but with only two top-20 finishes in 26 starts this season, he looks as though he will be fortunate enough to keep his Tour Card for next season rather than be a realistic contender this week Haas has a good record in this event and is one of the higher-ranked players in this field, but I'm still happy to oppose him in outright markets at these odds: it been 19 months and over 40 events since his last win Without a top-10 finish on the PGA Tour this season (22 starts) and 173rd in the FedEx Cup Standings, Aiken almost needs to win this week to retain his Tour Card; it hasn't looked like happening all season Matsuyama has missed the cut in each of the last two years here and hadn't shown any form until the PGA Championship, so can be opposed at this price Horschel is another who has shown little form recently and with a best finish of 30th in four visits, looks unlikely to show any particular increase in form this week Pre-rd4 plays: LAY 20pts liability Scott Langley 290 14th Kevin Na 16 11th Bud Cauley 260 11th Langley had a career day on the greens yesterday - he shot 62 despite hitting only hitting 12 greens in regulation as he was +3.3837 in Strokes Gained-Putting on the day - but he is still seven shots off the lead and his primary goal will be to make the Web.com Tour Final as he is still only 162nd in the Proected Standings for the FedEx Cup Na's odds are very short for someone who is five shots off the pace in a three-way tie for 3rd - he has had a very good season, ranking 10th in the FedEx Cup Race with five top-5 finishes, but he has had only one since February and his sole PGA Tour win was in 2011; the odds are based on Kim struggling today, but even if he does, two experienced players in Luke Donald and Jim Furyk are also in 3rd place Cauley is eight shots off the pace and, like Langley, is both too far back to be a realistic challenger and has a very different target for this round - he starts the day in 138th in the Projected FedEx Cup Race and needs to get into the top-125 to make the Playoffs. |
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