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For many years held at Forest Oaks, this tournament returned to Sedgefield Country Club in 2008, the Donald Ross design that played host to most commonly before 1977. It’s a traditional design, short-ish, with dog legs and small greens (a notable feature of the latter is that they changed from bent grass to Bermuda in 2012). It shares quite a lot in common with Detroit Golf Club which has played host to the Rocket Mortgage Classic the last three years: tee shots only represent a problem if a player tries to overpower the course; it makes far more sense to find the fairways, which is relatively easy; attack with the approach shot; then it’s a putting contest. Expect low scores and players who enjoy a traditional test to thrive – both tracks are Ross designs and it’s therefore no surprise that there are plenty of players who have thrived at both, often twice in the same year. The tournament stretches back to 1938 and some famous names have won it: Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Gary Player, Severiano Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle. But it became something of a filler event for a while and has now found a place in the schedule as the final event before the FedExCup Playoffs begin. As such it doesn’t see a stellar field attend because the elite are taking the week off ahead of the big money events they are already exempt for. We’re left with a field that includes some top quality performer who enjoy the track or are seeking form, plus a lot of guys needing a good week to confirm Playoff participation or with retention of next season’s card on their mind. Ryan Moore has said of the test: “It's a position golf course. It's not one you can just send driver down there all day. So guys that maybe have a 30, 40 yard advantage on me off the tee, they don't have that advantage around this golf course except around maybe a couple holes. I can reach both par 5s, so both of those are score-able for me. And if you're in the fairway, you can hit wedges at a lot of these pins.” Keith Mitchell reiterates the feeling that only the foolish hit driver except when absolutely necessary. “I’ve hit a lot of 2-irons off these tees to just try to get it in the fairway,” he said. “The rough’s so gnarly out here that the fairway’s a priority. So we’ve been hitting a lot of little stinger 2-irons just trying to just get the ball in front of us. If you have a little extra club into the greens, it’s fine because you can definitely attack from the fairway but not from the rough.”
Angles to consider 1/ Strokes Gained Approach A case of the bleeding obvious after what the players have said and the stats back it up. The last five winners have ranked fourth, first, third, third and second for this category. 2/ The Sawgrass link Webb Simpson, Sergio Garcia, Davis Love III, Si-Woo Kim and Henrik Stenson have all won at TPC Sawgrass and here at Sedgefield. 3/ Ross designs Since Detroit GC was added to the schedule players who played well there played well here and vice versa. As mentioned above, they are tests which are very alike.
Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Jason Kokrak He’s finished top 20 in three of his last four course visits, including a very fast-finishing tied sixth in 2019. He’s also turned the corner and won twice since he last teed it up here. He was T12th at Detroit in July and tied ninth at Sawgrass in March, with good approach work both times. Kevin Kisner Not quite a Sawgrass winner, but he came close, when losing a play-off in 2015. His Detroit record? T46th (T11th after 18 holes), tied third, tied eighth this year. Sedgefield? Three top 10s in his last four starts including tied third last year. Chris Kirk His course form is only solid, but he has the look of a player who could improve upon it. He’s made his last five cuts at the track with a best of T11th in 2018. So why the promise? Well, he led the way at halfway last year at Detroit before finishing T21st and was T12th after spending all week in contention this year. He was also bang in the hunt at Sawgrass for much of the week this year and has been a 54 hole leader there. He’s also had some fine effort with his approach work this season.
Tips: 1-2; +68.00pts 1pt e.w. Jason Kokrak at 28/1 (Paddy Power, BF Sportsbook 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) mc 1pt e.w. Kevin Kisner at 60/1 (Unibet 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6) 1st 1pt e.w. Chris Kirk at 100/1 (Paddy Power, BF Sportsbook 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) 29th
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