|
Not many of the stars make the journey to the Wyndham Championship this week, but it is a popular stop on the schedule. The reason for the lack of big names? They’re resting and recuperating after the rigours of the major championships, wanting to be ready for the FedExCup Playoffs that follow this week. The reason the event is well-liked? The course is a lovely one. A traditional test with lots of doglegs, and small greens. Shorter hitters are not taken out of the equation and in fact have an advantage over those bigger hitters who can’t rein in their desire to be aggressive from the tee. It’s a Donald Ross design from the 1920s with the greens turned from bent to Bermuda grass in 2012, short in yardage with a par of 70. Expect low scores. The five winners ahead of last year all went sub-260 for the week and had some sensational low scoring laps in their 72-hole tallies (Jim Herman 61, JT Poston 62, Brandt Snedeker 59, Henrik Stenson 62, Si-Woo Kim 60). Snedeker said of the test: “There’s only two par 5s, everybody in the field can reach them, so distance here is not an overriding factor. You don’t have a huge advantage here (big-hitting) just because everybody’s hitting in the same spots off most of the tees. I think that’s why guys who wedge and putt it better tend to do a better job here.” Patrick Reed added: “Hitting shots into greens you can get creative, because there's a lot of slopes and undulations in these greens so you can use a lot of ridges to feed the ball back towards the hole.” That explains why there are so many course experts and why some players enjoy the test. Peter Uihlein backed that up: “It’s one of those golf courses where if you’re on with your irons that’s kind of what it’s all about. Old-school Donald Ross where it’s very positional, you’re not going to overpower it. You’ve got to be pretty sharp with your short irons especially, and then make some putts.” Put simply, getting aggressive off the tee has little to no value. Anyone who does take that route tends to shoot himself in the foot. The smart play is to just hit the short grass and then get aggressive – and it helps if that player understands how to use slopes.
Angles to consider 1/ The Sawgrass and Sedgefield Link It’s nothing new, but the two courses have thrown up many double winners. Webb Simpson, Sergio Garcia, Davis Love III and Henrik Stenson have all completed that duo. Last year? Adam Scott, a Sawgrass winner, made the play off and it was won by Kevin Kisner, who has lost in extra holes at Sawgrass. 2/ Strokes Gained Approach As pointed out above, high quality approach play matters on this course and the numbers concur with that thought. Kisner ranked 12th for SG Approach but before that all five winner ranked fourth or better in the category. 3/ Donald Ross There have been four visits to Detroit GC which is, like this week, a Donald Ross track and they’ve all taken place shortly before the visit to Sedgefield. It’s proved to be a decent pointer. Kisner finished top 10 at Detroit and in 2019 JT Poston was second with 18 holes to play at Detroit ahead of winning here.
Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Russell Henley Warning: he led through 54 holes 12 months ago and then found himself treading water in the final round, eventually finishing one blow outside of the play off. But he’s made four of five cuts at the course and he closed the 2020 event with scores of 63-65 to finish ninth. And he ranks second this season for SG Approach (he’s been top six for the last three campaigns). Oh, and he was 10th last week at Detroit. Si-Woo Kim Partly responsible for the Sawgrass link so that’s by the by. More important is his superb record here. He didn’t just win in 2016, he won by five and shot 68-60-64-67. He was fifth in 2019, third in 2020 (when the third round leader) and clattered a 64 to make the play off when second last year. Doug Ghim Taking a bit of a punt on a guy who is only ranking 65th for SG Approach this season but he was 21st last campaign. He’s played Sawgrass twice and impressed. He was third after 54 holes last year finishing T29th, then sixth this year after being second with 18 holes to play. On debut at Sedgefield he finished T20th including rounds of 64 and 66. He’s missed a lot of cuts recently but his last four starts also include T16th at the Scottish Open (second at halfway) and T16th again at the 3M Open (top four through 54 holes).
Tips: 1-2; +1.50pts 1.25pt e.w. Russell Henley at 25/1 (William Hill, SkyBet 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) 5th 1.25pt e.w. Si-Woo Kim at 25/1 (William Hill 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) wd 0.5pt e.w. Doug Ghim at 125/1 (William Hill 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) mc
|
