By: @Ryan_Humphries on Twitter & LineStar Chat

Tournament & Field 🏆

The PGA Tour heads to Greensboro, North Carolina for the Wyndham Championship held at Sedgefield Country Club. What’s special about this event, you may wonder? It is the final week before the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs begin! This is the last chance for golfers who are on the bubble of the top 125 in the FEC points standings to make their final surge in order to gain admittance into next week’s inaugural playoff event (The Northern Trust) and, perhaps more importantly, retain their PGA Tour card for the 2021-22 season. This definitely adds a bit of drama to the whole week, but don’t let it factor much (if at all) into your DFS decision-making if you’re thinking of chasing after golfers who NEED to have a good week. Some of these guys are not in the top 125 in the FEC standings for a reason and, also, added pressure to perform well isn’t always the best thing for a golfer’s mental game. But, for entertainment’s sake, to view the current FedEx Cup standings and see who needs to have a strong week, click here.

The field will feature 156 players, barring any further withdrawals (Patrick Reed and Kevin Stadler are the only two golfers who have WD’d so far). In recent seasons, the field for this event has normally been relatively weak. It isn’t a star-studded affair, but the overall quality of the field is considerably stronger than in many years past as 36 of the top 100 ranked players in the world will be on site. The usual 36-hole cut rule applies so the top 65 (and ties) will move on and play the weekend.

The Course Preview ⛳

Sedgefield Country Club

Par 70 - 7,237 Yards

Greens: Bermuda

Difficulty Ranking Last Five Years: 29th, 41st, 40th, 37th, 37th

Cut Line Last Five Years: -2, -3, -2, -2, -2

Winners Last Five Years:

2020: Jim Herman (-21)

2019: JT Poston (-22)

2018: Brandt Snedeker (-21)

2017: Henrik Stenson (-22)

2016: Si Woo Kim (-21)

As you can tell by looking at winning scores above from the last several years, Sedgefield CC profiles as one of the easier tracks on the PGA Tour, and you can also usually lock in a cut line at or near 2-under. It is a Par 70 layout that stretches about 7,200 yards – so not overly long by any means. This has been one of the longer running courses and events on Tour, so course history can actually be a pretty reliable piece of research this week. The fairways are relatively narrow and there is a strong correlation between having an accurate driver and finding success landing near the top of the final Sunday leaderboard at Sedgefield CC. The rough isn’t overly penalizing, and will be cut to about 2.5” this week. But when the majority of golfers will be focusing on finding the fairways more often than not, you don’t want to be one of the guys hitting from the deep stuff all the time. The greens can often be the Sedgefield’s primary defense. They’re about average in size by PGA standards (~6,000 sq/ft) and the Bermuda grass will play fairly fast (around 12 on the stimpmeter). Due to the greens being multi-tiered with a noticeable amount of undulation, putts can end up carrying pretty inconsistent reads. There are 52 bunkers and five water hazards which golfers will also need to navigate around. The type of golfers who will really excel here will be the players who are big time birdie makers, produce strong Par 4 scoring numbers, can be consistently accurate off the tee, nail their approach shots, and carry a reliable putter. Basically, just possess a well-rounded game with decent accuracy. Easy enough, right? Strong course history will definitely be a plus, as well.

Weather & Tee Times ⛅

Really not much to think about this week. Rain could enter the picture at various points throughout the tournament, mainly on Sunday. Temperatures will also hit the 90s during the middle of the day across the first three rounds. But, other than that, wind speeds should rarely even crack double digits.

Verdict: No tee time advantage.

Wyndham Championship Tee Times

Top Stats to Consider 📊

1. Strokes Gained: Approach | 25%

2. Par 4 Average | 20%

3. Birdie or Better % | 20%

4. Driving Accuracy | 10%

5. Fairway Proximity | 10%

6. Strokes Gained: Putting (Bermuda) | 10%

7. Strokes Gained: Putting (Overall) | 5%

High-Priced Targets

Key Stats [Only] Rank; Provides a golfer's overall rank (in relation to the field) in my key stats only model, which takes into account only the stats listed above with those specific weights allocated towards each metric.

Overall Model Rank (OMR); a golfer's ranking (within the current field) in my personal model which weighs all the key stats listed above as well as things like course history, recent form, recent average fantasy scoring outputs, and odds to win.

Louis Oosthuizen | DK: $10.7k, FD: $11.8k

Odds: 18/1 | Cash & GPP

Key Stats Only Rank: #1

Overall Model Rank: #16

Oosty has simply been too consistently good to not mention as a worthy ‘elite tier’ option. He’s arguably the best putter in the field, which could be what separates him this week. The only real negative I can think to mention is the absence of any course history from Oosthuizen. But I don’t see Sedgefield CC posing much of a threat to a golfer as hot as Oosty is right now.

Webb Simpson | DK: $10.6k, FD: $12.1k

Odds: 12/1 | Cash & GPP

Key Stats Only Rank: #2

Overall Model Rank: #13

Here’s the obligatory “Webb Simpson loves this tournament so much that he actually named his daughter Wyndham.” He’s a native of Raleigh, NC, and is a crowd favorite every year he plays here… and he almost always plays Sedgefield extremely well. In 12 Sedgefield CC appearances, he’s made 11 cuts with eight top 10s, six top 5s, and a win (2011). He’s the definition of a “course horse” this week.

Tommy Fleetwood | DK: $9.7k, FD: $11k

Odds: 40/1 | GPP Only

Key Stats Only Rank: #107

Overall Model Rank: #65

Fleetwood may be one of the few golfers I look to target largely from a “must perform well this week to make the playoffs” narrative. Fleetwood currently sits at #136 in the FEC standings, 11 spots out of qualifying for the playoffs. Clearly he hasn’t played his best golf this year, but now would be a great time to turn it on. He should be fairly low owned out of this tier.

Russell Henley | DK: $9.4k, FD: $10.9k

Odds: 35/1 | GPP Preferred

Key Stats Only Rank: #4

Overall Model Rank: #9

He didn’t have a great showing in his last start (The Open), but prior to that, he had strung together a T11, T19, and T13 in his previous three starts. He possesses, statistically, the best irons in this field and ranks 3rd in P4 AVG. He’s a volatile DFS option but Henley did land a top 10 finish here last year and could do the same in 2021.

Mid-Priced Targets

Seamus Power | DK: $8.5k, FD: $10.4k

Odds: 40/1 | Cash & GPP

Key Stats Only Rank: #3

Overall Model Rank: #3

He hasn’t competed in over a month but Power’s recent form is just too elite to ignore. In his last six PGA starts, Power has finishes of 1st, T8, T8, T19, T19, and T9. The iron play has been greatly improved this year (10th in SG: App) and he is an excellent scorer (1st in P4 AVG, 8th in BoB%).

Mito Pereira | DK: $7.9k, FD: $9.5k

Odds: 60/1 | Cash & GPP

Key Stats Only Rank: N/A*

Overall Model Rank: N/A*

*Not enough PGA rounds to qualify for strokes gained data.

Pereira is just a super impressive young golfer who has been making the most of his recent opportunities on larger stages. He recently landed just outside of medal contention at the Olympics with a T4 and has posted a T6 and T5 in his two PGA starts prior (3M Open & Barbasol Championship). I don’t want to get too ahead of myself on the Pereira hype, but his early professional-level results are reminding me a lot of Collin Morikawa’s meteoric rise.

Brandt Snedeker | DK: $7.9k, FD: $9.8k

Odds: 55/1 | GPP Preferred

Key Stats Only Rank: #29

Overall Model Rank: #15

Sneds hasn’t posted his most consistent season but the recent form is pretty solid and he’s had a ton of success at Sedgefield CC -- 11-of-13 made cuts with six top 10s and two wins.

Talor Gooch | DK: $7.7k, FD: $9.6k

Odds: 55/1 | Cash & GPP

Key Stats Only Rank: #18

Overall Model Rank: #14

I’m liking the consistency out of Gooch following seven consecutive made cuts on the PGA Tour. He missed the cut his first two trips to Sedgefield but landed a T25 last season and is in some of the better form of his career.

Low-Priced/Punt Targets

Ryan Armour | DK: $7k, FD: $8.5k

Odds: 100/1 | Cash & GPP

Key Stats Only Rank: #10

Overall Model Rank: #8

The potential value out of Armour is great this week. He recently landed a T6 (3M Open) and T5 (Barbasol Champ.) and has finished no worse than 25th the last four years at Sedgefield CC, including a T8 and a T4. He’s super accurate off the tee (3rd in Driv. Acc.) and putts very well on Bermuda grass (14th in SG: P - Bermuda).

Jim Herman | DK: $6.9k, FD: $8.5k

Odds: 125/1 | GPP Preferred

Key Stats Only Rank: #110

Overall Model Rank: #42

Herman is the reigning champ of this event. He strolls in off of five straight made cuts, including four finishes of T28 or better prior to last week’s WGC event. Despite the lackluster T46 finish last week, he did come out firing on all cylinders with an opening round of 64. His long-term form and metrics are suspect, but I like the upside out of Herman for GPPs.

Brian Stuard | DK: $6.9k, FD: $8.2k

Odds: 125/1 | GPP Preferred

Key Stats Only Rank: #19

Overall Model Rank: #11

Stuard recently reeled off three straight top 15s and while he doesn’t have great course history (5-of-9 made cuts), he does profile as a nice course fit. He should hit a ton of fairways (2nd in Driv. Acc.) and do well on these Par 4s (14th in P4 AVG).

Cameron Percy | DK: $6.3k, FD: $7k

Odds: 300/1 | GPP Preferred

Key Stats Only Rank: #26

Overall Model Rank: #12

It may not translate into a big week, but Percy easily ranks out as the best punt option in my player model. He has made six straight cuts on the PGA Tour, including a T11 at the John Deere Classic. While he did withdraw during this event last year, he had three top 40 results in his previous four starts at Sedgefield CC. If he simply makes the cut, he’s returning value this week.

Freeroll + LineStar Avatar

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Please Note - While you may enter the LineStar freeroll as often as you’d like, you can only win each prize 1 time.

That will do it for our PGA preview! Once again, hit me up in the LineStar chat or on Twitter @Ryan_Humphries for any questions. Good luck this week! Glad we are back!

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