The final event of the regular season is upon us this week with the Wyndham Championship. After this week the top 70 in the FexExCup standings will advance to Memphis for the first leg of a three-week playoff journey to determine the next FedExCup champion. Regardless of feelings on how the PGA Tour handles their playoff system, the small tweak to only include the top 70 as opposed to the top 125, which it has traditionally been, has added some intrigue to this week. Bigger names that wouldn’t normally be here, are in North Carolina trying to sneak their way in and that is a win for us.

Last week Lee Hodges put in a clinic and went wire to wire to win by a touchdown. It has Hodges’s first career victory in Tour and was nice to see a regular PGA Tour grinder get over the hump. This week we head to Greensboro, North Carolina for the aforementioned Wyndham Championship.

This is a full 156-player field with the top 65 (and ties) advancing to the weekend.

There are a lot of intriguing storylines heading into this week and as a result, one of the strongest fields in tournament history is here to tee it up. Let’s dig in.

The Course

Sedgefield Country Club is a classically designed Donald Ross course and has been in the rotation on the PGA Tour since 1938 and has been played under the current title sponsor of Wyndham since 2008.

Playing as a par-70 at only 7,131 yards, Sedgefield is quite different than what we saw last week. This course has hardly any water to speak of and is pretty light in terms of bunkers as well. Sedgefield CC does boast some of the narrowest fairways that golfers will face this year, with 2.5” Bermuda rough awaiting those who miss. While that doesn’t sound all that intimidating, positional golf is the name of the game here as Bermuda rough is some of the most unpredictable rough you can find yourself in. Playing from the rough greatly reduces your chances of hitting the green in regulation, which happens quite frequently here. The green in regulation percentage at Sedgefield CC is nearly 75%, which is well above the Tour average.

Being a par-70, there are two par-5s, four par-3s and twelve par-4s. The par-4s are mostly on the shorter side as eight of them fall in the 400–450-yard range. The two par-5s are very scorable and yield birdies over 50% of the time each, so these must be taken advantage of. The four par-3s are a bit of a mixed bag. Holes 12 and 7 are quite lengthy (235 & 223 yards) and feature bogey rates in the 15%. Compare that with the shorter holes 3 and 16 (174 & 175 yards) that give up a birdie nearly 20% of the time each.

Approaches will lend themselves to a ton of wedges and short irons with well over 50% of approaches coming from 125-175 yards out. Players will be hitting into fairly small greens that feature the return of Bermuda grass, which we have not seen in quite some time. The greens are typically on the faster side of things depending on the weather, which is usually fairly calm.

Overall scoring is fairly generous with a winning score typically in the -17 to -20 range and a cutline usually around -2. While I wouldn’t necessarily call this a birdie fest, there will be a good number of birdies and low scores scored throughout the week.

Here is a link to a flyover of the course:

The Field

The race for the playoffs concludes this week, so everyone who is in need of FedExCup points is here. Justin Thomas, Shane Lowry, and Adam Scott are the biggest names of those who are on the outside looking in right now and will be looking for high-end finishes to play their way in.

Sam Burns, Hideki Matsuyama, and Sungjae Im are considered the other headliners of this fairly weak field in terms of star power, but lots of quality in the “second tier” of players. Some of those other names include Si Woo Kim, Denny McCarthy, Russell Henley, and the promising rookie Ludvig Aberg.

As of this writing, note that Luke List, Taylor Montgomery, Lee Hodges, Davis Love III, and Keith Mitchell have withdrawn after originally being listed in the field.

Hank Lebioda, Wesley Bryan, Tommy Gainey, and Joey Lane are your Monday qualifiers for the week.

Key Stats

Here are the key stats I am considering when building my lineups this week. I will use course history as a tiebreaker this week, but I won’t go overboard with it. This week’s field is stronger than in years past, so to me that lowers the relevance of past results.

1. SG: Approach– Iron play is always on this list and forever will be. It is the most correlated long-term stat with success. With softer conditions expected this week due to recent rain, sticking it close for birdies opportunities will be important.
2. Fairways Gaines– The Bermuda rough just takes the predictability out of golfers’ approach shots. Narrow fairways and tree and house-lined edges will get golfers’ full attention. As will the fact that the GIR rate is reduced nearly in half at this course when playing from the rough instead of the fairway.
3. Proximity 125-175– Over half of the approach shots on this course come from this way. Keep it in the fairway and it’s a wedge or short iron to a good majority of these holes.
4. Par 4 Scoring- A par-70 this week with two easy par 5s that everyone will be able to take advantage of. Those who perform well on the 12 par 4s on the scorecard will separate themselves.
5. SG: P(Bermuda)- Looking at the past leaderboards of this tournament will show that you need to have a solid week putting to contend. We return to Bermuda surfaces this week for the first time in a while, so it is good to refamiliarize ourselves who putts best on these surfaces.

Follow me on Twitter @mlafem10 for additional thoughts as the week goes on and I’d be happy to help out with any lineup questions you have. Let’s make some money!

DFS Top Tier Play

Hideki Matsuyama

Salary: $10,600

Going right back to the well with Hideki this week. Coming out last Thursday with a bogey-free round of 64 had my hopes set high, but those were quickly dashed with a rather uninspiring Friday and Saturday, leading to a middling T30 finish. Sunday was a promising day that hopefully can propel Hideki into a consistent four-day stretch this week in North Carolina. This is a dream course fit for Hideki as he is extremely accurate off the tee and arguably the best iron player in the field. The putting is the one bug-a-boo that has been popping up again lately (lost over three strokes on the greens last week), but perhaps a return to fast Bermuda greens will refocus Matsuyama. Russell Henley will get the advertisement as the best course fit this week (and for good reason with his course history), but Hideki does also boast three top 15 finishes here, which are the only three times he has made the cut. I will take the ownership discount on the better player and trust that his elite iron play will give him enough opportunities to put himself into contention come Sunday.

Others Considered: Sam Burns ($10,000), J.T. Poston ($9,200)

DFS Mid Tier Play

Byeong Hun An

Salary: $8,400

For cash games, I would click Aaron Rai’s name and be done with things. I still don’t think he is a terrible tournament play, but I wanted to highlight An as a great play as well. For half the ownership, you are getting a player with a great course history (three of four made cuts with a 3^rd place finish in 2019), a better putter in a week when you are going to need to make some cuts, and comparable recent form to Rai. An has also performed quite well on short positional courses this season with a 35^th at TPC Sawgrass, 12^th at Waialae CC, and a 21^st at Colonial Country Club. Benny can get a little wild off the tee, but he seems to have the discipline to know when to club down off the tee on these shorter courses with tight fairways. Being sandwiched between the popular options above him in McCarthy and Rai and the popular choices below him in Smalley and Hadwin; Benny An is one of my favorite pivots in this range.

Others Considered: Stephen Jaeger ($8,900), Aaron Rai ($8,600)

DFS Value Play

Brandon Wu

Salary: $7,200

Another repeat from last week coming off a disappointing week with the putter, Wu has a skillset that suits well for Sedgefield. Debuting with an 8^th place finish last season, Wu, like Hideki, I think will welcome the return of the Bermuda greens. Last week Wu gained over two strokes on the field in both off the tee and approach, but his disastrous six strokes lost with the putter, really tumbled him down to a T57 finish. What has me most excited about Wu this week is his precision from the key proximity ranges this course yields as he ranks 3^rd from 150-175 and is in the top half of the field from 125-150. Combine that with his above average fairway finding, I think Wu should put himself in plenty of positions to score this week. Speaking of scoring, another bonus of Wu is he ranks top 25 in this field in DraftKings scoring even though he only has three top ten finishes this year. The dude makes tons of birdies and will certainly be anchoring the bottom in a lot of my lineups.

Others Considered: Russell Knox ($6,500), Lucas Glover ($7,500)

Betting Card

Sam Burns +2800

J.T. Poston +3000

Beau Hossler +6000

Justin Suh +10000

Brandon Wu +10000

Chesson Hadley +12000

Lineup Builder