It’s time for some low-scoring at the last event of the PGA regular season! The Wyndham Championship has featured five straight finishes with 20 or 21 under winning scores and the same could happen this week. Don’t take that to mean a player will run away from the rest of the field. Three of those five finishes were one-stroke wins.
Heading into the first round, it’s Webb Simpson who’s coming in as the favorite. Simpson is the only player at +1100 with Hideki Matsuyama at +1400. Simpson won this event back in 2011 and comes in with seven Tour wins on his resume. Simpson finished T15 last week and T19 at the Open.
The field includes several past Wyndham winners including Patrick Reed who is one of the favorites this week at +1100. Reed won this event back in 2013 going -14 and beating Jordan Speith in a playoff. Speith is not in the field this week after finishing T12 at the St Jude Invitational.
Reed won the Farmers earlier in the year and was solo 5th at The Memorial. He was a last- moment replacement for Team USA in the Olympics where he finished T22 followed by a T31 last week at The St Jude. Hopefully, he’s recovered from the lack of sleep due to international travel!
Here are the favorites through +1600 to win the 2021 FedEx St Jude Invitational outright according to Intertops.
*Patrick Reed has just pulled out of the tournament after publishing*
Webb Simpson +1100
Hideki Matsuyama +1400
Louis Oosthuizen +1600
Patrick Reed +2200
Will Zalatoris +2500
2021 Wyndham Championship Preview
Where: Greensboro, North Carolina
Course: Sedgefield Country Club Ross Course
Format: Stroke Play
Par: 70
Length: 7,127
When: August 12-15, 2021
Purse: $6.4 Million.
TV Coverage: CBS/Golf Channel
The Ross Course at Sedgefield Country Club, designed by Donald Ross and opened in 1926, is a par 70 classic that has been known for low scoring. The last five events have finished either 21 or 22 under.
Last year the scoring average was 68.779. The defending champ, Jim Herman, is proof! He was third in strokes gained and was 63 of 72 in greens hit on the way to a 21 under win over Billy Horschel.
The greens are Bermuda with many being elevated and undulated with slight terraces. Almost all are protected by front bunkers. The first cut to the rough is playable and fairways are mostly straightforward with only a few harsh doglegs.
There are plenty of areas where a player can scramble to recover from a subpar tee shot or even a second shot landing in the rough. Patrick Reed proved that with his playoff win over Speith.
The weather will be hot with temps in the ’90s and small chances for rain and thunderstorms. Sunday should be cooler with highs in the low ‘80s. Which will make it fun as players will have to adjust to how different the greens will be.
2021 Wyndham Championship Picks
Webb Simpson +1100
Webb Simpson is topping the favorites list because of his past win at this event but more so on his recent finishes of T19 and T15. That’s a big improvement over two prior missed cuts! Simpson, including his win at Sedgefield, includes two second-place runs in the last three trips to the course. The Wake Forest alumn seems to have this home course figured out.
Daniel Berger +2200
Daniel Berger was in a four-way tie for second place last year at this event and seemed to carve up TPC Southwind with his irons. He’s won the St Jude Classic here twice. Berger can make good use of his scrambling abilities this week. He won earlier this year at Pebble Beach and is coming off of a T7 at the U.S. Open and a T8 at the Open Championship (British Open).
Webb Simpson +3300
Webb Simpson has been a bit inconsistent as of late but he’s played well at Southwind in the past. He was three strokes out of the lead for a solo-second finish in 2019 and a T12 last season. He was T19 at The Open Championship and he’s now ranked 16th on the OWGR list.
Si-Woo Kim +3300
Si-Woo Kim +3300 looked like he was going to be the first second-time winner at The Wyndham since Davis Love did it in 2006. His first win here came in 2016 and last year he was the leader for much of the final round before ending that Sunday T3. In 2019 he finished T9 and was 25th at the Olympics.
Brandt Snedeker +5000
Brandt Snedeker has nine PGA Tour wins since he turned pro in 2004 out of Vandy. He was T19 at the Open Championship and T11 at the 3M Open before hitting the Cut at Barracuda Championship. In 2018 he won this event by starting with a bogey before finishing the day by carding a 59.
Others: Patrick Reed (+2200) has one win at this event and has not missed the cut in his last six visits. My only fear is that he looks like he’s playing a bit tired following a long stretch of play. If he’s rested he could get his second Wyndham victory on Sunday. Will Zalatoris (+2500) finished T8 last week at TPC Southwind after fighting off bouts of back pain. If he’s feeling better he could chase the win this week.
2021 Wyndham Championship Odds
Webb Simpson +1100
Hideki Matsuyama +1400
Louis Oosthuizen +1600
Patrick Reed +2200
Will Zalatoris +2500
Brian Harman +2800
Jason Kokrak +2800
Sungjae Im +2800
Russell Henley +3300
Si-Woo Kim +3300
Seamus Power +4000
Charl Schwartzel +4000
Tommy Fleetwood +4000
Adam Scott +4000
Gary Woodland +4000
Kevin Streelman +4000
Matthew Wolff +4000
Kevin Na +4000
Robert Macintyre +4000
Sebastian Munoz +5000
Jhonattan Vegas +5000
Rickie Fowler +5000
Kevin Kisner +5000
Brandt Snedeker +5000
Talor Gooch +5000
Erik Van Rooyen +5000
Bubba Watson +5000
Justin Rose +6000
Mito Pereira +6000
Hank Lebioda +6600
Branden Grace +6600
Mackenzie Hughes +6600
Patton Kizzire +6600
Harold Varner III +6600
Doug Ghim +6600
JT Poston +6600
Zach Johnson +6600
Lucas Glover +6600
C T Pan +8000
Lanto Griffin +8000
Adam Schenk +8000
Ryan Moore +8000
Patrick Rodgers +8000
Joel Dahmen +8000
Luke List +8000
Chez Reavie +8000
Rory Sabbatini +8000
Brendon Todd +8000
Brandon Hagy +10000
Dylan Frittelli +10000
Doc Redman +10000
Roger Sloan +10000
Chris Kirk +10000
Ryan Armour +10000
Keith Mitchell +10000
Adam Hadwin +10000
Jim Herman +10000
Bo Hoag +10000
Andrew Putnam +10000
Matt Jones +10000
Mark Hubbard +12500
Aaron Wise +12500
Henrik Norlander +12500
Brian Stuard +12500
Kyle Stanley +12500
Francesco Molinari +12500
Kramer Hickok +12500
Scott Stallings +12500
Michael Thompson +12500
Scott Piercy +12500
Kyoung-Hoon Lee +12500
Sepp Straka +12500
Adam Long +15000
Sam Ryder +15000
Byeong-Hun An +15000
Brice Garnett +15000
Richy Werenski +15000
Tom Lewis +15000
Matt Kuchar +15000
Vincent Whaley +20000
Beau Hossler +20000
Joseph Bramlett +20000
Jason Dufner +20000
James Hahn +20000
Anirban Lahiri +20000
Martin Laird +20000
Russell Knox +20000
Nick Taylor +20000
Wyndham Clark +20000
Matthew Nesmith +20000
Sean O’Hair +25000
Camilo Villegas +25000
Chesson Hadley +25000
Cameron Percy +25000
Kevin Tway +25000
Bo Van Pelt +25000
Davis Thompson +25000
Denny McCarthy +25000
Tom Hoge +25000
Tyler Duncan +25000
Will Gordon +25000
Satoshi Kodaira +25000
Robert Streb +25000
Nick Watney +30000
Aaron Baddeley +30000
Scott Brown +30000
Alex Smalley +30000
Vaughn Taylor +30000
Mark Anderson +30000
Kiradech Aphibarnrat +30000
Hudson Swafford +30000
Austin Cook +30000
Nate Lashley +30000
Chase Seiffert +30000
Robby Shelton +30000
Ryan Brehm +30000
Michael Gligic +30000
Luke Donald +30000
Michael Gellerman +30000
Padraig Harrington +30000
Harry Higgs +30000
Andrew Landry +30000
John Augenstein +30000
Peter Malnati +30000
Sung Kang +30000
JJ Spaun +30000
Chris Baker +40000
Scott Harrington +40000
Fabian Gomez +40000
Bill Haas +40000
Bronson Burgoon +40000
Rob Oppenheim +40000
Tyler McCumber +40000
Ben Taylor +50000
Kristoffer Ventura +50000
Rhein Gibson +50000
Nelson Ledesma +50000
Xinjun Zhang +50000
K J Choi +50000
Jonas Blixt +50000
Rafael Campos +50000
Sebastian Cappelen +50000
Ted Potter +50000
Brian Gay +50000
D J Trahan +50000
Matt Every +75000
Michael Kim +75000
Kevin Stadler +100000
John Senden +100000
Martin Trainer +100000
Matt Vick +200000
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