Wyndham Championship, Sedgefield CC, Greensboro North Carolina

The Wyndham Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, may well be the last event some of the golfers play this weekend, as the qualifying for the 4 FedEx tournaments draws to its conclusion. This is the event where every golfer knows what he must do in order to make the big money spinner that comes with the next 4 events. They must finish in the top 125 of the FedEx rankings…!!! The PGA usually set the course up to be a shoot-out to gain maximum excitement out of the golfers as they try to gain the vital points needed to extend their season.

If we look at the past 4 year’s scores of the winners, it’s easy to see that they succeed in doing this. Sergio shot 66, 66 for his last 2 rounds last year to post a -18 under par winning score. Webb Simpson won the 2011 event with the same -18 and Arjun Atwal shot -20 to pip David Toms by 1 shot in 2010. And back in 2009 no less than 3 players shot -16 to force a 3-way play-off where Ryan Moore beat Jason Bohn and Kevin Stadler…

So expect more of the same this week as the greens look to have had the same weather the PGA got, rain, and so the course is damp, the greens receptive and so the scores will be low again. The course itself seems to be permanently ranked in the Top 10 as one of the easiest tracks to play on the PGA Tour, as the scoring goes to show. It’s a par 70, with smallish greens, but the pins are not hidden like they would be in say last week’s PGA Major, and it’s done on purpose. If you need to shoot low to get into the top 125 rankings and come up short you will only have yourself to blame for not scoring or playing well enough...

So I am looking for the golfer who is desperate to gain the points and to keep playing this year. One who can shoot low numbers, and is carrying a bit of form into this week, and a player who can smash it long with good accuracy. Easy pin positioning means that the GIR stat doesn’t have to be high, but it will always help, and the top putters won’t be gaining too much advantage as the greens will be set up to score low anyway…



So with all that in mind i've gone with this motely crew…

Carl Petterson hasn’t had the best of years and mainly in part to the fact I think he struggling to come to terms with the ban on the fixed broom handle putters soon to be enforced. His form definitely dropped when this decision was made but he is a player who can play this course, backed up with the fact no one has won more money at this event than him…!!! A past winner in 2008 he has also had two 4th placed finishes, has a score average of 67.16 for the 18 rounds of golf he has played here, which is just superb. He is currently sat at 109th on the FedEx rankings so he will have to play well to maintain his top 125 status, and hopefully good memories of this course will inspire him to do so…

Charles Howell III has had a great season. Ranks 26th in the FedEx, 19th in the All-Round Ranking plus a whole host of top 30 stats but it is his putting that is one of the main keys to his success. Sits 18th for Strokes Gained Putting and 27th for Scoring Average. He can also drive the ball a long way, sits 5th in the ranking for this, 37th for GIR and you can see that there arnt too many areas that are weak to his game. Hopefully he can top the year off with a victory in the last Tour Event and go one better than the 2nd he gained at the start of the season.

Jason Bohn comes into the Wyndham ranked 98th and so will make the FedEx play-offs unless he has a right nightmare. But I don’t think he will have a mare as he comes here on the back of a T2nd place in the Canadian Open and a T9th in the previous event at the Sanderson Farms Championships. Lost out in a 3-way play-off back in 2009 and so he has some idea of what is needed here to do well. He is not the biggest off the tee but he ranks 30th for Driving Accuracy, 7th for Birdies on the Par 3’s and 18th for the Par 4’s. Hopefully he can continue this good form he is in…

Matt Jones comes here after a T40th finish in last week’s PGA, T2nd at the John Deere Classic and T7th at the Greenbrier so has a bit of good form to his name at the moment. A current All Round Ranking of 9th tells you that he has a good game and that if it all clicks he will have some sort of say if things go right for him. Sits at 52st for the FedEx so he can relax and enjoy this week’s event, but he will want to improve on his one 2nd and 3 Top 10 finishes this year. If he can top it off with his first win of the season it will cap off what has been a very good year for the lad…


Carl Petterson @ 50/1…
Jason Bohn @ 66/1…
Charles Howell III @ 66/1…
Matt Jones @ 125/1…

All done in the usual £2.5 e/w… PadPow pay ¼ odds top 5… Good luck to all…

 

Goodluck Red

Hideki Matsuyama 33-1
Jordan Spieth 40-1
Seung-Yul Noh 100-1
Scott Stallings 100-1
Geoff Ogilvy 140-1

 

It's not often that i will take a look back at the odds after ive placed my bets for the golf, i mean if your playing on horses at 3/1 and its gone to 6/1, or gone into 15/8 you can get a bit excited or not. Whatever the case my be...

But of the 4 picks ive made for this weeks Wyndham event 2 of em have moved a bit more than 1 ot 2 points that can happen on the horses...

Ive got Jason Bohn at 66/1... He is now trading at 40/1...

And Matt Jones is in my book for 125/1, bet placed on Tuesday night, and is now trading at 66/1...


I'd like to say its down to me 'moving' the market, but i doubt it...

 

My bet365 account had a fiver in, and whe checked it seems my £2.50e/w on Stallings has been refunded so i am down to 4 players

I'd imagine Matt Jones is a lot less than 66/1 now Red, with him leading the way half way thru round 1 , nice pick

 

Leaderboard after the 1st round...

Leader - Chris Stroud & Ross Fisher, both @ -6

T3 - Matt Jones........................ -5
T3 - Jordan Spieth..................... -5
T11 - Charles Howell III.............. -4
T16 - Seung-Yul Noh................. -3
T16 - Geoff Ogilvy..................... -3
T78 - Hideki Matsuyama.............. E
T112 - Carl Pettersson.............. +2
T129 - Jason Bohn.................... +3


Well of the 8 picks we have 5 in the top 20 after the 1st round, it wont last...<>laugh> Only joking... It just goes to show that when you get a course that they can all bomb the greens then you will get a lot of players posting sub-par rounds. So we wont be counting any chickens yet, but its a good start...

 

Cut from the PGA web site...

August 15 2013
10:50 AM
Stallings out, Trahan in
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Scott Stallings withdrew from the Wyndham Championship prior to Thursday's first round with a back injury.

 

Thanks for that, not to worry, all 4 selections still in with a shout!

Roll on the 2nd round later today

 

Leaderboard after the 2nd round...

Leader - Patrick Reed @ -11

3 - Jordan Spieth................... -9
T10 - Charles Howell III.......... -6
T15 - Hideki Matsuyama.......... -5
T22 - Matt Jones................... -4
T35 - Geoff Ogilvy.................. -3
CUT - Carl Pettersson
CUT - Jason Bohn
CUT - Seung-Yul Noh


What a difference a day makes where half of the top 20 all shot -1 or worse and the top of the table was took over by players who shot -6 under, Patrick Reed and -8 under John Huh... We still have a chance going into the last 2 rounds to pull something out of the hat, but it just show, you better bring your scoring hat with you if you want to feature at the top...

 

Howell DQed for non-conforming club
By PGATOUR.COM staff
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Charles Howell III was disqualified prior to the start of Saturday's third round of the Wyndham Championship for using a non-conforming driver during the second round.

Howell had shot a 68 on Friday to get into a tie for 10th at 6 under, five shots off Patrick Reed's lead. But PGA TOUR rules official Tony Wallin said he was altered to a possible problem when he received a call from John Mutch, another TOUR official, around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.

The issue centered on a weight port cover near the toe on the bottom of Howell's TaylorMade driver that came off while he was hitting balls prior to the second round. There is a hole under the cover that is used to put hot wax in -- and without the cover, the driver has a hole in it which makes it non-conforming.
Had the port come off during the second round instead of before he teed off, Howell could have continued to play with the club, according to Wallin -- as long as he had it repaired prior to the next round.


Pretty annoying i would imagine for you Red, a complete charles HOWELLER

 

Another ridiculous golf rule!

Big well done to our Solheim Cup girls, really getting in the yanks faces and defying all odds. Lets hope they don't crumble in the singles!

 

Smokin, its one of those things that can happen in sport, and golf especially, but as stick has just pointed out it really is another antiquated rule that need scraping...


It hasnt helped my cause for a return on my money, but i bet Howell is feeling worse than me...!!!

 

Leaderboard after the 3rd round...

Leaders - Patrick Reed & John Huh @ -10

T3 - Jordan Spieth............ -9
T15 - Hideki Matsuyama..... -4
T23 - Matt Jones.............. -3
T31 - Geoff Ogilvy............ -2

Looks like its left up to you Smokin to bring us back a winner as my picks have let me down through ****e play, bad play and dq'd... Speith looks good for something but you just never know this week as they all seem to have had one bad round among the good...

Fingers cross for you pal...

 

Come on Jordan, bring home the bacon!

Slightly annoying that the leaders couldn't kick away from the chasing pack. Especially as Zach J is now the danger imo

 

Well done Red on Matt Jones getting you some E/W

Spieth in a play off for the win...come on!

 

Bloomin play-offs...!!!

Unlucky Smokin, play-off defeats are hard to take at times, especially when your pick had shot the lower score on the day...

I was totally surprised to see Matt Jones pull his little finger out on the last day to shoot the days lowest score of 62, -8 under for his round. A little too late my friend to win it, but at least i got the e/w money... Only to be cut by a 1/3 because of the numbers finishing T5th... Still i made a little profit...


Winner - Patrick Reed @ 66/1...
R up - Jordan Spieth @ 33/1...
T3rd - Brian Harman @ 150/1...
T3rd - John Huh @ 80/1...
T5th - Zach Johnson @ 16/1...
T5th - M. Jones @ 125/1...
T5th - Matt Every @ 150/1...

Three of the placed winners were over 125/1, which just goes to show how hard at times it is to pick a winner at the golf...

Well done, but unlucky Smokin... We dont have many left now but im sure we can pick a winner before the end of the season...