Wyndham Championship Preview

Only nine weeks since he featured in the Rising Stars section of our previews, Collin Morikawa continued his meteoric rise through the ranks by landing his first major championship in only his second start at TPC Harding Park. For Morikawa, it’s been a whirlwind two months since he heartbreakingly lost out in a playoff at Colonial when missing a short putt, to miraculously winning the Workday Charity Open when that title had also looked to have slipped through his grasp. Add in his victory at the PGA Championship and it’s clear the sky’s the limit for this ball striking sensation who’s got more wins than missed cuts and will have the chance to become the world’s number one ranked player next week at the first of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs.

But before that, the final 125 players who will compete at those finals will be decided at the traditional finish of the regular season in Sedgefield Country Club at the Wyndham Championship. Normally, this week is one full of nervousness and tension as those who find themselves just outside that top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings find themselves fighting for their livelihoods as they risk losing their PGA Tour status and dropping down to the Korn Ferry Tour. With those exemptions on hold for this season after the implications of COVID-19, it’s set to be a more relaxed end to the season proper with only the final makeup of the field at the Northern Trust yet to be finalised.

What will it take to win here?

If the players who played at the PGA are looking for some relief after the rigours of the demanding test posed by Harding Park, they have come to the right place as Sedgefield CC typically provides the exact opposite to what we witnessed last week. Conditions were cold and breezy as the players battled through thick rough in San Francisco last week, and those competing this time around will be pleased to get back to the warmth of North Carolina with a more familiar PGA Tour setup which usually yields lots of birdies. Despite Morikawa’s relative lack of distance off tee, the leaderboard at Harding Park was dominated by bombers as the shorter hitters struggled to get a blow in. That won’t be the case at Sedgefield CC, a 7,127 yard par 70 where the emphasis is much more on accuracy over length, a regular feature of so many Donald Ross designed courses which are scattered around the Carolinas. As mentioned, scoring is usually very low here and although most of the top players choose to skip this week as they prepare for the playoffs, it does boast a pretty strong recent roll of honour:

2019 JT Poston

2018 Brandt Snedeker

2017 Henrik Stenson

2016 Si Woo Kim

2015 Davis Love III

2014 Camilo Villegas

2013 Patrick Reed

2012 Sergio Garcia

2011 Webb Simpson

2010 Arjun Atwal

While Arjun Atwal was relatively unexpected and Davis Love III was coming towards the end of his career, the rest of the latest winners’ list is chock full of quality with four major champions among them. Regular winning totals of upwards of -20 might indicate that this has been a putting contest, but a look at recent years have suggested it’s not vital to contend and none of those listed could really be labelled as bombers either. Approach play to the small undulating greens has usually been the key to success with some renowned ball strikers listed above and unusually last year’s top 5 on the leaderboard were actually ranked the first five in strokes gained tee to green for the week too. Prolific putters Brandt Snedeker and Webb Simpson have shown that a strong week on the greens can obviously help but the last four winners of this event have ranked 1-4-4-2 for strokes gained approach with Si Woo Kim the only one of the last eight winners to have led for strokes gained driving. In short, accuracy is more important that distance off the tee and strong iron-play is paramount if your to have a chance of winning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2mh-Npann0

Other Donald Ross designs such as TPC Aronimink which hosted last year BMW Championship, Detroit Golf Club, the new home of the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and East Lake, home of the Tour Championship could provide some clues as to the source of the winner as they feature similar attributes to this course, while there also seems to be a strong correlation with some nearby Pete Dye designs such as Harbour Town and TPC Sawgrass. Webb Simpson has won at both of those courses and regularly performs well here while Si Woo Kim has also won the Player’s Championship and ought to have won at Harbour Town too. Love III won five times at Harbour Town before landing this title in 2015 and Garcia and Stenson both triumphed at Sawgrass before going on to win at Sedgefield.

The Field

As tends to be the case in the aftermath of a major, there is a definite lull in the quality of the field for this event but with the shortened season and some bigger names scrapping for some form before the playoffs, this looks a more than up to scratch renewal of this tournament. The headline name is undoubtedly Brooks Koepka, an unexpected addition to this field having not played this event since 2015. He finished 6th on that occasion, so the course clearly poses no problems to him but adding this event to his schedule on the back of a thoroughly underwhelming final round defence to his PGA Championship title looks to be motivated by something more than the glory of this title. Koepka does seem to play better with a chip on his shoulder though, and his failure to back up some bullish comments about his ability and that of those around him last week might be all he needs to show his best here.

Webb Simpson is actually the bookies’ favourite this week, despite being almost three times the price of Koepka at Harding Park, and that comes courtesy of his stellar record at Sedgefield CC along with the strong run of form he’s shown all season. Simpson’s finishes at this course since 2010 read 8-1-22-11-5-6-72-3-2-2 and it would take a brave man to suggest he won’t go close again at a track he clearly loves after a respectable showing last week. Patrick Reed closed well last week after an atypically cold week with the putter, and his ball striking figures suggested he’s close to another victory which could come at the venue where he gained his first victory back in 2013. The English trio of Tommy Fleetwood, Paul Casey and Justin Rose also arrive after contending at various stages of the PGA Championship and they all possess the ball-striking prowess which should hold them in good stead around Sedgefield.

Other eyecatchers from last week include Harris English, Russell Henley and Kevin Kisner, who have all shown lots of form around the correlating courses, while former champion Si Woo Kim showed that the hard work done with new coach Claude Harmon is finally paying off having finished tied for 13th at Harding Park with all elements of his game in decent shape. Lesser known Europeans Tom Lewis, Matthias Schwab and Henrik Norlander have also shown glimpses of form over recent weeks and this represents a decent opportunity to gain a first PGA Tour victory. Past winner Sergio Garcia can also put a missed cut last week behind him at a course which suits his variety of shot shaping if he’s in the mood, and the mystery of Jordan Spieth continues as rounds of 68 and 67 at Harding Park were intertwined with 73 and 76, his driving woes continuing to hold back his progress. Spieth cast a desolate character on the range in San Francisco as he continues to graft hard with his long time coach Cameron McCormick, and he'll be looking to find some consistency with bigger events coming in the weeks ahead.

Irish Interest

It was a week to forget for the Irish at Harding Park with an out of sorts Rory McIlroy struggling at what had looked a golden opportunity to add to his major tally. Shane Lowry also briefly flattered to deceive having moved into contention on Friday afternoon before a bogey run put paid to his chances, and his 7-iron, as the frustration got the better of the Irishman. He’ll try to put that right this week as he bids to move into the top 125 in the FedEx Cup and a run at the playoffs after a stuttering PGA Tour season so far. Lowry’s long game was in reasonable shape last week but struggled badly around the greens which was uncharacteristic and a return to an easier test may spark a much needed improvement in form if he is to advance to next week, and he has at least shown a liking for the course having finished 7th here in 2017. While the prospect of a return to Ireland would surely appeal to Lowry, it might not be possible given the coronavirius pandemic complications, especially given the US Open is only a month away so he may as well put his best foot forward here.

Graeme McDowell and Seamus Power join Lowry in the field this week in varying degrees of form. McDowell missed the cut at Harding Park with his lack of length a serious hindrance to his chances there, but this is a more suitable venue for him with his accuracy off the tee and fairways more likely to be rewarded and he finished 5th in this event as recently as 2016. With his place at the Northern Trust secure at 108th in the FedEx Cup standings, McDowell will be looking to move up a few spots as he attempts to put himself in position to make it through to the subsequent events. Power is well outside the top 125 at the moment, but he’s shown some of his best golf with a 12th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and a top ten at the Barracuda Championship in recent weeks. He’ll need to outdo both of those finishes if he’s to stand any chance of advancing to Boston, but his performance in Detroit gives some encouragement for his prospects here.

Rising Stars

With a few of the big names not in attendance, it gives us a chance to focus some of the spotlight back on the up and comers in this field. One of those is 24 year old Californian Maverick McNealy, who’s enjoyed an excellent rookie season on the PGA Tour and is in no danger of missing out on the Northern Trust Open at 57th in the FedEx Cup standings. McNealy followed in the footsteps of Tiger Woods by having a prolific college career at Stanford winning multiple times and collecting the Fred Haskins, Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan awards after winning 11 times along the way. He was part of an impressive 2017 Walker Cup team which routed Europe at LA Country Club and McNealy would have looked on in envy as teammates Doc Redman, Cameron Champ, Scottie Scheffler and of course Collin Morikawa all featured heavily in his home state last week.

Son of billionaire businessman Scott McNealy, and as smart in the classroom as he was deadly on the golf course, Maverick chose the fairways over Silicon Valley in what we imagine was not a difficult decision but struggled on his first season on the Korn Ferry Tour under the weight of a lot of expectation given his collegiate exploits. He earned his card in 2019 however, and is beginning to find his feet on the PGA Tour with 3 top-10s for far this season, thanks mainly to a hot putter. McNealy’s girlfriend Danielle Kang has won back to back titles on the LPGA Tour in the last 2 weeks and that may just inspire the Californian to contend this week on a course that should suit. Whatever happens, he is one to keep an eye on for the next few months with plenty of promise shown on his debut season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pct_nRMWNE