The Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, is the last chance players will have to earn FedEx Cup points before the top 125 qualify for the playoffs that begin on August 19th at the Northern Trust.
The top-ranked player entered in the Wyndham is Louis Oosthuizen, who is eighth in the standings and coming off a tie for 17th in last week’s WGC – FedEx Cup St. Jude Invitational.
Last year’s Wyndham Invitational was won in wild fashion by Jim Herman, who birdied his final four holes in the second round to make the cut on the number, then shot a 61 on Saturday and a 63 on Sunday to vault to a one-shot victory over Billy Horschel.
The victory also lifted Herman from 192nd to 54th in the FedEx Cup standings, clinching a spot in the playoffs.
With most of the top players taking a break after a hectic, condensed schedule due to the Olympics, it provides many players on the points bubble an opportunity to play their way into or keep their positions intact for the playoffs.
Sitting precariously at number 130 is Rickie Fowler, who has made the playoffs every season in his career and will need to at least make the cut to keep that string alive.
At +5500… Fowler has shown signs of breaking the slump as of late… and even though his once-reliable putting continues to let him down, he could challenge this week
Betting Odds
Two major champions who picked up their first PGA Tour win in the Wyndham, Webb Simpson in 2011 and Patrick Reed in 2013, are in the field, with Simpson the betting favorite at +1000 and Reed not too far down the list at +2000.
Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama committed late to play in Greensboro and is at +1400, followed closely by four-time 2021 runner-up Louis Oosthuizen at +1600, still looking for his first PGA Tour win in the United States.
Two-time 2021 PGA Tour winner Jason Kokrak and Brian Harman are at +2200, followed by rookie sensation Will Zalatoris at +2800, who needs a victory playing on a sponsor’s exemption to advance to the playoffs because he is not yet a member of the PGA Tour.
Other notables include former Masters champion Adam Scott at +4000, former U.S. Open winner Gary Woodland at +4500, and Fowler with betting odds of +5500.
Underdog Betting Picks at Sedgefield Country Club
Robert MacIntyre, the 25-year-old from Scotland with odds of +4000, attracted some attention with his tie for eighth in the Open Championship after shooting an eight-under par 132 on the weekend. He also finished tied for 12th in the U.S. Open and is coming off a tie for 15th in last week’s WGC – FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
It would be a great time for Rickie Fowler to break out of his two-and-a-half-year slump with a win that would vault him into the top 50 in points. He’s shown signs of late, and even though his once-reliable putting continues to let him down, he could challenge this week.
Mito Pereira at +6500 had a nice run of three top-ten finishes snapped with a tie for 39th in the Stableford scoring Barracuda Championship last week, but this graduate of the Korn Ferry Tour is a potential star in the making. The 26-year-old from Chile played a season of college golf at Texas Tech and has made a nice rise from 223rd to 177th in FedEx Cup points.
