Wyndham Championship: Player Pool
Last event of the regular season!
Another golf season is coming to a close and what better way to cap it off than by having our heroes play in a hurricane in North Carolina.
The PGA has messed up a ton over the past 2-3 years, but even they aren’t responsible for the hurricane… unless…
Nevermind, we’re off topic.
But, this is the last chance for most of the field to gather up any needed points for the playoffs, keep their cards so they can have a more true off-season than worrying about the fall swing, etc. etc.
The weather is obviously a concern, with most of Thursday being in a downpour and things finally settling down late morning to early afternoon on Friday. Thursday is expected to produce close to 4” of rain, so it’s honestly a shrug emoji on how much they’re going to play or if there will be any postponements and how long those may last. I just can’t get a feel on any wave split here.
As for the course itself, it’s very short with tremendously tight fairways. It rewards elite ball strikers and top scramblers and putting anywhere outside of 5’ is a challenge. I leaned heavy into the elite ball strikers and tee to green players and followed that wave with solid putters. Let’s see who we’ve got.
I managed to fit every in one screen, much to my delight and your chagrin.
Sungjae, it’s time, dude. Return to the winner’s circle please. Most clicked name, most expensive, most deserving.
Guys like Lowry, Bezuidenhout, Perez, Pan, van Rooyen, & Detry all just played in the Olympics and with the way it is setup, you play every round. So they were all in Paris as of mid-day Sunday. Perez & Pan are the only two players that sit outside of the playoffs (no danger of losing their cards) so they’re the only two that I think remain highly motivated going into the week. Not saying that removes any of the other guys, but it’s at least worth noting, especially after the 3M Billy Horschel disaster.
Thompson will be a little chalky - most of the clicks are centered on the 9K and up range, with a small pocket on Rai, Bez, Cam Davis (not in pool). Eric Cole, Denny McCarthy & Ben Griffin are the main clicks below the Bezuidenhout Line and none of them are in the pool, so we’re not overly concerned about how we’re playing lineups. But, back to Thompson, he’s been playing lights out golf and seems to be a great play here.
Vegas won the 3M and was highlighted in my top board here. You have to wonder if there is any potential letdown, but his score is what it is. I think the full week off to celebrate and relax is probably beneficial to him in terms of not having to immediately jump back in and compete.
Harman looks like an outstanding play, as does MacIntyre.
Clanton is my guy, but I’m not sure if this is the course for him.
If Si Woo can get his putter to cooperate, I think he will be in top page contention during round 4.
Fishburn is probably my favorite value play.
Akshay & Horschel are both completely fine. I don’t think we are in risk of a withdraw 10 minutes before an afternoon tee time with Horschel again. What a great experience that was. I haven’t had that much fun since I asked Bruce Lee to kick me in the crotch.
I like Rai quite a bit, but so does the field. Second most clicked name behind Sungjae.
I really like Greyserman & JJ Spaun a lot. Almost as much as Fishburn.
CT Pan - I let the Olympics blurb at the top cover most of the guys in that group, but with him being something like 89th in FedEx points, he really needs a top finish to get into the playoffs. Perez is 71st. They absolutely know where they sit and know what they have to do, so I think the motivation is absolutely there for both.
Novak & Hoey look like really good value plays. Hoey’s biggest concern is he isn’t an accurate player at all. If he goes less than driver on a lot of the holes, then I believe that can mitigate some of it.
Chan Kim looks great except… the putter. That will make or break him, but no denying the rest of the peripherals and his price tag.
Harry Hall makes an appearance! The ISCO winner took a week off and then placed a top 30 in the 3M Open continuing his solid play. It appears he’s going relatively unclicked, too, so there’s that. Accuracy can be a concern.
Spieth… Finally addressed his wrist in a press conference, and I’ve been telling anyone who will listen and anyone who won’t listen - mostly my neighbors and their pets - that he needed wrist surgery and to just take the season off and get right. Sounds like that may be coming in the off-season. I guess we’ll see. He’s probably fine, he’s definitely not getting a lot of clicks, but it’s worth noting that his wrist is inside his head.
No one is playing Adam Hadwin, probably because they’re smart. But… I mean. Ok, look - no one is playing him and he’s cheap after a massive chalk flail out at 3M. Maybe this is his turnaround spot. GPP only and only if you have a bottle of Tums… and whiskey.
Justin Rose… probably ok, but I never get him right so who knows.
Silverman is a solid value piece again.
Lastly, Joel Dahmen. I really hope he has a good finish. He’s 117th in the standings, so unless he wins, almost no chance to make the playoffs and another grinding the fall season swing ahead of him, unless he can have a strong finish and firmly cement his spot with card and everything else. He just seems like an A+ dude and I like rooting for him.
My favorite ladder bets are Sungjae, Spaun, Si Woo, Harman & Greyserman.
Good luck - let’s get 6/6 through.