Wyndham Championship 2023 Tips: Course horses can go well again

It's the last event of the regular PGA Tour season and only the top 70 qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs after the Wyndham championship. There’s a strong theme of driving accuracy and plotter type players when you look through the recent winners list at Sedgefield and local knowledge is also a factor down the years.

The Wyndham Championship is one of the events on tour where bombers have no real advantage, and driving accuracy is king. Ball striking from tee to green is the recipe while a solid short game will be required as the icing for the week. Proximity to the hole with the mid to shorter irons and leaving the ball underneath the cup, if possible, will give you a leg up on the field here. 

JT Poston famously won the Wyndham Championship a few years back without recording a bogey in 72 holes. His mate Kevin Kisner is on the roll of recent winners while there are narratives aplenty with Tom Kim starting with a quad bogey and going on to blitz the field last year. It’s Kim’s fellow countryman Sungjae Im (19.50) who leads the market alongside Hideki Matsuyama. Im was tied for second here a year previous after leading through 54 holes and has strong course form.

The Course

Sedgefield is a short, compact treelined track in North Carolina playing to a par 70 at 7,131 yards. It’s a Donald Ross design featuring his trademark greens sloping from back to front with run off areas. Strong course management will be key during the week with a premium on accuracy. Water is a feature and spongy Bermuda rough and trees line narrow fairways. The Bermuda greens are very fast from above the hole.

The Contenders

When it comes to horses for courses former winner Si Woo Kim (22.0) stands out. He was in a six-man playoff here two years ago and has several low rounds besides. Kim owns three top fives and was a runaway leader in the 20/21 season at one stage having opened 65 - 65 - 62 to lead by two after 54 holes. Si Woo has a course fit rating of 8.54 on my model.

JT Poston (21.0) is off the back of a runner up finish in and coming into form ranking 9.73 for progressive form with a line of 6-6-41-2 and the runner up finish was a tie last week at TPC Twin Cities. Poston won here in 2019 closing with a 62 to complete four days without a bogey on the card. Poston’s stats stand out in the wedge department where he’s ranked first in approaches from 75-100 yards and 26th in approaches from 50-125 yards.

Denny McCarthy (29.0) is in line for the most improved player on tour award and he’s a man with form at Sedgefield. He has several low rounds at the venue including a closing 63 when he back-doored a top 10 in 2020; he was on 59 watch at one stage in that round. After finishing second at Memorial, McCarthy went T20 in the US Open and followed that up with two top tens before missing the cut at the Open Championship. He rates 8.53 for progressive form. Denny sits third in strokes gained putting this year and is renowned as one of the very best with the short stick; he’s also fourth in scrambling.

Note: The course-fit ratings are scored out of 10 and modelled on official strokes gained stats, key metrics, and weighted course premiums. Progressive form ratings are also rated out of 10 based on an average of adjusted recent finishing positions.

Wyndham Championship Tips

Si Woo Kim to win @ 22.0
JT Poston to win @ 21.0
Denny McCarthy to win @ 29.0