Wyndham Championship: Zalatoris could gain elusive first PGA Tour win

Sung-jae Im, who is ranked 21st in the world, is the market leader for the Wyndham Championship after he finished tied-second in the 3M Open a fortnight ago. But, while he has an excellent record at the North Carolina venue (T6, T9 and T24 in his last three appearances), he doesn’t look great value at 17.5 this week.

Shane Lowry is his nearest pursuer in the market at 19, but the Irish star, who hasn't won since the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush, struggled with his putting at St Andrews and was only reunited with his missing clubs on Wednesday.

He's been on a break since The 150th Open and has toured Ireland with his family, which might make him a smarter trade in the FedEx St Jude Championship next week. Nevertheless, he's still shorter than Will Zalatoris (20) in a field that features 29 of the top 100 and 14 of the top 50 in the latest Official World Ranking, albeit none of the top ten.

The field includes five of the top 25 in the FedEx points standings with the likes of Zalatoris (11th), Im (17th), Billy Horschel (18th), J.T. Poston (22nd) and Davis Riley (24th) looking to make another move up the ladder before the best players return for the first Playoff event in Memphis.

It is the aforementioned Zalatoris who will carry my hopes as he looks to end the quest for his elusive first PGA Tour win in the final regular event of the season at Sedgefield Country Club.

However, in such a wide-open event it’s good to have strength in depth and J.T. Poston, who won this title in 2019, provides just that. He has a win, a runner-up finish and a tied-11th place to his name coming into this week and must have a good chance of claiming his second victory this season.

Joo-hyung "Tom" Kim, one of our four selections last week, finished seventh in the Rocket Mortgage Classic with a tournament course record nine-under 63 on Sunday to secure his PGA Tour card. 

At 36, he's a bigger price than Wyndham specialist Webb Simpson (30), but another big week appears to be on the cards for the young Korean. As a non-member, Kim is not exempt into the FedExCup Playoffs unless he wins this week and, with two wins apiece on the Asian and Korean tours, the world number 39 could be set to strike.

Moving up the FedEx Cup standings is also a priority for Denny McCarthy, who is currently 40th after riding some good form despite missing the cut in Detroit last week. A great putter, McCarthy has three top-seven finishes in his last five starts and should be well rested after playing just once in the past month.

Left-hander Brian Harman also looks a good trade this week as he returns to action following his tied-sixth effort in The Open. Crucially, Harman has good course form at Sedgefield with a third-placed finish in 2013, as well as finishing tied-sixth in 2019.

Recommended bets

Back Will Zalatoris @ 20
Back JT Poston @ 25
Back Joo-hyung Kim @ 36
Back Denny McCarthy @ 42
Back Brian Harman @ 42