WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Purse: $8.2M
Winner's Share: $1.476M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Greensboro, N.C.
Course: Sedgefield Country Club
Yardage: 7,131
Par: 70
2024 champion: Aaron Rai
Tournament Preview
It doesn't sound all that daunting to move up a few spots, or even just one, to get inside the top 70 in the FedExCup Standings to qualify for next week's playoffs. After all, only five points separates Nos. 70 and 71, while thousands are up for grabs in every tournament. But in the past two years, only one guy has managed to do it at the Wyndham Championship, the final event of the PGA Tour's regular season. And that one guy -- Lucas Glover in 2023 -- had to win the dang tournament.
That is the backdrop as we enter the Wyndham, the traditional season-ender, with so much of the line for so many golfers. Even guys securely inside the top 70 and set for next week's first playoff event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, are here. That's because if they are in the top 50 after the St. Jude, then they automatically qualify for all of next season's Signature Events. And that is a career- and life-altering possibility for many in the Tour's rank-and-file.
So who are some of the golfers on the outside looking in? Nicolai Hojgaard at No. 71, Chris Kirk at No. 73, Davis Thompson at No. 78, Rasmus Hojgaard at No. 82, Adam Scott at No. 85, Tom Kim at No. 89, Max Homa at No. 106 and Sahith Theegala at No. 144 (injured much of the season) are the biggest names.
Here's a snapshot of guys on either side of the bubble.
66. Emiliano Grillo
67. Cam Davis
68. Patrick Rodgers
69. Byeong Hun An
70. Matti Schmid
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71. Nicolai Hojgaard
72. Keith Mitchell
73. Chris Kirk
74. Christiaan Bezuidenhout
75. Gary Woodland
76. Kevin Roy
77. Alex Smalley
78. Davis Thompson
79. Eric Cole
80. William Mouw
This is the third year since the Tour implemented a rejiggered playoff structure in which only 70 players get in instead of the longstanding 125. The whole matter of players keeping their Tour playing card for next season has been shifted to the end of what's called FedExCup Fall, a series of seven tournaments concluding just before Thanksgiving. That number has also been reduced, from 125 to 100. But there's plenty of time to sort all that out; for now, getting into the top-70 is paramount.
There aren't many guys taking many chances. All but three golfers No. 50 to No. 109 in points are in the 156-man Wyndham field. No. 55 Jhonattan Vegas, No. 59 Mackenzie Hughes and No. 97 Billy Horschel, who is injured, are the only ones not playing. But others who are much higher are here too, trying to fortify their positions or move into the top 50 to reach the BMW Championship or top 30 to get into the TOUR Championship, which gets you in all of the 2026 majors. Twenty-one of the top 50 in the OWGR are here.
Those highest-ranked OWGR guys include Keegan Bradley, Hideki Matsuyama, Ben Griffin, Robert MacIntyre, Sungjae Im, Matt Fitzpatrick and Tony Finau. Just outside the top 50 of the OWGR, at No. 51, is Jordan Spieth, who is 50th in the FedExCup Standings. This is the strongest Wyndham field in the FedExCup era, which dates to 2007, according to the PGA Tour.
COMMITTED. 💥@JordanSpieth pic.twitter.com/OEDHqRs20n
— Wyndham Championship (@WyndhamChamp) July 25, 2025
So as you see, there are many different goals here depending on the golfer, be they top-70, top-50, top-30 or, you know, winning the tournament. For many guys, that would solve just about all the other goals.
The Wyndham is steeped in PGA Tour history, much of it centering around Sedgefield Country Club and Sam Snead. He won the inaugural Greater Greensboro Open in 1938 and went on to win seven more, the last one famously coming in 1965 at age 53.
Sedgefield, a Donald Ross design that opened in 1926, was the tournament's main host into the 1970s. It has now been back since 2008. It is among of the shortest courses on the PGA Tour schedule.
One of its prime defenses is narrow fairways. They average only 28 yards wide at the 275-yard mark, dropping down to 26 at 300 and 23 at 325. In truth, Sedgefield offers little hindrance to today's golfers. The tournament had long been a birdie-fest, with the winning score falling between 20- and 22-under in seven of the past nine years. Last year, Aaron Rai won at 18-under. Still, there are super-low scores to be had -- last year's runner-up, Max Greyseman, shot a 60. In the two prior years, Glover shot a 61 and Tom Kim a 62.
Brandt Snedeker famously shot 59 in the first round in 2018 en route to his most recent Tour win. The one caveat to the birdie-fest mentality is that getting the ball in the fairway matters this week. From there, the approach shots will often be with wedge in hand in attacking the bermudagrass greens that are a bit large for such a short course (about 6,000 square feet). Ross countered that with undulations and run-offs. There are just 52 bunkers -- fifth fewest on Tour -- and there is water on six holes. There are only two par-5s, and they're both short at 529 and 545 yards. There are also six par-4s under 425 yards and half the course is made up of par-4s under 450.
The hardest holes are the longer ones. The back nine is harder than the front, and the three hardest holes last year were all after the turn. The three hardest annually are the 486-yard 11th, the 505-yard 14th and the 507-yard 18th.
As for the weather, the forecast is calling for two vastly different situations. On Thursday and Friday, it will be hot in the upper 80s with sporadic thunderstorms. It will be much cooler on the weekend, in the 70s, but also windier. As always, it's good to check the latest forecast right before the lock time.
Fun Wyndham fact: Sam Snead won this tournament eight times, seven more than CBS' Frank Nobilo, who won his lone PGA Tour title here in 1997, in a playoff over fellow broadcaster Brad Faxon when the tournament was known as the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic. Nobilo's former Golf Channel colleague, Brandel Chamblee, was also in that field, but he missed the cut.
Signing off: This will be the final tournament for Ian Baker-Finch, who has been with CBS for 19 years and calling golf for 30, going back to his days in his native Australia. It is bound to get emotional for the 1991 Open Championship winner. In fact, it already was last week at the 3M Open, where the 64-year-old Finch jumped his usual perch at the 17th hole to the 18th tower to join Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman for a retrospective and, almost, a group hug.
Key Stats to Winning at Sedgefield Country Club
The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.
• Driving Accuracy
• Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green/Strokes Gained: Approach/Greens in Regulation
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Birdie Average/Birdie or Better Percentage
• Par 4 Efficiency 400-450 yards
Past Champions
2024 - Aaron Rai
2023 - Lucas Glover
2022 - Tom Kim
2021 - Kevin Kisner
2020 - Jim Herman
2019 - J.T. Poston
2018 - Brandt Snedeker
2017 - Henrik Stenson
2016 - Si Woo Kim
2015 - Davis Love III
Champion's Profile
Rai is on the short list of straightest hitters on the PGA Tour. And that was on full display last year. He led the field in SG: Approach, was third in greens in regulation and eighth in driving accuracy. He ranked only 28th in SG: Putting -- good but not great -- though scoring was a bit lower than usual.
Greyserman, who was runner-up, was not as strong as Rai tee-to-green, but he did rank fourth in the field in SG: Putting. J.J. Spaun was in a two-way tie for third. He led the field in greens in regulation but ranked only 36th in Putting.
Two years ago, if you recall, Glover became a great putter out of nowhere. He ranked 15th in the Wyndham field in SG: Putting, then went on to win the FedEx St. Jude the following week (ranking 12th in putting). That of course led to a fairly large uprising saying he should be on the Ryder Cup team. But the clock soon struck 12, and Glover returned to his rightful place as a poor putter (he's currently ranked 140th).
Also for Glover, he led the field in fairways hit, greens in regulation, SG: Approach and SG: Tee-to-Green.
Glover made 24 birdies. The year before, Kim had 25 birdies and one eagle. That may not happen this year because of the dicey forecast weather the first two days. We shall see.
The over/under on the winning score as posted on golfodds.com is 259.5 -- 20.5 under par.
DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS
Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap
$10,000 and up
Matt Fitzpatrick - $10,600 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +2000)
Fitzpatrick is ranked 40th in the OWGR yet he is the guy with the top DFS price and shortest odds at the DK Sportsbook. If you check out the Data Golf website, they have him at No. 16 in the world -- a huge difference. In his past three starts, Fitzpatrick has a top-10 and two top-5s, including T4 at the Open Championship. If there were any doubts that the Englishman would be on the upcoming European Ryder Cup team, those have largely been erased.
$9,000-$9,900
Robert MacIntyre - $9,600 (+3000)
MacIntyre is peaking at the right time, heading into the playoffs and the Ryder Cup. He was runner-up at the U.S. Open, then seventh at the Open Championship, and has soared to 15th in the point standings, virtually assured of reaching the TOUR Championship. Over his past 24 rounds, MacIntyre is top-10 in this field in SG: Putting and birdie average, perfect for Sedgefield.
Harry Hall - $9,200 (+4000)
Hall's streak of seven top-25s in a row ended, by a mere shot, at the Open Championship. He tied for 28th. But the surge has moved him into the top 50 in the standings. He is ranked third on Tour in SG: Putting and is even better in birdie average -- he's first.
Jake Knapp - $9,100 (+4000)
Knapp has played his way into the top-50 in the point standings with a great late-season run. He's had two top-25s and two top-5s in his past four starts, including T3 last week at the 3M Open. He is ranked 11th in SG: Putting and third in birdie average/
$8,000-$8,900
Rickie Fowler - $8,500 (+5000)
Fowler surely has gotten some breaks via all the sponsor invites for Signature Events. But there are a bunch of guys who've been in those limited fields and yet are behind Fowler in the point standings (he's 61st). He's had seven top-25s in his 18 starts, and just missed another by a stroke last week at the 3M. Over his past 24 rounds, Fowler is a top-30 player in this field in SG: Tee-to-Green and top-10 in birdie or better.
Sam Stevens - $8,000 (+5000)
It may be hard to believe that Stevens has been one of the 30 best players on Tour this season. But after last week's runner-up at the 3M Open, he sits 27th in points. He also was runner-up at the Farmers early in the season. Over his past 24 rounds, Stevens is ranked ninth in this field in SG: Tee-to-Green.
$7,000-$7,900
Emiliano Grillo - $7,500 (+6000)
After a terrible start to the season, Grillo has played well enough over the past three months to likely secure a playoff spot. His tie for 20th last week at the 3M was his sixth top-25 in his past nine starts and moved him to 66th in the point standings. He's among the most accurate drivers on Tour, and he's now ranked 40th in both SG: Approach and Putting. Grillo used to be a great ball-striker and a terrible putter. He's still a great ball-striker and a now a pretty good putter.
Andrew Novak - $7,300 (+6000)
Novak is 12th in the FedExCup Standings. This price seems low for a guy going to the TOUR Championship, no? It is, but Novak does not come without risks. He has nine top-25s but also seven missed cuts -- though he hasn't missed one since the PGA in May. As we've often noted, there's a lot of all-or-nothing with Novak.
Chris Kirk - $7,200 (+9000)
Kirk has come on strong over the past month-plus, most recently with a T14 last week at the 3M. But he may run out of time. The run has moved him to 73rd in points. The Tour noted that he'll need at least a solo 43rd to advance to the playoffs. It will all come down to Kirk's putter. Normally pretty bad, it's been better lately.
Nico Echavarria - $7,400 (+9000)
Echavarria sits 65th in points, almost certain of making the playoffs. So many of the guys behind him will play under pressure, knowing they need a high finish to qualify. Sure, Echavarria wants to get into the top-50 or more, but he should be far more relaxed. One of the best putters on Tour -- he's ranked eighth -- he tied for 22nd here last year. A month ago, Echavarria tied for sixth at the Rocket Classic, getting to 20-under.
Jacob Bridgeman - $7,000 (+10000)
Bridgeman, a lot like Novak, has had some very high highs this season to go along with a bunch of missed cuts. But he sits 33rd in points, on the doorstep of TOUR Championship territory. The strength of his game is putting -- he's ranked seventh on Tour and 31st in birdie average. The ability to go low is there, as it was last year, when Bridgeman tied for 12th.
$6,000-$6,900
Victor Perez - $6,900 (+9000)
We highlighted Perez here last week, noting how his stats have been far better than his results. He tied for 28th, pretty good for a golfer at $7,100 last week. At 107th in points, the playoffs are unlikely for Perez. But he has made six of his past seven cuts, and he made the cut here last year in his Wyndham debut (T33). He is ranked top-25 in SG: Approach and top-50 in SG: Putting -- how has he not had better results?
Matteo Manassero - $6,500 (+25000)
It has not been a great season for Manassero. But he has made nine of his 14 cuts, and two of the misses came in the UK earlier this month. He really is at a disadvantage off the tee, ranking only 170th in driving distance. That won't hurt so bad this week. Manassero is ranked 54th in SG: Approach and 68th in SG: Putting -- far from terrible -- and he leads the Tour in SG: Around-the-Green.
Want to lock in Len's Wyndham Championship recommendations? See how they stack up alongside other golfers in RotoWire's PGA DFS Lineup Optimizer.
