A Turn Up For The Brooks At Wyndham

Brooks Koepka and Brandt Snedeker head the betting for the Wyndham Championship this week, and both are justifiably amongst the favourites.

The Tournament
Originally known as the Greater Greensboro Open, this event has been going since 1938. It’s been moved around the calendar, but these days, it is the final regular season tournament before the FedEx play-offs, so is the last chance for players outside the top 125 in the FedEx rankings to boost their points tallies. Four of the last seven editions of this event have been won by players from outside the United States.

The Course
The tournament has always been played in Greensboro, South Carolina, but has shifted courses, returning to its usual home at Sedgefield Country Club in 2008. This is one of the shortest tracks on the PGA Tour, so the big hitters are not at any advantage. With small, undulating greens, it’s one of the easier courses on the regular circuit, and accurate players in decent putting touch should go well.

In The Bunker
Former Masters champion Adam Scott is one of several Major winners entered this week, but at his current odds, he can be opposed. He’s only played this event three times, finishing outside the top sixty and missing the cut twice, including on his last visit in 2009. His recent form isn’t anything to write home about either. He was way down the field at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational and missed the cut at the PGA Championship last week, so at 20/1 he doesn’t appeal.

Recommended Bets
Brooks Koepka finished just inside the top forty on his first ever visit to Sedgefield last year, but he improved over the four days and shot a superb final round of 64. A year later he goes into the tournament with four top tens in his last six outings, including a fifth at last week’s PGA Championship.

A second PGA Tour title can’t be far away and he looks a good bet at 16/1.

Brandt Snedeker has missed the cut at Sedgefield twice in the last five years, but his overall tournament record is good. He won it in 2007, when the event was held at Forest Oaks, and has made the top ten at Sedgefield three times: in 2008 and 2009 and again last year. After a couple of disappointing results, his top fifteen at Whistling Straits last week was a welcome return to form and he’s worth a look at 16/1.

After a couple of lean years, Branden Grace’s career is once again on an upwards trajectory. He’s already bagged two wins on the European Tour this season, and having shared the lead at the US Open with three holes to go, last week he managed his best performance yet in a Major, finishing third at the PGA Championships.
This is his first visit to Sedgefield, but few players are in better form at the moment and he offers plenty of value at 22/1.

*Prices correct at time of publication