One event separates golfers from the postseason as the 2023 Wyndham Championship once again plays caboose to the PGA Tour’s regular season. Traveling to Greensboro, North Carolina, for the last 85 years, the PGA Tour has raised the stakes at Sedgefield Country Club with the FedEx Cup Playoffs looming.
Slimming the first playoff event’s field from 125 players to just 70, the PGA Tour has forced the hands of veterans and rookies alike hoping to punch their postseason tickets. Justin Thomas headlines those with aspirations of playing themselves into the field with a strong showing around this Donald Ross design.
Thomas is experiencing one of the worst seasons of his career, but a good finish at the Wyndham Championship could flip the script and allow him to qualify for the playoffs. Shane Lowry and Adam Scott find themselves in the same position despite a handful of solid tournaments throughout the year.
In their way are players such as Ben Griffin, who finished fourth in this event last season and ranks 68th in the season-long race. PGA Tour winner Cam Davis, meanwhile, hopes to keep his momentum rolling after a T10 at the 3M Open to sit 69th while Austin Eckroat assumes the position of bubble boy at No. 70 in the FedEx Cup.
Si Woo Kim, Sam Burns and Denny McCarthy hope to bolster their positioning for the Tour Championship while Russell Henley, Sungjae Im and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year candidate Eric Cole find themselves narrowly outside the top 30 ahead of the final tournament of the regular season.
2023 Wyndham Championship schedule
Dates: Aug. 3-6 | Location: Sedgefield Country Club — Greensboro, North Carolina
Par: 70 | Yardage: 7,131 | Purse: $7,600,000
2023 Wyndham Championship field, odds
Odds via Caesars Sportsbook
- Russell Henley (18-1): Henley should have won this tournament in 2021. He entered the final round with a three-stroke lead only to miss out on the six-man playoff entirely with one last short miss on the 72nd hole. Henley kept his head and returned with a T5 effort in 2022 to continue a three-year stretch of top 10s at this event. He has since gone on to win at Mayakoba earlier this season and looks to have the goods to contend once again as he ranks second in strokes gained tee to green and third in strokes gained approach over the last three months.
- Hideki Matsuyama (18-1)
- Sungjae Im (20-1)
- Si Woo Kim (20-1): As far as horses for courses go, there are few more successful marriages than Kim and Sedgefield CC. A winner here in 2016, the South Korean has since gone on to to add three top-five finishes including a playoff loss in 2021. Kim has missed his last two cuts but continues to strike the ball in the same manner that led to quality showings at the Memorial and Byron Nelson. He ranks first in driving accuracy and third in strokes gained tee to green over the last three months.
- Sam Burns (22-1): Burns was a somewhat surprising addition to the field, but he may feel the pressure to string some quality starts together with the Ryder Cup looming. The American finished T13 in his lone Wyndham Championship showing in 2020, but he will need to be much better with his irons if he is to replicate such a result. The WGC-Match Play winner ranks 81st in strokes gained approach and 113th in driving accuracy over the last three months.
- J.T. Poston (25-1)
- Denny McCarthy (25-1)
- Shane Lowry (30-1)
- Ludvig Aberg (35-1): Aberg must win to qualify for the postseason, but simply a quality outing could still go a long way. The young Swede has struggled in recent weeks with a missed cut and T64 finish at the 3M Open, and needs to show European captain Luke Donald his form is not far off. Before the pair of lackluster starts, Aberg had three top-25 finishes in his last four including a T4 at the John Deere Classic. He is the best driver in this field, but the iron play must follow suit to threaten.
- Alex Smalley (35-1)
- Adam Scott (35-1)
- Justin Thomas (35-1): The 30-year-old is scrambling, but despite his best efforts, his game is nowhere near where it needs to be. An early exit at the 3M Open represented his fifth missed cut in his last seven starts, and no relief appears in sight. The putter switch at TPC Twin Cities was little help, and Sedgefield CC isn’t the greatest fit for his game. He needs a minimum top-18 finish (and some help) to qualify for the postseason.
2023 Wyndham Championship expert picks
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