Draws and Fades: Davis Thompson, Ben Kohles in position for Sunday surge at Wyndham Championship

The third round of the Wyndham Championship is officially in the books after multiple weather delays, and the resilience of Beau Hossler (+270) deserves plenty of credit.

Hossler was forced to deal with adversity multiple times throughout the round and continued to answer every challenge. Even down the stretch, he missed the fairway on both Nos. 17 and 18 but still found a way to grind out a pair of pars and escape with a share of the lead heading into the final round.

Hossler is tied with Michael Brennan (+220), who fired an incredible 7-under 63 in the third round. Brennan has found himself near the top of the leaderboard several times over the last few weeks and now enters Sunday with another chance to capture his second PGA TOUR title.

Right now, five golfers sit within five strokes of the lead, all chasing the final PGA TOUR title of the regular season.

The course played a little differently throughout the day. It was more difficult early, but some light rain softened things up as the round went on and opened the door for plenty of good scoring.

But the biggest story Sunday might not be who wins the tournament. It could be who survives the FedExCup top-70 bubble.

Several players still have plenty at stake as they fight to finish inside the top 70 and earn a spot in the FedExCup Playoffs. Keegan Bradley is currently on the outside looking in and will need a big final round to give himself a chance.

Jackson Koivun finds himself on the other side of that line. The young Auburn star, fresh off his first PGA TOUR victory at the 3M Open, has another opportunity Sunday to lock himself comfortably inside the top 70 and keep building momentum as the season moves into the Playoffs.

Matt Wallace was one of the biggest movers of the third round. He entered the day around 85th in the projected FedExCup standings but now has a legitimate chance to play his way into the playoffs after firing a 6-under 64.

Wallace has steadily improved throughout the week. He opened with a 71, followed it with a 66 in the second round and then went even lower on Saturday with that 64. He’ll enter the final round with everything still in front of him.

There’s no real value in the top-20 or top-30 prices on the golfers sitting around the FedExCup bubble, so naturally, I’ll sit back and watch that chaos unfold.

From a betting perspective, though, there are a few golfers I like to creep up the leaderboard and give us a chance to make a little extra cash before we head into the playoffs.

Davis Thompson, Top 5 including ties (-130)

This is actually a really interesting spot for Davis Thompson (+1500).

He was fantastic in the first round, solid in the second and then played some really good golf in the third despite dealing with a pretty unusual situation. Thompson had driver issues in the middle of his round and had to wait for a replacement to arrive, forcing him to hit fairway metal off the tee over the closing holes.

That lack of distance could help explain why he wasn’t able to capitalize on the par 5 on the back nine, but even with the equipment issue, Thompson continued to play incredible golf from tee to green.

According to Data Golf, Thompson has gained 3.88 strokes tee to green and leads the field in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking at +3.96. That is well clear of second place at +2.76. He has also gained 3.62 strokes on approach.

Yes, some of that approach number is inflated by the hole-out, but just like we talked about with Alex Smalley (+850), Thompson has gained throughout the bag outside of putting. The putter has really been the only thing holding him back.

And this course is a perfect fit for him. Thompson can hit it a mile while still putting himself in the fairway, and with the way he is striking the ball, he doesn’t need some incredible putting performance Sunday.

Another round around 65 should give him an excellent chance to finish inside the top five, and I still think he is alive to win the tournament from three strokes back.

One important thing here: I’m taking top five, ties included.

With a market that only pays five places, dead-heat rules can absolutely crush you. If there are multiple players tied ahead of Thompson and he finishes T5, your payout could be significantly reduced. At -130, I’d much rather pay for the protection and know a T5 finish cashes the full bet.

Thompson has been too good tee to green for me to pass up this price. I think he has a legitimate chance to win Sunday, but the top five, with ties included, is the bet I want.

Ben Kohles, Top 20 including ties (-112)

I’m not going to say anything groundbreaking here, but man, Ben Kohles has a ton of game.

Kohles went out as a single in the first tee time of the third round and casually fired a 5-under 65, his best round of the tournament. He has been a great example of a player taking strong Korn Ferry Tour form and carrying it onto the PGA TOUR.

And while close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, Kohles has put himself in contention three or four times over the last five weeks. At 8-under par and six strokes off the lead, I think he is probably too far back to make a legitimate run at winning this thing, but his game has so few holes that he can make up a lot of ground Sunday.

The biggest thing for me is that Kohles hits fairways. During this recent run, he has been finding them at roughly a 68% to 69% clip. He is also really good with his short irons, and while the putter hasn’t done much this week, we know he is capable of getting hot with the flat stick.

Kohles has also gotten better with each round. For -112, we are essentially asking him to climb one more spot and get us inside the top 20.

I have the top-20 number projected around 11 under. If Kohles goes out and shoots 67 or better, I think he gets there. If the course plays a little tougher on Sunday, even a 68 could be enough.

But I don’t think Kohles is going out there trying to shoot 67 or 68. He trusts his game, he’s playing really good golf and I wouldn’t be surprised if he puts together one of the lower rounds of the day.

Give me Kohles to finish inside the top 20.