DraftKings preview: Wyndham Championship
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BLAINE, MINNESOTA - JULY 24: Rickie Fowler plays his shot from the 13th tee during the Third Round of the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities on July 24, 2021 in Blaine, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
Daily Fantasy preview for the Wyndham Championship
The last regular-season tournament is the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield CC in Greensboro, North Carolina. The course is a par 70, measuring 7,131 yards. The greens this week will be Champion bermuda.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $750K Flop Shot [$200K to 1st]
STRATEGY
As mentioned, this is the last stop before the FedExCup Playoffs, which is vital for a few golfers in the field. After this week, the top 125 golfers in FedExCup (FEC) standings will play at Liberty National for the first leg of the playoffs. Golfers like Rickie Fowler (+5500, $8,600), Tommy Fleetwood (+4500, $9,700), Justin Rose (+7000, $8,000) and Francesco Molinari (+13000, $6,800) are inside the top 140 but currently outside the top 125; they’ll need a solid finish at Sedgefield CC this week to increase their chances of making the trip to New Jersey next week.
Sedgefield CC is a reasonably straightforward Donald Ross design. Over the previous five years, the average winning score is 21.2 under par. Last year’s winner, Jim Herman (+15000, $6,900), ending up shooting 61 on Saturday and 63 on Sunday, totaling 16-under par over the weekend. We should see a ton of birdies and more eagles than usual this week, and the golfers we choose should be proficient in both over the longer timeframes or at least trending well leading into the tournament. The fairways are tree-lined, and accuracy Off-the-Tee is more critical than sheer distance. The green complexes are challenging with undulations and runoff areas into tight lies around the greens. The greens are Championship bermuda, which the golfers putt on last week at TPC Southwind. The Country Club of Jackson (Sanderson Farms) is another course with a similar green type. A solid putting week and precise iron play, especially with wedges, are paramount to success, particularly on the eight par 4s measuring between 400 to 450 yards. There are five water hazards, which come into play on six holes.
You’ll hear a lot about who’s on the “bubble” needing a solid week, and while that is the case, it shouldn’t be weighted too much in your decision making this week. Instead, look at building a DraftKings roster with expensive golfers and cheap options this week. Last year, Jim Herman was $6,100, and 2019 winner J.T. Poston was $7,300. The course sets up for all types of games, and our lineups should reflect that this week.
GOLFERS TO CONSIDER
It hasn’t been great for Sungjae, finishing outside the top 40 in his last two events. Over the previous three months, his best finish was an eighth-place at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, another Donald Ross design. While there isn’t a ton of correlation between Detroit Golf Club and Sedgefield CC, we should feel confident that we’re back on bermuda, a green surface Sungjae prefers. Yes, he lost 4.6 strokes putting last week on similar greens. Still, his long-term putting splits on bermuda are fantastic, and we should be treating last week as a potential outlier. His ball-striking hasn’t been elite, but he’s gained strokes with his irons in five-straight tournaments and gained 1.31 strokes with his irons in Memphis over the weekend. He’s done well on similar courses like Waialae CC (Sony Open) and Harbour Town GL (RBC Heritage), finishing inside the top 20 in both over his career. He’s finished no worse than ninth in his previous two appearances here and ranks 10th in Strokes Gained: Total over his last 24 rounds on Donald Ross designs.
His ball-striking has been stellar over the past 12 rounds, ranking 11th in approach and just inside the top 45 in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. His par 4 scoring on holes 400 to 450 yards is stupendous, ranking fourth over the previous dozen rounds. Munoz only has one career win, the 2019 Sanderson Farms, where he gained 6.9 strokes Tee-to-Green and 6.2 strokes putting; that’s what you’re going to need here. While CC of Jackson is not comparable to Sedgefield CC, they have similar green types, which bodes well for Munoz, who hasn’t been putting well of late.
Few have been better with their irons over the previous 12 rounds, ranking ninth in approach heading into this week. With no worse than a 15th-place over his last three starts, Stuard is coming into the Wyndham with momentum. He’s exceptionally accurate Off-the-Tee and is putting well, ranking fourth on the greens over his last dozen rounds. Stuard’s only win was the 2016 Zurich Classic, the last year before it became a team event. If Stuard plays anything like he has been, he’s going to give himself an excellent chance to add another mark in the win column.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $750K Flop Shot [$200K to 1st]
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