Yahoo Fantasy Golf Contest Tournament Preview – Wyndham Championship
Welcome Yahoo Contest Players to another tournament preview. We hope you used our picks last week because for the second consecutive week they were phenomenal. We picked Spieth, Day, Rose, Grace, Koepka, Streb, Rory, Furyk, Watson, Stenson, and Bohn all of which made the cut and finished extremely well. We will work hard on our research to be able to bring you such great picks week in and week out.
This week the PGA Tour offers us a filler between the PGA Championship and the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and that stand-in is the Wyndham Championship. It is played at the Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina. The tournament was founded in 1938 as the Greater Greensboro Open and just recently became the Wyndham Championship in 2007. The field is less than star studded, with only 8 of the current Top 30 players in the FedEx points standings, but it will include Adam Scott, Billy Horschel, Bill Haas, Martin Kaymer and of course Tiger Woods. A key point to note is that there will be several players trying to get into the Top 125 in FedEx Cup points so that they can play in the Barclays next week. Several of those players who need to play well to earn that spot include Camillo Villegas who ranks 126th, Vijay Singh 127th, Luke Donald 134th. Note that nobody in the past five years outside the Top 135 has gained a spot in the first leg of the playoffs.
Sedgefield Country Club is a Par 70 course measuring 7,127 yards. The average winning score over the past seven years has been 17 under par, so we are going to need guys that can score this week. Greens in regulation is usually a very important stat that helps us predict success and various courses, but this week it is essential. Year after year those who hit the most greens in regulation finish the best. For example, last year of the 20 players who hit the most greens in regulation, 16 of them finished in the Top 25, including three of the top four guys in GIR finished in the Top 5. 2013 and 2012 yielded the same results, with Patrick Reed leading the way with the most greens hit and also winning the tournament. With results this powerful we need to make sure we are looking closely at who in the field is ranking well in greens in regulation. Another essential stat that we need to examine and it comes to reason because it is a Par 70 is Par 4 scoring. Last but certainly not least we will look at good old, and most important, strokes gained tee-to-green. Week after week we see the top of the standings and the leaders in strokes gained tee-to-green coincide with each other.
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A-List:
The Favorites:
Brooks Koepka
Adam Scott
Webb Simpson
Bill Haas
Harris English
Luke Donald
Brooks Koepka-We have recommended Koepka in most every preview this season and for good reason, he is a freaking stud. If you still have usage, go ahead and fire away with Koepka this week. His only appearance at the Wyndham resulted in a 38th place finish last year. We have heard others in the industry talk about his inconsistency, but he has made 16 of 17 cuts this season with 11 Top 25s, and six Top 10s, so we are not quite sure as to what they are talking about. His last six events played have produced a T5 last week at the PGA Championship, T6 at the WGC Bridgestone, T18 at RBC Canadian, T10 at The Open, T18 at the U.S Open, and T3 at FedEx St Jude, so you can say he is on a roll. Finally, he is a statistical juggernaut ranking 34th in Strokes Gained Tee-To-Green, 5th in Strokes Gained Putting, and 19th in Greens in Regulation. If you do not have any usage left for Koepka our next favorite is a tie between Webb Simpson and Bill Haas. Simpson’s tournament history is too good to ignore as he missed the cut in the first of his six appearances at Sedgefield Country Club, but since then had an 8th in 2010, 1st in 2011, 22nd in 2012, 11th in 2013, and 5th last year. Simpson is a local guy who currently has a home in Charlotte and attended Wake Forest University, which explains his comfortability and success on this course. You might remember the other course that he is comfortable on and has great success year after year is Quail Hollow and he took runner-up there this year. His current form includes a T54 last week at the PGA Championship, T25 at WGC-Bridgestone, T40 at The Open, MC at Greenbrier, and T46 at The U.S Open. Simpson is one of the best tee-to-green players in the game today, but his putting is always his kryptonite. Even with his lack of ability on the greens, he is still able to compete in tournaments, especially in those with weaker fields like this week. He ranks 8th in strokes gained tee-to-green and 59th in greens in regulation. His propensity to play well here year after year is enough reason to believe you will repeat the past this week. Bill Haas, who like Simpson, is a local guy and has a really good history on this course in The Wyndham Championship. Three Top 10 finishes in the last six years, including a 2nd last year, 20th in 2013, 7th in 2012, and 10th in 2009. He has missed the cut here before, but not since 2011. Haas has shown glimpses of brilliance with T4s at Quicken Loans and The Players in addition to winning the Humana. Lately he has produced mediocre results for his skill level with a T65 last week at Whistling Straits T25 at WGC Bridgestone, and missed cuts at the Greenbrier and The Open. He ranks 28th in strokes gained tee-to-green and 51st in greens in regulation. We also really like his chances this week. Adam Scott will probably be pretty popular just because of name value, but based on his last two events played, we are going to stay away from him. Something is wrong with his game and last week at Whistling Straits he looked lost. Until he can show us some return to form we think there are much better options. We suggest you stick to the guys listed, but if you would want a sleeper, we would recommend Jason Dufner. Skinny Duf seems to have collected himself after the divorce and massive weight loss and has been playing much better lately. He made the cut last week although was not able to muster any better than a T68 at the PGA Championship. Before that he had a T58 at The Open, T18 at the U.S Open, and T24 at Memorial. He also has two Top 10s in seven appearances at The Wyndham with his last appearance being a 7th place finish in 2012. We think he is a decent option for guys under most peoples radars.
Our Picks: Koepka, Simpson, Haas
Sleeper Pick: Dufner
B-List:
The Favorites:
Hideki Matsuyama
Brandt Snedeker
Billy Horschel
Martin Kaymer
Paul Casey
We are normally big on Martin Kaymer, but mostly on different style courses than this week. He is a viable candidate to compete and take a Top 10, we just have doubts. Hideki Matsuyama appears to us as the safest option this week. Playing in a weaker field is rare for Matsuyama as he generally plays in the high profile tournaments. He has had great success in those tough fields including a T18 at The Open Championship, T18 at The U.S Open, T17 at THE PLAYERS, and 5th at the Masters. He is one of the best ball strikers in the world and ranks 5th in strokes gained tee-to-green, 23rd in greens in regulation, and 9th in total driving. He missed the cut in the Wyndham last year but was 15th in 2013. In a field this thin, Hideki will have an excellent opportunity to win his first PGA event this season. Billy Horschel is another guy who could easily catch fire and make a run at the championship. After watching Horschel in person last week, he appears to have some of his swagger back and maybe he is catching fire like he did late last season. Horschel has had a very consistent season, but not a dominant one outside of May-mid June where he had four straight Top 17s. Overall he has made 19 cuts in 23 events played, but has only two Top 10s. He looked good last week finishing T25 at the PGA Championship. In three appearances here he has a 47th last year, 49th in 2012, and 30th in 2011. We certainly need better than that this week and we are expecting it. We look at greens in regulation as a key stat this week and there are few players in the game who are better at hitting greens than Horschel. The other guy we like this week is Brandt Snedeker. His hip appears to be all healed and his game fits well on this course. He finished 5th here last year and in 2009. In between then some mixed results with an 8th in 2010 and missed curs in 2013 and 2011. He looked good last week finishing T12 and T33 at WGC Bridgestone two weeks ago. As always his putting is some of the best in the world and this year he also ranks 64th in strokes gained tee-to-green, and 23rd in total strokes gained. Chesson Hadley is going to be our sleeper in the B-List. He has made four consecutive cuts with the best being a T39 at Barbasol, so he is most likely not going to be a guy who can compete for a win although he did have a T8 at Zurich and T4 at Valero earlier this season. He has missed three straight cuts at this tournament, but he is playing better this year. He is a good putter ranking 60th in strokes gained putting, and he can strong together some birdies from time to time.
Our Picks: Matsuyama, Snedeker, Horschel
Sleeper Pick: Chesson Hadley
C-List:
The Favorites
Branden Grace
Justin Thomas
Will Wilcox
Ryan Moore
Ollie Schneiderjans
Another week where we get excited about the C-List because of the plentiful options. Out top pick this week is going to be a guy we have recommended a lot this year and that is Justin Thomas. This has been an extremely good rookie season for Thomas and he has gone through a few different stretches where he has been unbelievable and he is in the midst of one right now. A T18 last week at The PGA Championship, T4 at Quicken Loans, and T5 at John Deere mark his last three efforts. Overall Thomas has made 19 cuts in 26 events, with 13 Top 25s, and seven Top 10s. He is an explosive player who has the ability to win The Wyndham this week .He ranks 23rd in Strokes Gained Tee-To-Green and 44th in Greens in Regulation. We expect another big time effort this week. A close second to Thomas this week are Will Wilcox and Ollie Schneiderjans. Will Wilcox dominates most every statistical category so it is only a matter of time before he wins an event on tour. He has made eleven cuts in fifteen events played with nine Top 25s and four Top 10s. In his last four appearances he has a T10 at the Barracuda, T21 at Quicken Loans, 2nd at Barbasol, and T8 at John Deere. Last year was his only appearance at the Wyndham and he took 24th. When Ollie Schneiderjans first came on the scene this season, we had questions whether he could compete at the highest level immediately. Well Ollie has since answered that question with a resounding YES taking T42 at the U.S Open, T77 Scottish Open, T12 at The Open, T22 Canadian Open, and T15 at Quicken Loans. Those are much tougher fields than this week, which gives us now doubt he can contend this week. He obviously does not have any tournament history, since he is a rookie and such few events on the PGA tour that his statistics do not register. A bonus pick in this category is Russell Knox. He has been struggling a bit missing the cut last week at The PGA Championship and The Open Championship. He also withdrew from the Travelers with an illness. Sometimes however we need to take into account particular events and courses that guys struggle in, and The PGA Championship and Open Championship are high pressure events played on very tough links style courses that would certainly qualify as events outside the norm. Besides those two tournaments Knox has been extremely good this season. He had a T10 at The Scottish Open, T8 at FedEx St Jude T18 at The Memorial, T17 at The Players, T18 at RBC Heritage all over the past three months. Knox has only played in the Wyndham once before three years ago when he finished 37th. He is a greens in regulation master, which is important to us ranking 7th on the PGA Tour this season. Most people will simply look at his last few tournaments played and disregard him as a viable choice without taking into account where his struggles took place. We are not going to make that mistake and capitalize on his form in events and courses similar to this week’s Wyndam.. Finally our sleeper is Austin Cook. We recommended him a couple of times as a sleeper this season and he paid off both times, so why not go back to the well. He only has a limited number of events played this season on the PGA Tour, but he has made the most of them. In six events played he has a T22 at Barracuda, T7 RBC Canadian, T6 at Barbasol, T22 at FedEx St Jude, MC at Byron Nelson, and T11 at Shell Houston.
Our Picks: Thomas, Wilcox, Schneiderjans, Knox
Sleeper Pick: Cook
As always best of luck in the Yahoo Contest and let us know how you are doing.
-Fantasy Golf Insider
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