After a terrific 102nd PGA Championship last week in which Collin Morikawa played stellar golf to capture the Wanamaker Trophy at -13, the PGA Tour heads to Greensboro, North Carolina for the final stop in the regular season at the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club which has hosted the tournament since 2008. Sedgefield is 7,127 yards, and a Par 70.

The defending champion is J.T. Poston who shot a bogey free 72 hole score of -22 in 2019.

Another interesting factor in this tournament, which has a pretty solid field, more on that in a moment, is the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 will be finalized. Justin Thomas has already clinched first place with his first place rankings in the FedEx Cup standings that he secured last week at the PGA, though he didn’t play that well. He receives a $2 mIllion bonus for his first place finish, and he’ll be leading the Fed Ex Standings heading into the first leg of the Fed Ex Playoffs next week at The Northern Trust at TPC Boston. The following week, August 27-30th, the BMW Championship will take place at Olympia Fields in Olympia Fields, Illinois. And the final leg of the Fed Ex Playoffs will take place at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, September 4th-7th, for the Tour Championship. September 7th is a Monday, which is Labor Day, thus the Friday start at the TC and Monday finishe.

The winner of the Fed Ex Cup gets a $15 million dollar bonus. The Northern Trust will feature the Top 125 in the Fed Ex Standings, the BMW will host the top 70, and the Tour Championship will host the top 30. It’s a major deal for players who can be set for a lifetime if they win or even get in the top 10.

The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is a major deal as well. The second place finisher will receive $1.5 million and the top 5 all get at least $1 million. !0th place finisher gets $500,000. This and the Fed Ex Cup playoffs are very good preparation for the U.S. Open, to be played September 17th-20th at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York. Historic Winged Foot will present a major test as it’s a difficult course. Will be good to see the players be challenged at the Open.

The top 10 in the Fed Ex Standings are, 1. Thomas, 2,458 points, 2. Collin Morikawa, 1,902, Morikawa is not playing this week, 3. Webb Simpson, 1,744, playing, won at Sedgefield in 2011, and runner up in 2018 and 2019, 4. DeChambeauroids, 1,657, not playing this week, lifting, eating 6,000 calories a day and ‘Roiding, 5.Sungjae Im, 1,561 points, playing, 6. Patrick Reed, 1,353, playing and 2013 champion, 7. Daniel Berger, 1,347 points, not playing, 8. Rory, 1,327 points, not playing, 9. Brendon Todd, 1,316 points, playing as always, 10. Jon Rahm, 1,295 points, No.1 in the world, not playing.

Key holes at Sedgefield CC, descriptions courtesy of PGATour.com

No.6, 423 yards, Par 4, No.1 Handicap hole

The most challenging hole on the course requires a tee shot left of center near the creek. The difficult approach is to an uphill sloping green .

No.14, 505 yards, Par 4, No.2 Handicap hole

Wide fairway on the long par 4. Two bunkers in the center create a difficult, deceptive approach shot. A pot bunker challenges the approach from the right side.

No.16, 175 yards, Par 3

A great, short par 3 plays downhill over a hazard to a raised green with bunkers on the front right and front left.

No.18, 507 yards, Par 4

Length has been added to this hole to make it a solid par 4. The long uphill approach from a downhill lie will require accuracy to avoid the 4 bunkers protecting the approach and sides of the green.

Key groups tomorrow with Fed Ex ranks. They’ll play together Friday as well

6:50 AM CT, No. 10 tee, Brooks Koepka (92), Jordan Spieth (94), Justin Rose (103). These guys are in uncustomary positions in the Fed Ex Rankings. Koepka is making his first start at the Wyndham since 2015 where he tied for 6th. He’s coming off a disappointing final round 74 at the PGA Championship last Sunday to fall to a tie for 29th. Spieth lost to Patrick Reed in a playoff at the Wyndham in 2013, but it doesn’t look promising with the way he’s playing and his attitude. Rose finished 9th at PGA last week. First time at the Wyndham since 2009.

6:40 AM CT, Webb Simpson (3), Sungjae Im (5), Brendon Todd (9). Simpson has 7 top 10’s in 11 starts in Greensboro along with his victory in 2011 and his runner up finishes the last 2 years. Im finished in a tie for 6th last year in his first year at the Wyndham. Todd is one of 4 players with multiple victories on the season. He won the Bermuda Championship and the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

11:55 AM CT, J.T. Poston (58), Brandt Snedeker (96), Sergio Garcia (134), Poston is defending champion, Snedeker won the event in 2008 and 2018, and Garcia needs to do well to make it to the Fed Ex Playoffs after missing them last year.

12:05 PM CT, Patrick Reed (6), Paul Casey (54), Shane Lowry (131), Always have to keep an eye on Reed for more reasons than one. His sometimes sand excavating certainly has to be watched, Casey played excellent golf last week at the PGA finishing solo 2nd shooting 68, 67, 68, 66, finishing at -11, only to lose out to a 64 by Morikawa on Sunday at TPC Harding Park in SF. Lowry could miss out on the playoffs without a good showing. For guys like Lowry and Garcia, if they miss out on the playoffs, they won’t be able to play for 3 straight weeks and the U.S. Open is 2 weeks after the Tour Championship, so they really need to do well this week.

Some other key players in the field: Harris English, Kevin Kisner, and Si Woo Kim. Kisner shot a 67 last Sunday to finish tied for 19th at the PGA. He’s from South Carolina. Kim finished 5th here last year and English has 5 top 10’s among 11 top 20’s this season. He is 6 for 6 in making the cut with a pair of top 15’s at the Wyndham.

Weather:

Rain all weekend, Thursday, 80%, winds 4 MPH, Friday, 80%, winds 5, Saturday, 90%, winds 8, Sunday, 70%, winds, 8.

Hopefully they can get it all in.

TV: Thursday-Friday, 1-5 PM CT, Golf Channel

Saturday, 12-2 PM CT, GC, 2-5 PM CT, CBS

Sunday, 11:30 AM-1:30 PM CT, GC, 1:30-5 PM CT, CBS.

Winner

I was thinking Paul Casey at the beginning of the day, but he seems too satisfied with finishing in 2nd place, so I’m going to go another direction. Give me the 36 year old from Aiken, South Carolina. He shot 67 last Sunday at the PGA to finish tied for 19th. He knows this course well as he’s from around the area. He’s the 2019 Dell Technologies Match Play Championship champion where he defeated Matt Kuchar 3 and 2 at Austin Country Club in Austin, TX. He’s also won 2 other times on tour, the Dean and DeLuca Invitational in 2017 in Fort Worth, and the 2015 RSM Classic in Sea Island. And he is always in the hunt. I’ll take,

Kevin Kisner

Sleeper

Give me the 24 year old from Vanderbilt University, who is a Davidson, North Carolina native..

Will Gordon