PGA Tour Picks: Wyndham Championship Odds and Expert Betting Predictions
There are still four tournaments left in the 2018-19 PGA Tour season, but it probably doesn't matter what happens the rest of the way. Brooks Koepka likely wrapped up his second PGA Tour Player of the Year Award on Sunday by winning the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis.
He and 54-hole leader Rory McIlroy were in the final pairing on Sunday, and Koepka took control immediately with a 32 on the front nine while Rory shot 36. Koepka would go on to shoot 5-under 65 and beat Webb Simpson by three. McIlroy dropped to T4. It was Koepka's third win this season, and he became just the fifth player ever to win a major (PGA Championship) and WGC event in the same season.
It also guaranteed Koepka will finish atop the FedEx Cup regular-season points race and earn him a $2 million bonus. Pretty impressive considering the guy missed The Masters and most of the first three months of the season due to injury. Only three golfers have repeated as PGA Tour player of the Year: Tiger Woods (1999-2003 & 2005-07), Nick Price (1993-94) and Fred Couples (1991-92).
My winning pick last week was Billy Horschel at +6600, and he did pay off for a Top 10 by finishing 8-under for a T9.
Koepka already is assured a spot in the season-ending Tour Championship, so he could in theory take the next three weeks off if he wanted. Most big names are taking this week off after back-to-back big tournaments with the British Open preceding the WGC-St. Jude. The Tour makes a stop at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., for the Wyndham Championship. It's the final regular-season event before the three-tournament FedEx Cup playoffs (down from four).
Thus, all the drama here isn't really who wins but those guys around the playoffs cut line - the Top 125 in points will qualify. Alex Noren currently sits at No. 125, with Austin Cook just two points back at No. 126. I'm not even going to try and explain how points are earned. Guys like Jason Dufner (136), Bill Haas (140), former world No. 1 Martin Kaymer (146), Zach Johnson (152), Jimmy Walker (155), Ernie Els (182) and another former No. 1, Luke Donald (191), need strong finishes.
Sedgefield Country Club's Ross Course is a par 70 measuring 7,127 yards and dates to 1925. Sam Snead won this tournament eight times. His 82 nd and last win, still a Tour record, was here in 1965. It hasn't always been held at Sedgefield but has consecutively since 2008. One of the PGA Tour's 59s was here last year in the first round by eventual winner Brandt Snedeker. He went wire-to-wire.
Golf Odds: Wyndham Championship Favorites
Webb Simpson, who has spent essentially his entire life in North Carolina, including starring at Wake Forest, is the +1000 Bovada favorite. And he should be favored as Simpson has six Top 10s here this decade, including a win in 2011 and a runner-up last year. Simpson also was second last week in Memphis.
Rookie Collin Morikawa and Hideki Matsuyama are each +1400. Morikawa won his first Tour event Sunday in the opposite-field Barracuda Championship in Nevada. Matsuyama was 43rd in Memphis and has a best result of third here in 2016.
Jordan Spieth is +1600 and Snedeker +2200 to be the first repeat winner here since Snead in the 1950s. Snedeker has four other Top 5s here since 2009. Spieth last played the event in 2013 and was second.
Golf Odds: Wyndham Championship Picks
For a Top 10, go with Simpson (-110), Snedeker (+220) and Ryan Armour (+1350) as he has been Top 10 the past two years. Our winner is Cameron Smith at +3300. He's trending the right way, finishing T29, T20 and T12 in his last three starts this year and was T7 the last time he played here.
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