The Course Report
Sedgefield Country Club
About Sedgefield C.C.
The narrative this week is simply figuring out who is in and who is out for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. There are plenty of players that are on the bubble, and plenty of golfers are motivated by maintain their status as PGA Tour pro’s. It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out as plenty of players have had a variety of outcomes at Sedgefield.
An aspect that might go overlooked is looking at golfer’s who played in this area or grew up here. There will be a potential advantage for those players.
Winning at Sedgefield is simple. Hit your fairways, make your putts, and score low. Even Sned’s has shot a 59 here. Long story short, this is an easy course and one of the easiest on the PGA Tour rotation. So if you hated last weekend, then you’re just not going to love this one either.
Sedefield is very easy. The driver isn’t required at all, and players will have to manage their fair share of blind tee shots. Further evidence in how players disregard the driver at Sedgefield is noted in Stenson’s win in 2017 where he did not his driver in any round. Yet, hitting the fairway is a must. The field is above 80% GIR when they are hitting from the short grass, while barely above 50% GIR when hitting from the rough. Wins can be accomplished by missing fairways, but this is the rare occurrence that is typically backed with an incredibly hot putter.
This is a position golf course. You need to calculate your angles of attack based on pin position, and your approach and ball strikers should thrive here. Wedge players salivate at how important 125 yards and closer help promote strong play and outcomes at the Wyndham Championship.
Plenty will read that the course is a par 70, but don’t worry, the scores will get very low. The winners have scored -21 or better since 2016. J.T. Poston even went 72 holes without a single bogey. Is it easy? Sure is, but that is what makes it fun to watch on Sunday.
While putting isn’t something I often weight for players, I would recommend looking at strong Bermuda putters as well as current putting form to get an idea of how this field shakes out. There could be a diamond in the rough.
A little quick nugget for those of you new to the Wyndham Championship. Webb Simpson named his daughter after this event, and simply loves this course. He may only have one win at this event, but it obviously holds a special place in his heart.
Architect: Donald Ross
Greens: Bermuda
Green Size: 6,500 Sq. Feet (Smaller than Average)
Stimpmeter: 12 – Average
Length: 7,131 – Par 70
Water Hazards: 13
Bunkers/Waste Area: 4
Nuggets and Tidbits
-Driving accuracy typically sits well above the Tour average. With more fairways comes more GIR’s.
-Last season, Sedgefield ranked in the bottom five in terms of strokes gained difficulty.
-Bermuda rough is thick, and greatly impacts scoring. If a player is missing fairways, it is going to be very difficult to score or compete.
-Strong putting is necessary.
-People are going to score here, and if anything, last year’s score of -15 was an anomaly.
-GIR’s seems to be the key for cut makers and players finishing in the top-30. This has been seen plenty in years past with plenty of MC happening due to poor approach play with 90% fairways hit.
Weather Forecast
Approach Shot Distribution
Past Winners
Kisner made a 4-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole of the Wyndham Championship to end a six-man playoff at Sedgefield Country Club and earn his fourth PGA Tour title.
It took a six-way plaoyoff to crown a champion, but Kisner outlasted the entire bunch.
Four-strokes down on Sunday didn’t stop Herman from from one of the most dramatic wins in Wyndham Championship history.
Herman barely made the cut, but afterwards posted a field-best 61 on Saturday followed by a 63 on Sunday. This was Herman’s 3rd career win on the PGA Tour.
Poston was on fire on Sunday. He entered the final round three shots back, but shot a nasty 62 to outlast Webb Simpson.
The most impressive aspect of J.T. Poston’s win is that he shot 72 holes of bogey free golf, and was the first to do so since Lee Trevino did it in 1974.
Snedeker won his second Wyndham Championship with a 21-under 259. This was highlighted by his opening round 11-under score of 59.
Snedeker became the 3rd straight wire-to-wire leader as the last two champions, Si-Woo Kim and Henrik Stenson, both started and finished with the win.
Stenson led from beginning to end, and simply was just too good all weekend long.
He shot a 4-under 64 on Sunday to win the Wyndham by one stroke over Ollie Schniederjans. Stenson made three straight birdies down the stretch to help him secure the victory.
It took a 3-man playoff, but Johnson beat Louis Ossthuizen and Marc Leishman by shooting a 15, 1 under in a four hole playoff.
Johnson was a surprise win as just the week before his prep came in Illinois at the John Deere Classic. This was Johnson’s second major win, and his first Claret Jug.
Entering with a six-stroke lead over the field, McIIroy went from dominant to just hanging on. Still, no golfer ever got withing two strokes the entire day, and he held his composure despite struggles off the tee and on the greens.
In winning, McIIroy became the seventh wire-to-wire winner in Open Championship history.
After winning the Scottish Open the week prior, Mickelson birdied four of the last six holes and became the Open Champion.
To this point, Phil had come close to winning, but had often doubted his abilites on links style courses.
Els began Sunday 6 shots back, but still clinched the vicotry after Adam Scott imploded.
Els’ 68 was a comeback of epic proportions when you consider the fact that Scott was still winning by 4 strokes on the 15th tee.