Golf Betting: 2015 Wyndham Championship Odds
Carrie Stroup here with your Golf betting for this week as we take a look at the 2015 Wyndham Championship odds.
The final stop of the PGA TOUR’s regular season is in Greensboro, North Carolina this week as the players tee it up at Sedgefield Country Club on Thursday afternoon. This tournament was first established in 1938 and has taken place at this venue for each of the previous seven seasons, as the players who are not currently in the top-125 of the FedEx Cup standings get a final attempt to make it into the playoffs.
The par-70, 7,130-yard course has given way to plenty of scoring since moving to Sedgefield as the venue has yielded a winning score of 14-under or better each season; including a tournament record aggregate score of 259 by Carl Pettersson in 2008.
Plenty of non-American golfers have been able to take down the trophy here in the last seven years, with four of the winners being from outside of the United States. One of them won here last season as Camilo Villegas ended a four-year winning drought with a come-from-behind win; outlasting Bill Haas and Freddie Jacobson with a 63 on both Thursday and Sunday. In the 2014 installment of the event, only one player (Sang-Moon Bae) moved into the top-125 with his performance here and plenty of men will be looking to do that once again this week. Scott Langley (126), S.J. Park (128), the aforementioned Villegas (129) and Ryo Ishikawa (130) stand the best chance of punching their ticket to the Barclays this week as they currently sit on the bubble.
On the other hand, there will be some big names attempting, but likely missing, to get to the playoffs as K.J. Choi (147), Martin Kaymer (149), Graeme McDowell (156), Ernie Els (170) and Tiger Woods (187) are long shots. The field will feature just one top-15 player from the Official World Golf Rankings in No. 12 Adam Scott and will have another eight from the top-30; including No. 16 Hideki Matsuyama, No. 17 Brooks Koepka, South African No. 20 Branden Grace and a couple of Europeans in No. 21 Martin Kaymer and No. 27 Paul Casey. Many of these players are running hot after a solid showing at the PGA Championship last week where Grace and Koepka finished in the top-five and Kaymer, Brandt Snedeker and Billy Horschel grabbed top-25s.
With the playoffs just around the corner, let’s take a look at a few players who could do well this week.
Brooks Koepka: (+1250) Koepka has been steadily climbing up the OWGR rankings this year with tournament after tournament of strong results. He’s missed a mere one cut in 18 outings and has been near the top plenty with 12 top-25s, seven top-10s, a third and a victory in that time. Koepka has done no worse than 18th in his last six events and showed that he can ball with the best in the game at the PGA Championship where he tied for fifth and finished in the top-18 in his third consecutive major. He improved each day at Whistling Straits, finishing with a 66 on Sunday after putting 1.341 strokes better than the field. This Florida State University grad is dominant in nearly all facets of his game, ranking in the top-10 in driving distance (309 yards per, 7th on TOUR), strokes gained putting (0.695, 3rd on TOUR) and holes per eagle (68.8, 2nd on TOUR) which has led to an impressive scoring average of 69.572 (3rd on TOUR). Koepka is still behind the top players in the United States golf scene, but his name may be just as big as theirs very soon.
Webb Simpson: (+2600) Simpson dropped out of the top-50 in the OWGR this past week after doing no better than 25th at any of his last four events. Despite his recent poor streak, he has made 15-of-18 (83%) cuts on the year and has four top-10s; including a runner-up finish at the Wells Fargo Championship. He is a frequent visitor to this venue and has been great in his last five attempts, putting up four top-11 performances and doing no worse than 22nd. In 2014, he tied for fifth when here after shooting three rounds of 67 or better and also took home the trophy in 2011; defeating runner-up George McNeill by three strokes with a score of 18-under-par. Simpson’s putting has been holding him back as he ranks 169th on TOUR in strokes gained putting while making up for it with 1.313 strokes gained from tee-to-green (7th on TOUR). This 30-year-old won’t stay away from the top of the leaderboard too long and should play well at a course where he is very comfortable.
Nick Watney: (+7000) Watney has not had the best of seasons in 2015, making 15-of-24 cuts (62.5%), but has nearly made it into the top-50 of the FedEx Cup standings thanks to seven top-25s, three top-10s and a runner up finish. His second-place came at the AT&T National back in February as he narrowly missed grabbing his sixth career PGA TOUR victory. Watney is coming in on the heels of a solid showing at the PGA Championship last week, where after opening with a poor Thursday 78, shot 10-under-par in the next three days and ended with a score of four-under behind hitting 73.61% of greens in regulation. He hits the ball far enough (293.3 yards per, 67th on TOUR) and has managed to rank 51st in strokes gained from tee to green, so he has the ability to score on this course and should add to his top 25s by week’s end.
Boo Weekley: (+9000) Weekley may not be one of the sexier names to pick, but for these odds he is actually a strong candidate to put up big numbers. Over the past three years he has made it to the weekend in 54-of-72 attempts (75%) and already has six top-10s, including a second and a third, in the 2015 campaign. This three-time PGA TOUR winner has made the cut in each of his last seven outings, ranking in the top-16 three times during that stretch, and showed he can still be competitive amongst the best last week when he tied for 37th at the PGA Championship behind a Saturday 65. Weekley may not have done too well in previous years at this course, but with his recent strong play and a top-50 ranking in both strokes gained from tee-to-green (39th) and ball striking (46th), getting to the weekend and being competitive is certainly possible.
Tim Clark: (+17000) Clark has missed four of his past five cuts, but will be heading to the Barclays next week nonetheless thanks to his runner-up performance at the WGC-HSBC Champions event earlier in the season. He will look to get back on track at a course where he has plenty of success over the past few years, getting into the top-26 in both 2013 and 2014 and coming up just short with a second in 2013. That year he shot 16-under for the tournament and was an incredible six-under-par on the short holes, but could not keep up with Sergio Garcia who defeated him by two strokes. The 39-year-old South African has two victories and 13 career runner-ups, so he knows how to compete on the TOUR, and while his length off the tee (276.7 yards per) may hurt his chance at a victory, he is likely to have a nice showing and end his recent struggles.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
