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Wyndham Championship preview: Horschel fancied to go one better than 2020
After Xander Schauffele won three tournaments in succession, Tony Finau followed a similar theme by winning back-to-back at the 3M Open and in last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Finau heads into the FedEx Cup Playoffs as one of the form horses in golf and while his spot in the Playoffs is confirmed, plenty still need to play well to make it.
Being the last event of the PGA Tour regular season, this week’s Wyndham Championship is the last chance for players to qualify for the Playoffs, while some such as Will Zalatoris will be keen to get their game in shape ahead of next week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship.
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Billy looks a nice price
With nine top 10s in 13 appearances, Webb Simpson will have his supporters at 22/1. The American loves this tournament so much so that he named one of his children Wyndham, and he has to be respected with his game certainly trending in the right direction.
Will Zalatoris could easily get his first win here, but he looks short at 18/1, and instead the eye is drawn to Billy Horschel at 22/1.
Like Simpson, he has a good record at Sedgefield Country Club with three top 10s in nine starts, including a second in 2020. He was sixth the year prior and fifth in 2016, so it seems Horschel is getting more in-sync with the layout as he gets older and wiser. Length off the tee isn’t much of an advantage around here as shown by a list of winners that includes Kevin Kisner, Brandt Snedeker and the aforementioned Simpson. Six players finished tied on 15 under par last year and two of them ranked inside the top-three for Driving Accuracy, while in 2020 the winner, Jim Herman, and third placed Kisner topped the accuracy charts. In short, keeping it on the fairway pays dividends around here.
Horschel ranks 18th in Driving Accuracy this season and his second here two years ago was further evidence that he seems to come alive later on in the season. He won at Wentworth in 2021 during the autumn, while he was of course the FedEx Cup winner back in 2014 at a similar time of the year.
He played well last time at The Open, but suffered with a poor putter. However, he’s ranked 13th in that stat this season, while he was second on the greens here in 2020, so you’d like to think it was a bit of a one-off at St Andrews. If the putter warms up again, expect the colourful American to put in a bold bid.
Wise to keep an eye on Aaron
While Horschel looks the main play this week, it might be worth keeping tabs on Aaron Wise at 40/1.
While not having a good record at this event, the American has been playing well for quite some time now, including when second at the Memorial Tournament. He played well at The Open too and could turn in another fine display, especially if he gets the driver working a bit better.
