Golfers face tough Wyndham encore
Kisner won in 2021 after six-man, two-hole playoff
If the 2022 Wyndham Championship is anything like last year’s event, the fans in North Carolina are in for a treat.
Kevin Kisner made a 4-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to end a six-man playoff at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro last year to claim his fourth PGA Tour title and defeat Branden Grace, Roger Sloan, Adam Scott, Si Woo Kim and Kevin Na. It was just the third time in Tour history and first time since 2001 that a tournament was decided in a six-man playoff.
The 38-year-old Kisner is back to defend his title in the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season before the first event of the FedExCup Playoffs next week at the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee. The race is on, not only for the playoffs, but to earn Presidents Cup points for the upcoming matches against Trevor Immelman and the International squad at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, Sept. 19-25.
Poston aiming for pick
J.T. Poston has made just 11 cuts in 26 events played this season, but the 29year-old has taken advantage of his weekend rounds when earned. Seven of those 11 made cuts resulted in top-25 finishes, with four inside the top 10 including a T-2 at the Travelers Championship in June and a win at the John Deere Classic the very next week.
The North Carolina native is No. 21 in the FedExCup standings and No. 15 in the Presidents Cup standings as he returns to Sedgefield, the site of his first PGA Tour win in 2019.
“Yeah, a lot of great memories here, getting my first win. It’s nice to be back in the home state of North Carolina; a lot of familiar faces, a lot of family, friends, college teammates. Everybody comes and shows some support and follows me around,” said Poston, who’s hoping to feed off 2019 and his summer momentum to finish the season strong.
“My goals are to win and make a run at the FedExCup, make it to Atlanta. I’ve never been to Atlanta, so that’s definitely a goal of mine,” explained Poston of his desire to advance to the Tour Championship, the season finale at East Lake in Atlanta. “And then Presidents Cup team. (captain Davis Love III) has kind of been a mentor down in (Sea Island, Georgia) where I live and gotten to know him really well. It would be such an honor to be on that team and play in the state of North Carolina, in Charlotte. Would make it that much more special.”
Poston’s hometown of Hickory is just 55 miles north of Charlotte.
“I know I’ve got a lot of work to do, I know there are a lot of guys that are ahead of me that have had probably a more steady, consistent season than I have, but at the end of the day it’s up to Davis to decide who’s on that team and I’m going to do my best to make a good case for myself.”
Why not Will?
If you’re looking for a confident player to place a wager on this week, look no further than the 2021 Rookie of the Year, Will Zalatoris. One of the hottest players on Tour over the last two years, Zalatoris is still looking for that elusive first win despite a collection of close calls.
“Yeah, I think it’s something that just has to come. The part to me that kind of stands out is that I haven’t really lost a tournament, I’ve kind of been very close and, if anything, it’s been Thursday through Saturday, not really Sunday,”
Zalatoris said of his winless record. “So I think what I’ve been kind of joking that I’d pay a lot of money for about an inch and a half over the last year. I think we need to keep doing what we’re doing. I’m putting up some nice rounds, just have to keep staying patient.”
Over 21 starts this season, Zalatoris has made the cut 16 times and finished inside the top 10 half the time. He has three runners-up finishes at the Farmers Insurance Open, PGA Championship and U.S. Open.
So why do we love him this week? He knows the course.
“I love this place, I know it really well,” Zalatoris said of Sedgefield. “Quite frankly, I don’t even really need a yardage book around this place, I know it that well.”
Bubble boys
Sedgefield doubles as the PGA Tour’s regular-season finale but also as the last-chance saloon for players to earn a spot inside the top 125 on the FedExCup standings to qualify for the first playoff event next week.
The last five players in and the first five players out are currently just separated by 44 points.
Stewart Cink (116), Webb Simpson (117), Rickie Fowler (123), Cameron Champ (130) and Francesco Molinari (133) are notable names near the cutoff.
Stat
47 With LIV Golf disrupting the market, the PGA Tour announced its highly anticipated schedule for the 2022-23 season, the final wrap-around season before heading to a yearly schedule in 2024. The slate features 47 tournaments with record prize money purses, as well as $145 million in bonus pools: $75 million for the FedExCup, $20 million for the Comcast Business Tour Top 10 and $50 million for the Player Impact
Program.
Thursday tee times
7:30 a.m. EDT: Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton
7:45 : Davis Love III, Webb Simpson, Kevin Kisner
7:45: Will Zalatoris, Sungjae Im, J.T. Poston
2 p.m.: Rickie Fowler, Stewart Cink, Lucas Glover
2: Adam Scott, Jason Day, Si Woo Kim
FedExCup
Fan favorite Rickie Fowler is hanging by a thread on the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Playoffs and Eligibility Points List, which doesn’t include players who were suspended or resigned their membership after playing in an LIV Golf event. Fowler is No. 123, nine points clear of the top-125 cutoff for next week’s first event of the playoffs, the FedEx
St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee. This week’s Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, is the final event to earn points for the playoffs.
1. Scottie Scheffler ......................... 3,556
2. Cameron Smith ........................... 2,335
3. Sam Burns .................................... 2,275
4. Xander Schauffele ...................... 2,153
5. Patrick Cantlay ............................ 2,108
6. Rory McIlroy ................................. 2,104
7. Tony Finau ..................................... 1,912
8. Justin Thomas ............................. 1,783
9. Cameron Young ........................... 1,774
10. Hideki Matsuyama ...................... 1,697
Wyndham Championship
Course: Sedgefield Country Club. Yardage: 7,131. Par: 70.
Prize money: $7.3 million. Winner’s share: $1.314 million.
TV (EDT): Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. (Golf); Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf) and 3-6 p.m. (CBS)