The Cheat Sheet provides DraftKings fantasy golf players with course info, player history and the most noteworthy trends of the week to help them with their roster selections.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $1M Summer Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
The Field
This is the final full-field event before the PGA TOUR playoffs officially start. The field is scheduled to include 150+ starters and many of them will be anxious to improve their standing in the current FedEx Cup ranks. For reference, the top 70 in the FedEx Cup race will gain admittance to next week’s tournament (The FedEx St. Jude) and also automatically get full PGA TOUR status, plus get into all the elevated events for 2024. Players outside the top 70 will have to wait until the fall series to tee things up again, but they will be able to improve their positioning once the fall begins.
It’s a huge week for players on the bubble, with names like Justin Thomas (79), Shane Lowry (76), and Justin Suh (77) all currently on the outside of the top 70. Players like Cameron Davis (69) and Austin Eckroat (70) have moved themselves up in playoff positions but will need good weeks to secure a spot for next year. The cut this week remains the same as always, with the top 65 and ties making the weekend.
The Course
Sedgefield Country Club—Greensboro, North Carolina
Par 70, 7127 yards; Greens: Champion Bermuda
Sedgefield Country Club is a Donald Ross-designed course that’s hidden inside the suburbs of Greensboro, North Carolina and has been the host of this event since 2007. Sedgefield isn’t long at around 7100 or so yards, and in past years it’s yielded some low scores—including recently in 2018 when the winner (Brandt Snedeker) shot 59 in round one. The greens are Bermuda (since 2012) and they can be slightly tricky, but it should be noted that as they have matured, scores here have gotten lower. Of the last seven winners, six have reached 20 under-par or better at this event. This is important to note as players with affinities for Bermuda grass tend to have a big advantage as the green complexes always yield some monster-putting weeks.
The course itself is a nice mix of semi-challenging holes and some extremely moderate-to-easy ones. As a traditional par 70, there are two very reachable and very birdie-able par 5s on this track and any player hoping to be in the mix will have to play these two well under par for the week. The last five winners all played these holes with scoring averages of 4.13 or better.
Eight of the 12 par 4s on the course measure in at under 450 yards in length and can be had for birdies by players going well with their irons. Sedgefield will be less about pure length or power and more about getting the ball in the correct position in the fairways, as past winners have almost always found themselves in the top 20 in fairways hit for the week and in approaches. As for how important iron play is at Sedgefield, four of the participants from the 2021 six-man playoff gained over 5.0 strokes for the week on approach, but none of the last four winners at Sedgefield have gained over 2.0 strokes around the greens. Assuming you are capable of clubbing down and finding fairways, approach and putting are pretty much all that matters this week for the pros.
Finally, if you’re looking for course comparisons, another Ross-designed course on the PGA TOUR at the moment is Detroit Golf Club, host of the recent Rocket Mortgage Classic. Other comparable venues with tighter fairways and Bermuda greens include Harbour Town Golf Links, Waialae Country Club, and TPC Sawgrass. Leaderboards at those courses are a decent starting point to see who might handle this week’s layout the best.
2023 Outlook: The weather this week is likely to have an effect on scoring. Rain is supposed to fall on Thursday and Friday at some point, with Saturday looking fairly wet as well. That means the course is going to be receptive, so players should be able to go flag hunting on nearly every hole. The venue already plays relatively easy as a short par 70, so soft greens means we’ll likely see the winner get well past 20-under par this season. As for wave stacking, the rain on Friday looks likely to come in the a.m. so it’s possible the Thursday a.m./Friday p.m. wave will get slightly better conditions. This could all change based on stoppages/forecast movement but for now, it’s looking like a slight advantage to the early Thursday starters.
Last 5 winners
2022—Tom Kim -20 (Sungjae Im/John Huh -15)
2021—Kevin Kisner -15 (six-man playoff Kim, Scott, Na, Sloan, Grace)
2020—Jim Herman -21 (over Billy Horschel -20)
2019—JT Poston -22 (over Webb Simpson -21)
2018—Brandt Snedeker -21 (over Webb Simpson -18)
Winning Trends
- Seven of the last 11 winners of this event recorded a T12 or better at Sedgefield CC before their respective victory here.
- Of the last 11 winners of this event, only two have finished outside the top 15 in Driving Accuracy on the week (Reed 2013 and Snedeker 2018).
- Four of the past five winners of the Wyndham gained over 4.0 strokes on approach in at least one of their previous four starts prior to winning this event.
Winners Stats and Course Overview
Tom Kim (2021—20-under-par)
Lead in form (T77-MC-MC-T33-MC)
SG: OTT—+1.1
SG: APP—+3.8
SG: TTG—+3.8
SG: ATG—-1.2
SG: PUTT—+12.5
Eight of the Par 4s measure in between (or very close) 400-450 yards in length. With plenty of shorter holes, the approach shot distribution tends to fall far more in the 150-175 yard range and 125-150 yard range.
Driving accuracy tends to be higher than normal, with the field hitting over 65% of the fairways in 2019; four of the last five winners here have ranked top 10 in driving accuracy for the week.
Winners stats:
- JT Poston led the field in SG: APP stats in the 2019 Wyndham Championship and was second in driving accuracy as well.
- 2022 winner was T4 in driving accuracy and led the field in strokes gained putting stats
- Of the six men from the playoff in 2021, three of them gained over 5.0 strokes on approach for the week.
- None of the last four winners of this event gained over 1.5 strokes around the green, but they all gained well over 3.0 strokes putting and on approach.
- Staying consistent off the tee is important, but the need to hit a lot of greens and hit your irons close — and then have a great week with the putter — is paramount to success.
Finding Values (DraftKings Sportsbook)
Odds to win are one factor to think about when picking players (but not the only thing, so be careful putting too much weight on them). This section is going to detail a few of the players who have the best fantasy value compared to their DraftKings Sportsbook odds of winning this week.
Si Woo Kim +2500 and $9,000
Comparables:
- Ludvig Aberg +2800 and $9,300
- Justin Thomas +2800 and $9,100
- JT Poston +3500 and $9,200
Chris Kirk +4500 and $8,200
Comparables:
- Beau Hossler +5000 and $8,300
- Aaron Rai +4500 and $8,600
All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
HORSES FOR COURSES
1. Webb Simpson (best finishes: win-2011, T2-2018, 2nd-2019) — On top of being the winner from 2011, Webb hasn’t missed the cut at Sedgefield in his last 11 starts, and has finished T7, T3, 3rd, T2 and 2nd in the past five seasons. He quite literally named his daughter after this event (it’s true, her name is Wyndham Rose). He did WD from this event last season but remains atop the SG:Total rankings for this event over the last six years.
2. Sungjae Im (best finishes: T2-2022, T6-2019) — Finished runner-up at this event last season. Im has three top 10 finishes at Sedgefield since 2019 and finished T6 on his first go around the course in 2019. He hasn’t played well this year but seeing him bounce back with a big week wouldn’t be shocking.
3. Si Woo Kim (best finishes: win-2016, T2-2021) — Kim won this event in dominant fashion back in 2016, shooting a 60 on his way to a five-shot win. His love for the venue was on display again in 2022 when he finished T2 (playoff). Overall, he has four top-5 finishes at this event in five career appearances.
4. Denny McCarthy (best finishes: T15-2021, T9-2020) — McCarthy has played this event each of the past five seasons with just one missed cut. The American has shot some low rounds at Sedgefield, including a final round 63 in 2020.
5. Chesson Hadley (best finishes: T8-2022, T15-2021) — Hadley has done well at elevating his game for the season finale. He’s finished T15 and T8 at this venue the last two seasons and again enters the week in need of some FedEx Cup points. He’s played well in this area of the USA for much of his career and had a T2 finish at the now-defunct Palmetto Championship in 2021.
RECENT FORM
1. JT Poston ($9,200; T2-T41-T6) — Poston had another solid start in Minnesota, where he eventually finished T2 to Lee Hodges. He’s now finished T6 or better in three of his last six starts.
2. Garrick Higgo ($7,300; T13-T19) — Higgo has made three cuts in a row and has been flashing some great form. He gained strokes on approach and putting for the second week in a row in Minnesota, where he finished T13.
3. Hideki Matsuyama ($10,600; T30-T13) — Matsuyama doesn’t have a ton of top results yet but he’s been gaining a lot of strokes ball-striking and looks close to a big week. He was T13 at the final major just two weeks ago.
4. Stephan Jaeger ($8,900; T30-T13) — Jaeger has been uber-consistent this season and enters having made 14 of his last 15 cuts. He needs to be more consistent on the greens but otherwise, he’s playing great golf.
5. Vincent Norrman ($7,800; T50-T26-win) — Norman won a few starts ago at the Barbasol and has added a couple of made cuts since that big week. The Swede remains a good 7k value, given his newfound consistency.
DRAFTKINGS DFS STRATEGY
Cash Games: Henley and Kim dominate Sedgefield
It’s important on weeks like this not to overthink things. The same kinds of players always find their way into the top 10/20 of these events once all is said and done and oftentimes, for DFS they can be had at very palatable prices. Russell Henley ($10,200) is the third most expensive player this week but has been killing it on approach and remains one of the best short iron players in the world. He’s a solid core target to use alongside Si Woo Kim ($9,000), who has struggled with the putter at times this year but also been elite with his irons all season and absolutely destroyed Sedgefield throughout his career. If you need more value, Chris Kirk ($8,200) also makes sense in this format for similar reasons. Some potential 7k targets include Adam Svensson ($7,500) and Garrick Higgo ($7,300).
Tournaments: Scott could turn back the clock
Scott ($9,700) has had a solid season and, despite finishing just 33rd at the Open, does have three top 10 finishes over his last eight PGA starts. The veteran also has experience at this event and venue, having lost in a playoff here back in 2021. He flashed some great form at another easy setup in TPC River Highlands a few events back and comes in ranked first in birdie or better percentage over the last 50 rounds of play. Harris English ($7,600) is another veteran name to keep an eye on this week for GPPs. He hasn’t done much over his last few starts but was 8th at the US Open just over a month ago and led going into the final round of the Colonial in May. Other potential GPP targets for this week include the likes of Mark Hubbard ($7,500), Brandon Wu ($7,200), and Davis Riley ($7,100).
MY PICK: Eric Cole ($7,700)
We have a pretty solid trend of longshots and medium-tier players grabbing wins at this event so for DFS and betting purposes, so it’s a week to give serious consideration to going overweight on a few players in $7,000-range on DraftKings. One such player that should find this venue attractive is Eric Cole, who has had himself a phenomenal PGA season to date already. The 35-year-old came within a shot of winning the Honda Classic earlier in the season and has added top 10 finishes at the Canadian Open and Mexico to go along with that result.
One clear trend with Cole is how much he likes these shorter courses. He’s not the most consistent driver of the golf ball but was able to gain over a stroke off the tee at PGA National, TPC Sawgrass and Oakdale CC in Canada this year — all venues where accuracy predominates over power and players often club down to avoid finding the rough. Cole enters this week having gained over 3.0 strokes on approach in three of his last five starts and ranks top 10 in opportunities gained and birdies or better gained over the last 24 rounds of play. He should benefit from easier conditions and he makes a lot of sense as both a DFS value and for betting where his +6000 outright number makes him a solid value —compared to some of his peers who carry very similar form and styles of games.
MY SLEEPER: Doc Redman ($6,800)
Redman’s a player who has stepped his game up at this season-ending event numerous times in his short career already. The North Carolina native was 21st at this event last season despite suffering through a miserable year and was T3 at Sedgefield back in 2020 — and had a legitimate shot to win the event that year down the stretch. It hasn’t been a banner season for Redman but the once ballyhooed amateur is still an extremely accurate driver of the golf ball who certainly gains from tight, technical tracks like Sedgefield, where hitting fairways is far more important than power.
He’s also coming off two made cuts in a row, the first time he’s strung together made cuts all of 2023 and shot rounds of 66 and 65 in Minnesota last week. All-in-all, he should be happy with his recent form coming into what has been a very comfortable environment for him in the past. At under $7,000 on DraftKings, he makes sense as a boom/bust target for larger field GPPs and makes for a good ladder betting target in the top 10/20/40 department on the DraftKings Sportsbook as well.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $1M Summer Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is wavegoodbye) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skills and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
