Golfbet recap: Aaron Rai hangs on for maiden TOUR win at Wyndham Championship

It took 132 shots, 36 holes and every last bit of daylight on Sunday for Englishman Aaron Rai to earn his first-ever PGA TOUR victory at the Wyndham Championship.

There was nothing regular about the Regular Season finale. Early-week weather delays led to a marathon finish on Sunday in Greensboro, and it was Rai who shot 68-64 to finish at 18 under and hold off TOUR rookie Max Greyserman – who seemingly had the trophy in hand earlier in the evening.

With the clock on available daylight ticking and just about everyone thinking it was going to have to be a Monday finish, things began to get quite weird on the inward nine at Sedgefield Country Club for what was now the final round of the golf tournament and a very long day at the office for the 66 players in the field.

Round-by-round odds for Aaron Rai to win Wyndham Championship (via BetMGM)

• Pre-tournament: +3000
• After Round 1 (T9, trailed by 5): +1600
• After Round 2 (T5, trailed by 2): +700
• After Round 3 (T3, trailed by 3): +600

By the time 27 holes were in the books for the leaders, Greyserman playing in the final group and Rai one group ahead, had separated themselves from the pack. Greyserman looked to be firmly in control at this point with a three-shot advantage and nine holes left to play.

Rai’s putting has improved drastically this summer, and he began to chip away at Greyserman’s advantage down the stretch. But it seemed all to be a moot point when Greyserman then spun in his wedge shot from 91 yards out into the cup at No. 13 for his second eagle of the afternoon. At 21 under and owning a four-shot lead with five holes to play, the Duke Blue Devil had moved to -3000 to grab his first TOUR win.

Then he stepped up onto the tee box at No. 14 and everything changed wholeheartedly in an instant.

Greyserman hit his tee ball off a cart path and out-of-bounds. He re-teed it and drove his now third shot, into some deep rough. His fourth shot went into a bunker 75 yards from the hole. Trying to avoid a triple-bogey, Greyserman had dropped to a -175 favorite and Rai had dipped to +125. Four shots later, Greyserman had recorded a “snowman” and we had a tie ballgame at 17 under par. Rai and Greyserman were now a “pick ‘em” to win the golf tournament at -110 each. A four-shot swing in the wink of an eye – but we weren’t done yet.

Results for outright picks from Golfbet Experts

• Will Gray: Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+3300) T22
• Ben Everill: Billy Horschel (+2500) T7
• Matt DelVecchio: Brian Harman (+3000) T45
• Chris Breece: Akshay Bhatia (+3500) MC
• Bolton: Sungjae Im (+1400) T41
• Mike Glasscott: Max Greyserman (+8000) T2

The roller-coaster round for Greyserman continued as he birdied No. 15 but four-putted for double bogey at the par-3, 16th hole, three-putting from 3 feet to drop out of the lead. Rai was headed to the 18th tee with a one-shot lead and was finally the favorite to win at -350 while Greyserman had slipped to +250. In holes 13 – 16, Greyserman went eagle-quadruple bogey-birdie-double bogey.

And then, right at sunset, roughly 8:13 p.m. local time, Rai stuffed his 199-yard approach shot on the 72nd hole to 6 feet and he moved to a -5000 favorite. Greyserman followed up with a tee ball that found the fairway but was now a +2000 underdog, still trailing by a shot with Rai in tight and only half a hole left to play.

The putter finally came back around for Rai, sinking the birdie on the final hole to win by two shots. An incredible back nine, the second time around, on a long, wacky, Sunday at Sedgefield.

Speaking of wacky, for a minute, it looked like we might have our second amateur winner on TOUR in 2024 as Luke Clanton was tied for the lead in the third round at 13-under. He had it to 16-under on Sunday but bogeyed his final two holes to end up solo fifth. In six events this summer, the Florida State Seminole has now finished top-10 three times.

Runner-up at The Open Championship, Billy Horschel, notched his fifth top-10 finish at the Wyndham Championship in the last eight consecutive years playing the event. Matt Kuchar, who has never missed the FedExCup Playoffs since its inception, needed a win this week to make it 18 seasons in a row and now that streak has come to an end – despite his decision to return to the course Monday to finish his final hole alone.

Going back to the U.S. Open, Greyserman had been building toward this with six straight cuts made coming into the week, and no finishes worse than 31st over that stretch. He went off as a +8000 shot to win the Wyndham Championship prior to Friday’s opening round. Rai’s pre-tournament price was +3300 and as we noted in our Prop Farm column on Wednesday, Rai accounted for the third-highest handle at BetMGM Sportsbooks and was their third-largest liability. Greyserman has now finished runner-up in two straight starts. Rai has now finished top seven in four of his last five starts.

Let the postseason begin. It’s on to TPC Southwind where 70 players will be “walking in Memphis” to get the FedExCup Playoffs underway.

Results from Rob Bolton Sleeper Picks and Golfbet Insider (Bold = win):

• Jordan Spieth to miss the cut (+175) MC
• Justin Rose Top 20 finish (+250) MC
• Will Zalatoris Top 40 finish (+120) MC
• Denny McCarthy Top 20 finish (+250) T33
• Sungjae Im to be in final group Round 4 (+700) T41
• Ryan Brehm Top 40 finish (+800) MC
• Max Greyserman Top 20 finish (+300) T2
• Stephan Jaeger Top 40 finish (+110) MC
• Justin Lower Top 40 finish (+200) T33
• Maverick McNealy Top 20 finish (+240) T45
• Mac Meissner Top 40 finish (+130) T12
• Henrik Norlander Top Scandinavian (+275) MC
• Aaron Rai Top Brit and Irish (+333) WIN
• Jhonattan Vegas Top 40 finish (+110) T61
• Alex Smalley to win (+10000) MC
• Sam Stevens Top 5 finish (+1400) MC
• Andrew Putnam Top 10 finish (+700) MC
• Charley Hoffman Top 20 finish (+550) T12
• David Skinns Top 40 finish (+200) MC

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