Sleeper Picks: Wyndham Championship

NOTE: For the next three tournaments, Rob will focus only on golfers needing a good performance to advance in the FedExCup Playoffs. In this first edition, all five below enter the Wyndham Championship outside the top 70 in points. Sleeper Picks did not appear in Rob’s Power Rankings and recommended bets are independent of targets to advance.

Outright

Alex Smalley (+10000) … In the FedExCup era (2007-present), the Wyndham Championship has yielded eight breakthrough winners. He’d be the ninth, and what a new chapter for him it’d be in the tournament. It was at Sedgefield Country Club in 2021 where he was granted a sponsor exemption to compete. He finished T29. That was enough for him to qualify for the Korn Ferry Finals from which he emerged with a PGA TOUR card for the 2021-22 season. And he hasn’t looked back. The 27-year-old lives locally, so he commutes while positioned at 128th in the FedExCup. Only a victory would vault him into the Playoffs, so that’s a coincidence in the context of this endorsement. Quite simply, there’s no better stage for some magic.

Top 5

Sam Stevens (+1400) … With three top 10s and another four top 25s, it looks like a misprint that he’s as low as 91st in the FedExCup. It’s within those feelings that his firepower remains palpable. What was smart and impressive is how he used the downtime of June to moonlight on the Korn Ferry Tour for a T2 at the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open. It’s one of seven consecutive paydays across two tours upon arrival. Sits inside the top 40 on the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, greens in regulation, SG: Putting, scrambling, par-3 scoring and par-5 scoring.

Top 10

Andrew Putnam (+700) … Given his video-game analytics, there’s an argument that he couldn’t be worse than 72nd in the FedExCup, which he is. In a sport in which every golfer struggles to put four rounds together a high percentage of the time, that he doesn’t more often in spite of his measurables is objectively surprising. The obvious segue, then, is that that’s exactly the kind of package that we want for the possibilities. He’s had only two top 10s this season, and both were early, but he’s never not intriguing because of the kickback. Top 25s in his last two.

Top 20

Charley Hoffman (+550) … It’s always cool when a veteran thrives while exhausting a career earnings exemption as he has this season. In its purest sense, it proves that the fire still burns while the irons remain hot enough to reward. At 85th in the FedExCup, the 47-year-old is poised to make it 20 consecutive seasons with a PGA TOUR card, and again via the traditional conduit of the top 125 (at worst). He didn’t waste the value of his playoff loss at the WM Phoenix Open in adding three more top 15s since, including a solo eighth at the Barracuda Championship just three weeks ago. Of course, he ain’t done yet and Sedgefield presents as a potential springboard into the Playoffs. His T12 here last year not only was his best finish of the extended 2022-23 season, it also was his best result in eight appearances.

Top 40

David Skinns (+200) … While the 42-year-old Englishman isn’t quite safe yet to retain his card for the first time, he has to be feeling pretty good about his slot at 101st in the FedExCup. He’s exhibited quite a bit of grit in the long term, but it’s also manifested nicely this season. Zeroing in on only his last seven starts, four have resulted in a top 25, including a T21 at the RBC Canadian Open for which he was touted in this space for a Top 40 at +225. Currently T13 on the PGA TOUR in greens in regulation, T35 in proximity and No. 1 in par-3 scoring. This is his second look at Sedgefield.

Odds were sourced at BetMGM.

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