Now that the Olympic golf week is in the rear-view mirror, there is only one thing left up for grabs for the best golfers in the world: the FedEx Cup.
That makes the final regular season event of the year — the Wyndham Championship — the last chance to punch your ticket into the top-70 in FedEx Cup points, earning them a spot in the playoffs.
Many of the best in the world have already qualified, but there are still quite a few quality players heading to Sedgefield Country Club this week for their chance to solidify their spot.
The slightly watered-down field is headlined by Sungjae Im and Jordan Spieth, but all in all 156 golfers will tee it up this weekend looking to either fine-tune their game before the playoffs or just qualify for the Fed Ex Cup Playoffs.
This is a course that cannot be overpowered off the tee, featuring bermudagrass greens and a Donald Ross layout.
Historically, this has been a good week to identify some sleeper picks to win. It has become a birdie fest from time to time, so the winner will have to score low from start to finish.
Greg Waddell's 2024 Wyndham Championship Betting Strategy
The key categories we are looking for this week are: Driving Accuracy, Strokes Gained: Approach, Proximity, Birdie % and Putting Average.
With all that in mind, let’s take a closer look and try to identify this week’s winner!
Wyndham Championship Picks: 3 Long-Shot Bets
Eric Cole 65-1 (FanDuel)
Cole is a unique golfer with a unique story.
After emerging last season as the second-oldest Rookie of the Year in PGA Tour history, Cole got off to a good start early this season before falling out of form for much of the year.
That has changed in recent weeks as he's started to heat up again. Cole finished T6 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and followed that up shortly after with a T7 at the John Deere Classic.
Last year, Cole finished T14 at the Wyndham Championship and his confidence should be high coming into this event.
Most importantly, Cole grades out well comparatively to the rest of the field this week in many of our key categories.
He ranks fourth in the field in Strokes Gained at Donald Ross courses and is seventh in the field over his last 24 rounds in Birdie or Better %.
Cole’s one-putt % ranks fifth on the entire PGA Tour this year. He's heating up at the right time, and if he can make some putts early this weekend, he'll have a great chance to contend into Sunday.
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J.J. Spaun 110-1 (FanDuel)
Next up is Spaun, who has also had an up-and-down year on the PGA Tour this season. He was awful by his standards early on, missing the cut in 10 of his first 15 events in 2024.
Of late, though, Spaun has now made five straight cuts, including a T10 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He's also coming off his best finish of the year, a T9 finish at the 3M Open.
Spaun has been masterful with his irons and wedges, ranking 22nd on the PGA Tour this year in Strokes Gained: Approach. He also ranks 10th in Proximity and consistently gives himself chances to score. That will be hugely critical this week at an event where the leaderboard keeps pushing lower and lower as the tournament rolls on.
At 110 to 1, Spaun makes sense as a logical longshot target this week.
Troy Merritt 400-1 (FanDuel)
Last but not least, we're going big.
Troy Merritt is 38 years old, has zero wins on Tour this season and only one T10 finish in 21 events. Merritt is coming off back-to-back missed cuts at the Barracuda Championship and the 3M Open. He currently sits 140th in FedEx Cup points and has more missed cuts than made cuts on the season.
So, why are we targeting him as a long shot this week?
Because Merritt is one of the only players in the field that grades out positively in all five of our key categories relative to everyone else on the PGA Tour this season.
Merritt's strongest suit is Proximity, in which he ranks fifth on Tour this year. But he's well-rounded in our other focal points this week, with an accurate tee shot, quality approach shots and a putter that can get hot.
Merritt ranks 24th in Driving Accuracy, 37th in Birdie Average, 42nd in Putting Average and 71st in Strokes Gained: Approach. His game should suit Sedgefield perfectly.
At 400-1, that is simply too much value to pass up in what should be a wide-open tournament.
