Wyndham Championship 2024 Preview, Picks & Analysis

Everything changed for Lucas Glover at the Wyndham Championship 12 months ago. The former US Open champion had been in the wilderness for too long - and then a move to a long putter transformed his fortunes.

He had always been a superb ball striker but had begun to suffer horribly on the greens. His new putter changed all that in the most dramatic of circumstances.

He won the tournament and then went on to add the FedEx St Jude Classic the following week.

He had entered the 2023 Wyndham Championship at No. 112 in the FedExCup points standings. In previous years, that standing would have him comfortably inside the top-125 players advancing to the FedExCup playoffs, but new last season, only 70 players made the playoffs, and Glover knew that he needed to finish tied for second or better to have any chance to make them.

His fifth PGA Tour victory at Sedgefield moved him to 49th in the FedExCup point standings and into the playoffs. From there, he would win the first FedExCup Playoffs event the next weekend to move to fourth in points. That second win guaranteed his appearance in the Tour Championship and made him eligible for the 2024 elevated events. 

And Glover will return to Sedgefield to defend his title with great memories as the PGA Tour season nears its climax.

"Lucas Glover is a great friend of the Wyndham Championship, and we are ecstatic that he’ll be with us to defend his title," Executive Director Mark Brazil said. "Lucas is a class act, and we’ll never forget his magical Wyndham Championship victory last year or his win the following weekend at the first playoff event. I’m sure Lucas is looking forward to defending his title, and I know he’d like nothing more than to repeat as our champion."

Three other former champions have committed to the tournament and each and every one of them is in need of the same sort of inspiration that Glover found here 12 months ago. It is fair to say that Kevin Kisner, Brandt Snedeker and Webb Simpson are in the wilderness right now and all face uncertain futures.

In 2021, Kisner joined Adam Scott, 2016 champion Si Woo Kim, Branden Grace, Kevin Na and Roger Sloan in a six-way playoff that tied the PGA Tour record for largest playoff to decide the tournament. All six players made par on the par-four 18th to force a second playoff hole. Kisner hit a brilliant shot into the green leaving just four feet for birdie. After each of the other five players made par, Kisner calmly stepped up and made birdie to claim the Sam Snead Cup and his fourth PGA Tour victory. It was the first playoff win of his career.

He is coming off a break from competitive golf and some television announcing work to resume his PGA Tour career. Kisner represented the United States in the Presidents Cup in 2017. In addition to his 2021 win, Kisner finished tied for third in 2020 for his best finishes in eight Wyndham Championship appearances.

Simpson, who leads the Wyndham Championship career money-winners list with $4,021,885 in 15 starts, has battled neck injuries in recent times. He captured his first PGA Tour victory at the Wyndham Championship in 2011 and went on to win the 2012 US Open 10 months later. In his past seven Sedgefield appearances, Simpson’s finishes were tied for fifth, WD, tied for seventh, tied for third, second, tied for second and third. He will make his 16th Wyndham Championship start.

Snedeker won the Wyndham Championship in 2007, his first-career win, and again in 2018 shooting a course-record 59 in the first round becoming then the 10th golfer in PGA Tour history to shoot a sub-60 round in official tournament play; four more scored under 60 since 2018 bringing the current total to 14. 

With the win, he became the 10th multiple winner in tournament history. The nine-time PGA Tour winner recently returned to competition following significant injuries and is desperately trying to work his way back into form. The 2012 FedExCup champion is second on the Wyndham Championship career money list with $2,944,841 in 15 appearances here.

This is the final event of the regular season, with the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings heading to the St Jude Classic next week. The top 50 then head to the BMW Championship before the season-ending Tour Championship, when much gold is on offer.

And among those on or near the bubble are Glover, Nicolai Hojgaard, Harry Hall, Keith Mitchell, and Ryan Fox.

Fox is a mystery. He had a stellar year on the DP World Tour in 2023 and earned a PGA Tour card. There have been some flashes of his best form with three top 10s but he has missed six cuts and there have been some big scores.

Hojgaard showed some excellent early-season form but has gone off the boil recently. He is a wonderful ball striker with a fabulous short game and a wonderful temperament and I would not be surprised to see him do enough to climb into the top 70 this week.

Matt Kuchar is also in serious danger of missing out on the playoffs for the first time in his career. He made a good fist of it at the 3M Open but that has been his only top-10 finish of 2024 and he has work to do.

Sungjae Im and Akshay Bhatia have no such concerns and are in the field with only one thing in mind - a victory that will see them climb the rankings.

Tournament Winners:

It was won in 2015 by Davis Love, in 2016 by Si Woo Kim, in 2017 by Henrik Stenson, in 2018 by Brandt Snedeker, in 2018 by JT Poston, in 2020 by Jim Herman, in 2021 by Kevin Kisner, in 2022 by Tom Kim and last year by Lucas Glover.

The Course:

Sedgefield Country Club was designed by the legendary Donald Ross. It is a par 70 measuring 7,127 yards. The tournament record winning score is 258, achieved by Stenson and Poston, so get ready to see some very low scores. In 2018, Snedeker shot a 59 on his way to a second victory here.

To Win:

Akshay Bhatia. Thrilling talent

Five to Follow:

Akshay Bhatia. Fun to watch

Sungjae Im. A machine

Lucas Glover. Fabulous memories

Matt Kuchar. Last chance saloon

Nicolai Hojgaard. Needs a big week