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Tournament Stats:
The 2007 Wyndham Championship
August 16-19, 2007
Forest Oaks Golf & Country Club
Greensboro, NC
Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,311
Purse: $5 million with $900,000 going to the winner
Defending Champion: Davis Love III
Results & Scores 2006 Wyndham Championship
Box Score of 2006 Wyndham Championship
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:265 (Jesper Parnevik in the 1999 Wyndham Championship)
54-Hole Record:
195 (Jesper Parnevik in the 1999 Wyndham Championship)
36-Hole Record:
128 (Jesper Parnevik in the 1999 Wyndham Championship; Ernie Els in the 1995 PGA Championship; Mark O'Meara in the 1995 PGA Championship)
Low round of tournament:
62 (Mark O'Meara in the third round of the 1996 Wyndham Championship; Davis Love III in the final round of the 1992 Wyndham Championship; Charles Warren in the first round of the 2005 Wyndham Championship.)
Tournament information:
Originally created in 1938, the 2007 edition of the Wyndham Championship will be the 68th tournament. Initially known as the Greater Greensboro Open, the tournament has blossomed from its paltry roots. The event was the vision of the Greensboro Jaycee's Chapter, which was but a year old when the idea was conceived. Many were in favor of the creation of a golf tournament; however, no one took steps to creating an event until, at a meeting in the summer of 1937, Joseph Bryan put up capital to back the event. The PGA Tour placed the tournament on the 1938 schedule.If Joseph Bryan is credited with being the backer, then Sam Snead is the owner of the event. His eight victories at Greensboro, including the inaugural event, are a record for most victories by a player at one tournament. The Greensboro-based tournament has been played every year except for 1943 and 1944, when the event paused because of World War II.
The tournament name held until 1988, when Kmart became the title sponsor and the event became known as the Kmart Greater Greensboro Open. After a eight year run Chrsler took over in 1996 and in 2003 the Greater was dropped in favor of Chrysler Classic of Greensboro. That name held until 2006, when Daimler Chrysler pulled out as title sponsor and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. The 2007 Wyndham Championship has ramifications for the FedEx Cup Championship. The Wyndham Championship is the last event in which golfers, vying for poitioning in the playoff system, can earn points.
Course information:
The Greater Greensboro Open shifted to the Forest Oaks Country Club in 1977. Designed by Ellis Maples, the course incorporates the lay of the land if at all possible. Davis Love III performed the sole re-design in 2003.The Par 72 course plays at 7,246 yards. It has a course rating of 76.4 and a slope rating of 147. The tees, fairways, and rough feature Tif Sport Bermuda Grass cut at 3/8", 7/16", and 3 to 4 inches, respectively. The A-1/A-4 creeping bent grass that lines the greens is cut at 9/64". As for protection, the course has five water hazards that come into play on six holes and 60 bunkers that line the fairways and greens.
The first thing that stands about Forest Oaks is its unusually high course and slope rating. This can be attributed to the course designers who chose to utilize the large rolling hills rather than phase them out. These large undulations provide the bite of the course, especially on the greens. With green sizez as large as 9,000 square feet, one would think players would have a field day with all that real estate. However, many of the greens provide multiple tiers, including the three-tiered green on the Par 5 second. Known as a biarritz green, the front and back portions are elevated while the middle showcases a deep gully.
The Buzz:
As of Friday deadline the field for the Wyndham Championship was very weak but with the late withdrawal's of K.J. Choi and Davis Love III the event will have the weakish field of the year with only three top-50 rank players in the world, 40th ranked Anders Hansen, 47th ranked John Senden and 48th ranked Carl Pettersson. Added to those WD's another marquee name in Brad Faxon also won't play due to a rib injury.Now who is playing in the Wyndham Championship? Those at the 144th system in the FedEx Cup points, in a way it's really stupid what is happening with all of this. There is no two ways about it, eight months into the FedEx Cup and people are still clueless on how it is run, what is needed and such.
A perfect example of that is the fact that ever person from 100 to 160th on the FedEx Cup race is in the field. Now for those that are between 130 and 144 on the point list, all they are doing by getting to the Barclay's is prolong their death. The way the points are geared a person in 144th position would probably need a top-five finish at Barclay's just to play in the Deutsche Bank, and the same for those in the 120th position at the Deutsche Bank they will have to play great just to make it.
So here is a little thing about the system, the players that should really be playing this week is those around the 30th and 70th positions. If for chance Stuart Appleby, who finished T14th at the Bridgestone and T12th at the PGA would of played this week, if he could of won or finished 2nd at Greensboro those points would of drastically improved his chances of not only making it to the Tour Championship but a shot at winning. As an example, Appleby is 30th on the point list, a win would shot him up to 25th. Even more drastic, for John Mallinger who is 66th in points, a win this week could drive him up into the top-30. Both these players aren't in Greensboro.
Still it's going to really take a year to shake things out with the FedEx Cup. Unfortunely it really hasn't created the buzz that the PGA Tour sold FedEx and the networks on
Now for the Wyndham Championship this doesn't help because they thought that getting the last slot would help in bring players looking to improve their standings. Since that hasn't happened the event is stuck with a tournament that doesn't have much to offer. To help offset this, tournament officials have knocked down concession prices in which beer will be only $3 and soft drinks and water will be only a buck. What a deal.
One last thing that may come up this week, for years there has been talk of moving away from Forest Oaks and going back to Sedgefield Country Club. Yes there is ten years left on the contract between Forest Oaks and the Greensboro Jaycess but the Wyndham folks want the event to move to Sedgefield and you always try to give the sponsors what they want. So don't be surprised if this is the last time this is played at Forest Oaks.
Here are some things to look for this week:
Here are some of the secrets that it will take to play well this week at the Wyndham Championship:
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Forest Oaks Country Club is a very versatile course. Length is not critical because the course plays at about 7,200 yards, about average for a PGA Tour event. With length not being a factor, players are afforded the opportunity to use either driver or long iron off the tee. The most critical thing for the field is to manage the slope of the course. To do that, ball control and accuracy are key.
Now this tournament was made famous by Sam Snead, who won it eight times, a PGA Tour record for the most victories by a player in a single event. Snead captured the inaugural event in 1938, and when he won it for the eighth time in 1965, he became the oldest winner in PGA Tour history at 52 years, 10 months and eight days.
Between 1949 and 1965 Snead was never higher than 8th and won $37,827 or about the same amount that the player in 28th place will win this week. For the record, if Snead would have played all 17 events at the present purse of $5 million his Greensboro earnings would have been $7,366,000. Oh Snead is the only winner in Greensboro history to defend his championship so K.J. Choi will be looking to break that 50 year recordand with defending champion Davis Love III withdrawing because of kidney stones the record is safe for another year.
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Key stat for the winner:
Length is obviously not an issue so that opens things up quite a bit. Look for the winner to be someone who doesn't like to muscle up with the driver, and just settle for using a long iron for control. Past winners of the event are some of the best iron players on tour. The likes of Mark O'Meara, Davis Love III, and Steve Elkington have hoisted the trophy. Look for the winner to be able to manage the surroundings, as the undulations are the most difficult part of the golf course. - North Carolina in the summer time is rife with heat and humidity. This will be important because the bent grass greens will bake. Therefore, the 9/64" cut of grass will play more like 1/10". This may seem insignificant but it will probably change the stimp from about 10 to 11.
- Hitting greens will be at a premium, just like in a U.S. Open hitting lots of greens goes a long way at the Wyndham Championship. Look for the winner to greens in bunches.
- This is the fourth year that the event is played in the fall, during this date the course has been lush with thick rough.
- With dry weather of late, rough shouldn't be that bad, still the rough is higher than the pro's have seen.
- Course favors the player that hits lots of greens. Winners have been players you least expect to win so a favorite may not be that. So look for an unusual winner this week.
- Interesting to note, the last ten champions have been no younger than 33 years old with two of them being in there 40s. So if the trend continues look for a veteran to win.
- The Chart below shows how many times the third round leader has gone on to win. If you look at it you will see how Greensboro has had a weird two decades. In four years between 1986-89 and in 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 2005 and 2006 the 3rd round leader has won the tournament, while between 1990-93 and in 1995, 1997 & 1998 someone has come from way back to win.
| The third round leader has won 14 of the last 21 years | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| year | Winner | Position after 3rd round | Final Round score | Margin of victory | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1986 | Sandy Lyle | 3rd round leader | 70 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1987 | Scott Simpson | 3rd round leader | 70 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1988 | Sandy Lyle | 3rd round leader | 72 | beat Ken Green in playoff | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1989 | Ken Green | 3rd round leader | 72 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990 | Steve Elkington | T14th - 7 back | 66 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1991 | Mark Brooks | T16th - 7 back | 64 | beat Gene Sauers in playoff | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1992 | David Love III | T9th - 3 back | 62 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1993 | Rocco Mediate | T10th - 4 back | 69 | beat Steve Elkington in playoff | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1994 | Mike Springer | 3rd round leader | 72 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Jim Gallagher, Jr. | T10th - 7 back | 66 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996 | Mark O'Meara | 3rd round leader | 69 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1997 | Frank Nobilo* | T8th - 5 back | 67 | beat Brad Faxon in playoff | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| *Nobilo was six back with just nine holes left to play, shot 31 to Faxon's 37 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998 | Trevor Dodds | T7th - 3 back | 69 | beat Scott Verplank in playoff | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | Jesper Parnevik | 3rd round leader | 70 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2000 | Hal Sutton | 3rd round leader | 71 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | Scott Hoch | 3rd round leader | 69 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2002 | Rocco Mediate | 3rd round leader | 71 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | Shigeki Maruyama | 3rd round leader | 67 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Brent Geiberger | 3rd round leader | 66 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | K.J. Choi | 3rd round leader | 66 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Davis Love III | 3rd round leader | 66 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
