Fantasy Golf: Wyndham Championship preview

There’s no time for a breather after the season’s final Major as there are still 14 tournaments left in the Today’s Golfer Fantasy Golf game, in association with Your Golf Travel, starting with this week’s Wyndham Championship. It’s also the first week of the knockout cup.

The Wyndham Championship has been played at Sedgefield CC, North Carolina, since 2008, but the players will face a slightly different challenge this year as the greens were changed from Bentgrass to Champion Bermuda three months ago.

The Donald Ross-designed layout has ranked as the easiest or second easiest par 70 on the PGA Tour for the last four years but the new grass, which will see the break on putts increase, will likely make scoring a little higher.

The course can only be stretched to 7,117 yards and has two pretty scoreable par-5s so distance off the tee is not a factor. With a birdie-fest in prospect, it’s hitting greens and holing putts that will really count this week.

This is also the final week before the FedEx Cup Play-offs begin so the rush to fill the 125 qualifying spots will add an additional layer of intrigue.

Here is TG’s six-man team for the Wyndham Championship:

Webb Simpson, $3.4m
The US Open champion may have missed the cut at last week’s USPGA Championship, but it was his first tournament back after five weeks off following the birth of his second child and he’s the defending champion at Sedgefield. He tops the PGA Tour in birdie average.

David Toms, $2.4m
Last week’s T42 followed a pair of top-8s at the US Open and Bridgestone Invitational. He’s finished in the top 25 in his last three starts here with a scoring average of 66.83. He was solo second in 2010 and T17 last year.

Tim Clark, $2.0m
After two years of injury hell, the South African appears to be regaining the form that won him the 2010 Players Championship. A T15 in Canada preceded a T11 at the USPGA. He ranks eighth on Tour in proximity to the hole so should give himself plenty of makeable birdie chances.

Jason Dufner, $1.9m
The on-form American is becoming an ever-present in the TG team at the moment thanks to two wins and three other tops 10s in his last eight starts. He’s made 17 consecutive cuts and sits fifth on Tour in birdie average.

JB Holmes, $1.5m
The big-hitting American is finding his form again after brain surgery at the back end of 2011. His last seven starts have yielded four top 20s and no missed cuts, although he’s also yet to break the top 10 in that period. A big finish is just around the corner.

Carl Pettersson, $1.3m
The big Swede earned a lot of fans with how he handled a two-shot penalty at the first hole of the final round when in contention at the USPGA. He still went on to finish T3 and already has a win this season. He co-owns the Sedgefield course record with a 61 in 2008.

> You can see a full list of all the golfers playing this week and their prices by clicking here. You have until 12 midday on Thursday 16th August to select your team.