The First Look: Wyndham Championship

Former FedExCup champions Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth, as well as Brooks Koepka, winner of the inaugural Wyndham Rewards Top 10, highlight the field at the Wyndham Championship. J.T. Poston will be there to defend his title in the final event before the FedExCup Playoffs. FIELD NOTES: Koepka, who held the top spot in the FedExCup entering last year’s Playoffs, will look to build on the progress he showed at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and PGA Championship. He was outside the top 125 in the standings before his runner-up in Memphis… Spieth and Patrick Reed, who had a thrilling playoff duel in 2013, are both back in the field… Former FedExCup champ Brandt Snedeker returns to a tournament he has won twice, including his first TOUR win and a victory two years ago that included a first-round 59…Four golfers in the top-10 of the FedExCup standings will tee it up at Sedgefield CC, including reigning Rookie of the Year Sungjae Im, past Wyndham winner Webb Simpson and his former junior-golf rival from nearby Raleigh, Brendon Todd… Teen-aged pro Akshay Bhatia and past Wyndham champion Arjun Atwal are among the sponsor exemptions… World No. 13 Tommy Fleetwood will make his fourth straight start in the Return to Golf. FEDEXCUP: Winner gets 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Sedgefield Country Club (Ross), 7,127 yards, par 70. Opened in 1926, Sedgefield is the only Donald Ross original that serves as a regular PGA TOUR venue. The course features Ross’ signature small and undulating greens. STORYLINES: The Wyndham Championship marks the final week of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 competition. No. 1 on the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is Justin Thomas, who is not in the field in North Carolina, but entered the PGA Championship with a commanding 713-point lead in the standings. Webb Simpson sits at No. 2 as of the PGA Championship and will be playing… Im, Reed, and Todd are the other three inside the top-10 of the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 competition that are playing Sedgefield… As of the PGA Championship, Chase Seiffert sits at No. 125 in the FedExCup standings and holds the final spot in the FedExCup Playoffs… Nick Watney is just one FedExCup point back and sits at 126th while Bronson Burgoon is just one FedExCup point ahead at 124th… Two golfers jumped inside the top 125 at the 2019 Wyndham Championship (Andrew Landry and Patton Kizzire)… The last four winners of the Wyndham Championship have all shot 20-under or better. 72-HOLE RECORD: 258, Henrik Stenson (2017), JT Poston (2019) 18-HOLE RECORD: 59, Brandt Snedeker (1st round, 2018). LAST TIME: J.T. Poston, who grew up just 90 minutes from Greensboro, North Carolina, fired a sizzling 8-under-par 62 on Sunday at the Wyndham Championship a year ago to win his first PGA TOUR title. In the process, Poston became the first golfer on TOUR since Lee Trevino in 1974 to capture a 72-hole tournament without making any bogeys or worse. Poston also matched Henrik Stenson’s tournament record 22-under 258. Poston nipped fellow North Carolinian Webb Simpson by one shot. Simpson finished runner-up while Byeong Hun An (who matched Poston’s 8-under 62 as the round of the week in the first round), Viktor Hovland, and Si Woo Kim rounded out the top five. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday 7 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Sunday, 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (Featured Groups), 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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