Scott Shapiro's 2021 Wyndham Championship preview

This week’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina is the final event of the regular season, as the PGA Tour's FedEx Playoffs kick off next week, in Jersey City, New Jersey.

For players on the bubble, it is do or die if they want to earn a slice of the massive $60 million prize pool and have a shot to get to the Tour Championship in September.

The top 125 in the FedEx Cup Standings will qualify for the Northern Trust next week at Liberty National Golf Club, which means there are several big-name golfers who need at least a decent week at the Wyndham Championship.

Gary Woodland, Adam Scott, and Matt Kuchar are among those that head into this week’s event just inside the top 125, while Rickie Fowler, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, and Francesco Molinari need to move up the standings to play next week.

The Wyndham, originally the Greater Greensboro Open, was founded in 1938 and is played at Sedgefield Country Club. Sedgefield is a par 70, just more than 7,100 yards, and has Bermuda greens. Keeping the ball in the fairway off the tee, scoring on the eight par 4s that measure between 400 and 450 yards, and gaining strokes on the greens are the most important skills at this event.

Webb Simpson is listed as the +1000 favorite in the outright market and for good reason. The 2012 U.S Open champion finished in the top three in each of the last four years at the Wyndham Championship and won the event in 2011 by three strokes.  At his best, Simpson has the perfect game for this course, but it has not been a great season for the Raleigh native, which makes him hard to endorse at this price.

Hideki Matsuyama, Louis Oosthuizen, and Patrick Reed are the other golfers under 20-1. I like Oosthuizen the most in this tier, but will put my wagering dollars on a couple golfers who offer a bit more bang for my buck.

Sungjae Im (+3000)

After he earned Rookie of the Year honors in 2018-2019, won his first PGA Tour ecent in March of 2020, and finished second at the Masters in November, it has been a bit of a bumpy road for the 23-year-old South Korean in 2021.

Im has not finished in the top 10 since the Tournament of Champions in January, but there is reason to believe he can put things together this week.

Im did not play well in the first two rounds at the Olympics in Tokyo, but put together two strong rounds to close the tournament and has played well in his two previous trips to Sedgefield, despite poor efforts the week before.

He should relish the opportunity to get back on Bermuda greens and ranks in the top 20 in driving accuracy percentage in 2021. I expect him to contend this week at a solid price.

Ryan Armour top 10 (+800)

The 45-year-old veteran has just one win on the PGA Tour and it came against a modest field at the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2017.

However, he has shown an affinity for this golf course. His four consecutive top 25 finishes and his ability to keep the ball in the fairway and score on par 4s between 400 and 450 yards make him a perfect fit for Sedgefield Country Club.

It's likely wishful thinking to expect Armour to hoist the trophy this week, but a top 10 finish seems well within the range of outcomes.