Wyndham Championship Recap: Aaron’s Rai-ght stuff, Clanton dazzles again on the weekend, bets, and how the final playoff spots shook out

Rai’s victory moves him into 25th on the FedEx Cup points list securing him at least two more tournaments before the TOUR Championship in 3 weeks. He’ll look to carry his first win momentum into next week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, TN.

TAKE A BOW WYNDHAM STAFF

The day itself started at 6:00 AM and ended at 8:30 in near darkness. With players still needing to complete some on their 2nd round which meant a total of 40 holes needed to be completed in order for the tournament to be settled. Because of this there were groupings teeing off on 1 and 10 simultaneously throughout the day on 2 separate occasions. That also meant that the Wyndham grounds crew needed to cut, move, and replace certain holes at least on two but sometimes on three separate occasions throughout the day while golfers were on the course.

The truly heroic acts by all involved on-site to make this tournament a reality over just about 2 and a half days should go down as an example to all tournaments of how things should be operated. I commend every groundskeeper, volunteer, coverage participant, official, and so many more for all of their dedication to the Wyndham Championship and the PGA Tour. I’m sure there are so many stories to tell that will get the exposure they deserve soon. 

CLANTON……MORE LIKE CANTON

Football is on my mind of course with the preseason getting into full swing this week, but at the Wyndham once again weekend eyes were on amateur, Luke Clanton. Not shy of the spotlight already, possibly from his Good Good and GM Golf past, Clanton has had some inspired finishes on the Tour over the past two months. This single day may have topped them all.

Clanton was one of the handful of golfers whose 2nd round was suspended by darkness Saturday. With him squarely on the cutline at -4, he could not afford any mistakes in his final 3 holes at the crack of dawn Sunday. He finished those 3 holes one under and set off on his way to tee up another 18. Before most had awoken, Clanton had made his move on the Wyndham firing a 62 (-8). By the time the third round ended that had placed Clanton one shot of the lead. A win unfortunately was not meant to be after the final 18 holes of the day, which Clanton carded a 69 (-1, -15 for the tournament), but another Top 5 was added to his resume. 

A total of 39 holes were completed by the Florida State Seminole on Sunday in which Clanton recorded a -10 to lead all golfers over that span. His last act of the day was to jump on a charter jet to Minnesota after his final round as his match at the US Amateur at Hazeltine CC is at 2:09 p.m. Good luck Luke! I’m pulling for you!

WHY KUCH WHY?

Technically the tournament has been won but is not over as on 18 Matt Kuchar decided that he would not complete the hole due to darkness after pulling has drive way left. The rules officials did inform him on his walk to the ball that the whistle for play to stop was “blown” and it would be the players choice to finish their last hole or not. Kuchar was the only player to decide to finish on Monday, and after a grueling tournament for all involved it’s not ideal for those that have volunteered and officials running the tournament to come back in the morning.

LAST IN, LAST OUT

Here’s how the top-70 bubble for the FedEx Cup Playoffs shook out:

IN

1. Brendon Todd
2. Seamus Power
3. Nick Dunlap
4. Jhonattan Vegas
5. Emiliano Grillo
6. Victor Perez

OUT

1. Davis Riley
2. Andrew Putnam
3. Kurt Kitayama
4. Luke List
5. Adam Svensson

WYNDHAM BETTING CORNER

We didn’t come out on top at the Wyndham, but nearly broke even. A few bad breaks lead to some of our picks going belly up, when they had looked so promising hours before the finish. We will be back at it next week with the FedEx St. Jude.

Jhonattan Vegas T30: Finished T65 = L (-$100)

Thomas Detry T10: MC = L (-$50)

Aaron Rai T5: Finished 1st = W (+$250)

Sungjae Im or Billy Horschel To win: Finished T41 and T7 = L (-$25)

Davis Thompson, Cam Davis, and Denny McCarthy T30: Finished T12, MC, T33 = L (-$25)

Webb Simpson and Harry Hall T40: Both MC = L (-$25)

The Cam Young T20 last minute add, which looked so good till hole 4 of his final round ruined the positive tournament. Finished T22 = L (-$100)

Wyndam Tournament win/loss = -$75

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