TOUR Insider: Venturing into uncharted territory

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The Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., has moved from the southeast side of the city to the southwest. Players competing in the historically rich and vitally meaningful PGA TOUR event care most about who can make the biggest moves north.

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Brandt Snedeker is the defending champion this week.

WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Video: 2007 recap
Maginnes: A great venue
Stats: Inside the Field

The $5.1 million event, which is moving from Forest Oaks Country Club to the sage confines of Sedgefield Country Club, represents the final regular-season tournament before the second edition of the Playoffs for the FedExCup commences.

At the close of play Sunday, the top 144 players in the points standings on the PGA TOUR advance to The Barclays, the first of four playoff events. The rest of the TOUR membership gets to take a break or take on the always tough competition on the Nationwide Tour, before the PGA TOUR Fall Series begins Sept. 18 with the $3.6 million Viking Classic running concurrently with the 37th Ryder Cup.

For the second week in a row, the boys in pleats have an opportunity to try and unlock the secrets of a Donald Ross course, but unlike Oakland Hills Country Club, Sedgefield hasn't been redesigned. Sedgefield, which last hosted the Wyndham Championship 31 years ago when it was known as the Greater Greensboro Open, did undergo a 10-month, $3 million restoration under the guidance of Kris Spence, who specializes in the careful restoration of Ross courses.

Ross designed Sedgefield in 1925 and the course shared host duties with Starmount Forest Country Club in the inaugural edition in 1938. Al Geiberger won the last Greensboro title by two strokes over Lee Trevino, but the course was just 6,643 yards. To restore some of the shot values on the classic design, Spence had to push it up to about 7,100 yards.

The par-70 course features small, undulating greens and demands precision over power with water coming into play on seven holes from a pond and a creek that winds throughout. The tree-lined fairways dogleg on 12 of the 14 holes that are either par-4s or par-5s. There are 48 bunkers accentuating the examination.

Sedgefield Country Club will be a mystery to almost the entire field, but players have expressed eagerness in playing there, if only because the rough will be set at 2 ½ inches. "Classic courses are always good. Another Ross course ... good for us," veteran Corey Pavin said. "Probably will be a little more fun this week, though."

Pavin meant more fun than the mendacious Oakland Hills layout that just hosted the PGA Championship won by Padraig Harrington at 3 under par. Only three players finished under par in the 90th PGA, where firm, fast greens, deep bunkers and ankle-turning rough made scoring a chore.

A few more should fare better, including defending champion Brandt Snedeker, who hasn't played Sedgefield, but did tour it recently during the tournament's media day.

"I love Donald Ross golf courses, and this is a good one," Snedeker said after finishing tied for 24th at the PGA. "It's probably going to be a great challenge, but after this last week, it might seem like it's a bit easier. In any event, I'm excited to be defending. I certainly know where my game is."

After an exhaustive search, the TOUR Insider did manage to find a player who actually has played Sedgefield Country Club since the restoration. David Toms, who does more than just dabble in golf course design, was invited to the club last fall to take a look at the renovation. He shot 1 under par.

"The (club officials) asked me to come up and give my opinion of what they were doing. I think it's very good. I liked it very much," Toms said. "I think it's going to be a really good test. It's a great little layout. You have to hit some shots."

We'll see if it's Snedeker, Toms or someone else who can be Boss of the Ross.

FEDEXCUP POINTERS

• It's obviously crunch time, so it's no surprise that the field is heavy with players that are on the edge. This week's field features 84 players ranked 100-200 on the FedExCup points list. Among the missing are three Champions Tour players, including Greg Norman, who sits 147th on the strength of his British Open run.

• The lowest ranked player in the field is Kirk Triplett at 241, but he only started playing a month ago after undergoing shoulder surgery. Not too far in front of him is another well-known veteran, David Duval, who returns to Greensboro for the first time since he tied for 14th in his only appearance in 1995.

• Marco Dawson is the man on the bubble this week at 144. In front of him are Brett Rumford and Glen Day. Last year, three players moved from outside the 144 cutoff into the first playoff event. One of those was Jeff Overton, who last year tied for second at Forest Oaks to make the big push. He's not in so quite a difficult spot this year, but Overton wouldn't mind a similar effort given that he's 137th this time around.

• Chris DiMarco was the player ranked lowest in the FedExCup standings (137th) to make the cut in the PGA Championship. His tie for 31st moved him to 133rd as he continues with the help of Rick Smith to refine a new backswing that is helping him hit the ball more solidly. DiMarco began working with Smith two weeks ago at the World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational.

• This time a year ago, John Daly went to the Scandinavian Masters. This time, he accepted a sponsor invitation to the Wyndham Championship. Daly, who earlier this year worked briefly with Butch Harmon, also has begun trying to get his game back in shape with Rick Smith's assistance. They worked together on the Sunday before the PGA Championship. Daly is 235th in the FedExCup standings.

• Key U.S. Ryder Cup hopefuls in the field this week include Rocco Mediate, Zach Johnson, J.B. Holmes, Snedeker, Jeff Quinney, and Jerry Kelly. They all are ranked between 14th (Mediate) and Kelly (21st). Also teeing it up, conspicuously, on the European side is Paul Casey, a late entry who is 15th on the Ryder Cup points list and 16th on the World points list.

• We watch for it every year, and now it's Brandt Snedeker's turn to try and break the curse of Sam Snead. The Slammer, who won eight times at Greensboro, is the only man to successfully defend his title, having won back to back twice, in 1949-50 and 1955-56.

• Thirty-three players since 1950 have held at least a share of the third-round lead at the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro and went on to victory, and up until last year when Snedeker went crazy low on Sunday, eight in a row had been successful in holding on for victory with a 54-hole advantage.