Sips of Maginnes: Generous Sedgefield ends up a winner

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GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Once again famed old Sedgefield Country Club took a beating from the world's best at last week's Wyndham Championship. Defenseless with windless afternoons and soft greens the best field the tournament has seen in decades took dead aim and shot the grass of the course. Although Mike Weir, Henrik Stenson and a list of former major championship winners like Lee Janzen and Fred Couples didn't figure into the mix their commitment to the tournament is testament to its positioning on the schedule and the rising popularity of the old Donald Ross layout.

* Rumors about the 2011 schedule have started flying, and there has been plenty of discussion among Wyndham Championship insiders about a potential spring date. One school of thought is that there would be a better opportunity to strengthen the field in the spring -- and everyone agrees at that time of year Sedgefield would be able to put up a better defense against the low scoring that has been the norm of late. But moving for this reason alone doesn't seem to make sense. Although it would be an expensive proposition a transition to Champions Bermuda greens would serve the same purpose. Furthermore with the relationships Tournament Director Mark Brazil has forged with the younger players it seems likely that even in the fall the Wyndham Championship will continue to attract the best young players in the game. Whether the tournament moves or not there is no question that the Wyndham Championship is in good hands going forward. Wyndham extended its title sponsorship this week through 2012.

* John Daly made the cut at the Wyndham Championship in rather bizarre fashion. What else would you expect, though? After two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine he was 2 under with nine to play on Friday. When he birdied No. 10 he got inside the cut line but John didn't exactly par in from there -- not even close. He bogeyed No. 11, birdied the 12th and bogeyed No. 13. Daly then reeled off three straight birdies but couldn't stand the prosperity and tossed in a bogey on No. 17 for good measure. When he made his par at the long par-4 18th he was safe for the weekend while having only made one par on the back nine.

* Daly broke 70 in all four rounds in a PGA TOUR event for the first time since he lost in a playoff to Tiger Woods at the 2005 World Golf Championships-American Express Championship. Even though he and Blake Adams teed off early on Sunday morning Daly had a crowd of faithful following him. After a bogey at the first hole, John bounced back quickly and made seven birdies to post a 64. When he finished around 10:50 on Sunday morning Daly told some of the fans they still had time to make it to church. The solid week was hardly enough to get John into the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup but he is teeing it up on the Nationwide Tour and should make a run at the top 125 on the money list in the Fall Series.

* Spectators were allowed to bring their cell phones and use them in designated area at the Wyndham Championship. Volunteers were armed with red permanent markers. If you violated the policy by talking in the wrong place they marked your hanging ticket. The second time you violate the policy in a day you were escorted off the property although I didn't hear of anyonebeing evicted. Although my own personal year-long badge does have some interesting markings on it, I hope they let me in at The Barclays next week.

* Fredrik Jacobson's closing 62 at Sedgefield was big because it boosted him from 37th to 41st in the FedExCup standings. That meant that the Swede would be getting in a practice round during the pro-am at The Barclays and he could spend the early part of the week at home in Florida taking his kids to the first day of school. Be nice to the crossing guard.

* John Rollins was also comfortably in the Playoffs heading into the Wyndham Championship but he wanted to improve his position in the FedExCup at a golf course he loves. With his parents, who still live in Richmond, Va., in attendance John opened with a 64 that was the low round of the morning wave. On Friday, though, there was a bit of a problem when he realized the putter head was loose. Using his old Rossi mallet he got off to a slow start on the greens on Friday but once he made his first birdie of the day on his eighth hole the lid was off. Rollins birdied seven of his last 11 holes on Friday and was in contention with the old putter all week long.

* The final group on Sunday at the Wyndham Championship took less than 3 hours, 50 minutes to complete the final round. It was a tremendous victory for Arjun Atwal but it was a victory for the pace of play as well. Sedgefield is a traditional walking-style golf course with the greens very close to the next green. Golf as it should be played, in my opinion.