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PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Wyndham Championship

By Chris Aliperto

GREENSBORO, NC - AUGUST 14: A general view of the course during the first round of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club on August 14, 2014 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)
GREENSBORO, NC - AUGUST 14: A general view of the course during the first round of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club on August 14, 2014 in Greensboro, North Carolina. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images) /
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PARAMUS, NJ – AUGUST 26: Cameron Smith of Australia studies his putt on the 18th hole during the final round of THE NORTHERN TRUST at Ridgewood Country Club on August 26, 2018 in Paramus, New Jersey. (Photo by Stan Badz/PGA TOUR)
PARAMUS, NJ – AUGUST 26: Cameron Smith of Australia studies his putt on the 18th hole during the final round of THE NORTHERN TRUST at Ridgewood Country Club on August 26, 2018 in Paramus, New Jersey. (Photo by Stan Badz/PGA TOUR) /

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Wyndham Championship

15. Cameron Smith – (43)

It has been a mostly rough 2019 for Cameron Smith, as he started the year ranked 27th in the world, and has since fallen 16 spots. He has played enough events to accumulate 547 points in the FedEx Cup standings to currently sit in 75th place, just outside of the top-70, which will of course move on to the BMW Championship. Smith has picked up some huge points as of late, after a T-20 at the Open, and a T-12 last week at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

This year will mark the 25-year-olds fourth trip to Sedgefield Country Club in his career, and he returns after skipping his first Wyndham Championship last year. It has been a mixed bag of results, as he has missed a cut back in 2016, and he notched a top-ten in 2017 by shooting 15-under par, and finishing T-7. He just barely breaks the top-15 in this week’s PGA Power Rankings.

14. Charles Howell III – (57)

It has been mostly up-and-down for Charles Howell III throughout 2019, and after a bad stretch, he seems to have righted the ship just in time for the FedEx Cup playoffs. Howell won the RSM Classic to finish up the fall swing last year, earning a huge chunk of FedEx Cup points early, and currently sits in 17th place, likely with an eye on finishing in the Wyndham Rewards Top 10.

Howell will make his first Wyndham Championship appearance since he T-33 back in 2015, and his best finish here at Sedgefield Country Club was back in 2011 when he carded a score of 13-under par, good for a T-4 finish. He has not missed a cut since the Memorial, and he comes in off a T-6 at the John Deere Classic in his last action.

13. Alex Noren – (44)

At number 13 this week in the PGA Power Rankings, we find our first golfer right at or around that coveted 125th place spot in the FedEx Cup standings, which will earn them a spot in the playoffs. Alex Noren has also had a rough 2019 for the most part, but he has done just enough his last two times out to creep into the 125th spot in the standings as it stands at the moment, as we head into the final event of the season.

Noren used a T-26 at the BMW Championship as his tune-up for the Open Championship, where he went on to card his best finish of the year with a T-12. He was able to carry that momentum back to the U.S. and improve once again with a T-11 finish at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational last week. This will be the 36-year-old Swede’s first Wyndham Championship.

12. Sungjae Im – (65)

Nobody on tour has been grinding it out more than Sungjae Im this season, as this weeks Wyndham Championship will mark his 32nd start of the season. The 21-year-old failed to make the weekend in his last action at the Open Championship, but like many others lacking overall experience, he struggled in the windy conditions at Royal Portrush. The missed cut stopped a stretch of six straight for Im, which featured four top-25’s, and was highlighted by a solo seventh-place finish at the RBC Canadian.

Im is currently inside the top 30 of the FedEx Cup standings, and a trip to East Lake for the TOUR Championship looks to be in the cards for the youngster in his first full year on tour. He is currently in 25th place, and dropping six spots could certainly happen with another week to go. This will be his first Wyndham Championship, but he has been playing new courses all season long and should continue to play well as he seeks his first PGA Tour victory.

11. Viktor Hovland – (219)

My bias for Hovland almost had me slot him in the top-ten of the PGA Power Rankings this week, but it is fair to say he doesn’t deserve to be inside the top ten until he actually has a top-ten finish. He will need to win this week to qualify for any FedEx Cup playoff action, and coupling that kind of narrative with the fact that Matthew Wolff and Collin Morikawa have just done so within the last month when they basically needed to do the same, and I think we see Hovland going all out to try to prevent a lay off until the fall swing.

Hovland has now played four events total since turning pro after his T-12 at the U.S. Open and has notched three finishes inside the top-20. He had a pair of T-13’s at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and the 3M Open, and he comes into his first Wyndham Championship off a T-16 in his last action at the John Deere Classic.

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