Steve Palmer's Wyndham Championship first-round predictions, free tips

When to watch

Sky Sports Golf, 6pm Thursday

Best bets

Joaquin Niemann to beat Henrik Norlander
3pts 8-11 BoyleSports

Matt Wallace to win threeball
2pts 13-10 Betfair, Power

Si Woo Kim-Kevin Kisner dual forecast
0.5pt 600-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

Wyndham Championship first-round preview

Wyndham Championship chiefs have put the two market leaders out early for the first round at Sedgefield Country Club – Webb Simpson and Brooks Koepka will get the chance to make immediate headway in the final PGA Tour event before the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Simpson, the 2011 champion, is scheduled to tee off at 12.40pm UK and Ireland time, alongside Sungjae Im and Brendon Todd. With form figures of 3-2-2 from the last three Wyndhams, Simpson has been a warm order in the outright betting.

Koepka is due out ten minutes later with Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth for company, and both the marquee groups should prove competitive affairs. Whether they get to start on time is open to question, though, as the weather forecast has worsened in Greensboro. Sporadic thunderstorms seem set to be a feature of the event.

By the time Matt Wallace starts his Wyndham campaign, Sedgefield should be pretty soggy, and the Englishman is nominated as the best threeball option at odds-against for the 6.45pm contest.

Wallace has increased his driving distance since joining the circuit and has a significant advantage over Wyndham playing partners Brian Gay and Mark Hubbard.

If the storms, which are expected overnight prior to round one then throughout the opening couple of competition days, drench Sedgefield, then Wallace should enjoy the challenge of a birdiefest on a soft track, bossing his group.

Gay has missed five cuts in seven post-lockdown starts, and since withdrawing during round two of the Workday Charity Open when heading for a missed cut, Hubbard has finished 72nd in the Memorial and 51st in the US PGA. Wallace was fourth in the Memorial a month ago.

Joaquin Niemann should also relish the conditions and the Chilean youngster can be fancied to put a quiet spell behind him on a course where he finished 13th last year. Niemann, fifth in the Heritage at the end of June, looks the pick of the tournament match options at 8-11 to beat Henrik Norlander, who missed the cut four years ago in his last Sedgefield appearance.

More ambitious punters may be interested in the 600-1 on offer about a Si Woo Kim and Kevin Kisner outright dual forecast. The Korean and the Carolinian impressed on much less suitable terrain in the US PGA last week and seem set to seriously contend at Sedgefield.

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