{"id":46242,"date":"2026-08-04T15:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T15:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/46242\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T15:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T15:48:09","slug":"brooks-koepka-and-jackson-koivuns-contrasting-nailbiters-10-things-for-the-wyndham-championship-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/46242\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooks Koepka and Jackson Koivun’s contrasting nailbiters:\u00a010\u00a0things for the Wyndham Championship \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEN THINGS is a collection of words that runs prior to each week\u2019s PGA Tour event, mostly ABOUT that event. Reach out with your hottest takes on absolutely anything at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. We\u2019ll publish the best emails here.<\/p>\n

1. BACK IN MY DAY<\/p>\n

Congratulations to the Wyndham Championship for being the first PGA Tour event to make me feel old (and by \u201ccongratulations,\u201d I mean \u201chow &*#%ing dare you\u201d). I covered my first Wyndham Championship in 2014, and have been back, at least on Sunday, almost every year since. It\u2019s right in my neck of the woods, just an hour away from Durham in Greensboro, N.C. (which you know is a good town because legendary whiny sourpuss Jim Boeheim doesn\u2019t like it), and while the media center is dark and depressing, and the temperature on the course is often around 170 degrees Fahrenheit, the tournament itself packs a big punch for a \u201cminor\u201d tour event. It\u2019s the last stop before the playoffs, and that always comes with a certain amount of drama. None of that has changed.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s changed is amount of drama going down. And that\u2019s what makes me feel old. I have memories of hanging by the scoring area on Sundays with the tour\u2019s Tom Alter as players filtered in hoping the numbers fell their way, and there was an absurd amount of action. Entire fates were being decided! You had the playoff cutoff, yes, but you also had cutoffs for keeping full tour status, for conditional status and Korn Ferry status. Entire careers were at stake, and it often came down to computer percentage points based on someone hitting a 70-foot bogey putt on 18 to knock someone else from T-32 to T-37 and costing them a tour card. It was, arguably, the most exciting five hours in the entire PGA tour season.<\/p>\n

Now? Well, sonny boy, it ain\u2019t what it used to be. The Fall Series offers a new lifeline to the marginal players, which is all well and good, but it means the Wyndham\u2019s drama quotient is down to just the playoff race, and missing the playoffs isn\u2019t a death sentence. I want death sentences! Instead, I have to work my way up to caring whether David Lipsky can finish fifth and get to play in Memphis. I tell you, it\u2019s just not the same.<\/p>\n

And yet, I\u2019m still at 80 percent excitement capacity, and it\u2019s because of\u2026<\/p>\n

2. THE FOUR PLAYOFF CONTENDERS TO CARE ABOUT<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know the exact mechanism by which players will qualify for the Championship Series in 2028, but we do know 2027 is going to be a weird transition year where the Signature Events retain their smaller fields, which means that one way or another, it\u2019s going to be pretty damn hard to make the Championship Series if you\u2019re not in those Signature Events. Which means, in turn, that making the playoffs is probably more important this year than any other year. Here are the five really intriguing guys to watch at the Wyndham, with their current rank:<\/p>\n

Jackson Koivun (70) \u2013 This is pretty much the biggest story of the week for me, because the playoffs get 35 percent less intriguing if he misses out. And if he can\u2019t make the cut, he\u2019ll almost definitely get leapfrogged. For now, though, he\u2019s in on the number.<\/p>\n

Keegan Bradley (72) \u2013 Bradley did what he needed to do at the Rocket, moving up four spots with a T-15 finish, but now he\u2019s got to finish the job and take the next step toward getting the taste of the Ryder Cup debacle out of his mouth.<\/p>\n

Jason Day (75) \u2013 Remember this guy? Well guess what, buddy, he still exists.<\/p>\n

Brooks Koepka (86) \u2013 Now we\u2019re in the realm of, \u201che better win, or at least come close, because 86th is very far down the list.\u201d Let\u2019s talk more about Brooks.<\/p>\n

3. IS KOEPKA DOOMED?<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t it interesting how Koepka went from the biggest story in golf in January, when he finagled his way back onto the tour, to pretty much a non-story seven months later? In part, it kinda\/sorta proves that the playing punishment he received\u2014you have to earn your way into any Signature Events\u2014was more legitimate than people first thought. You have to play very well to get there, and despite one top-10 and five top-20 finishes, Koepka qualified for exactly zero of the eight Signature Events. Combine that with the fact that he was mostly invisible at the majors aside from a T-12 at the Masters, and Koepka finds himself in a bit of a tough spot.<\/p>\n

Right now, he has no playoff eligibility, no line on next year\u2019s Signature Events, and not much path to get there beyond playing wayyyy better than he has so far. Additionally, he just took two weeks off in Minnesota and Detroit, which calls into question how much he\u2019s actually burning to get there.<\/p>\n

All of which is to say (and as weird as it sounds), the Wyndham is looking like the most important tournament he\u2019s played in a long time. He needs to gain 16 spots to get into the playoffs, and to give you a rough idea of what that might take, last week we saw Davis Thompson gain 12 spots from a similar position for a T-8 finish, while Matt Wallace gained 18 spots for T-5. In other words, it seems like a top-five showing is a minimum requirement, and that\u2019s something he hasn\u2019t done all year. And to top it all off, the last time he played at the Wyndham was in 2020, when he missed the cut. The omens aren\u2019t great!<\/p>\n

4. THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF CAM YOUNG BECOMING ELITE<\/p>\n

It\u2019s kinda wild that the birth of Cam Young: Tournament Winner only dates back a year, right? I was there a year ago when he went full (Wynd)HAM on the field, starting out with an absurd 63-62 start and eventually winning by six shots over second place. It was the most emphatic way possible to end the \u201cthis guy might be a choking dog\u201d narrative, and he followed it up in style by hitting the clutchest drive in the history of the Players Championship to win and dusting Scottie and everyone else by six shots at the Cadillac.<\/p>\n

At that point, I thought for sure he\u2019d win a major this year, and he came very close at the Open, where Ryan Fox seizing destiny with a 72nd-hole birdie is all that kept him out of a playoff. He\u2019s a force of nature now\u2014he\u2019s basically the anti-Koepka of 2026, with his stock rising and rising\u2014and it all started here. And yes, I do think he\u2019s going to win this thing in a blowout again, although I\u2019m fervently praying that we get a Young-Koivun Sunday duel.<\/p>\n

5. RANKING THE SPONSOR\u2019S EXEMPTIONS<\/p>\n

Hip, dope, fly, sick \u2013 Blades Brown \u2013 We need a rival youth phenom for Koivun, and until Miles Russell graduates middle school, Blades is probably the guy. Although I\u2019m starting to worry that he\u2019s another Maverick McNealy, where his name is much cooler than his game.<\/p>\n

Even hipper, doper, fly-er, sicker \u2013 Kihei Akina \u2013 Reigning Big 12 Freshman of the Year out of BYU, Hawaiian-born, now turned pro. (In fact, he\u2019s older than Blades, but who\u2019s counting?)<\/p>\n

Local Schmokel \u2013 Ben Kohles \u2013 Went to school in Cary, N.C. Got nothing else for you.<\/p>\n

Hope he hits himself in the head with a putter again \u2013 Zac Blair \u2013 A real story!<\/p>\n

6. WHAT\u2019S UP WITH SEDGFIELD CC?<\/p>\n

The first thing I do with tour venues is to see where Joseph LaMagna put them in his rankings tiers, and this one gets \u201cgood test before equipment ruined it.\u201d Not bad! I\u2019ve always enjoyed Sedgefield, and especially the 18th hole, which is appropriately tough and weird for the site of a lot of Sunday drama. In fact, there are eight holes on the course that played over par last year, but don\u2019t let that fool you into thinking it\u2019s not a total birdie-fest, because it is: The winning score has been better than 20 under eight of the last ten years.<\/p>\n

At the same time, a look at the winners shows you that anybody can thrive here\u2014from bombing alphas like Cam Young to short-hitting pin-hunters like Kevin Kisner to brainy oldsters like Brandt Snedeker and Davis Love III to polite Britons like Aaron Rai to whatever you would call Tom Kim. That\u2019s largely because there a lot of trees that punish wayward driving, so while it helps to be long, you can\u2019t be long and wild. I assume a phalanx of frothing modern architects will be by any day to burn all the trees to the ground. In the meantime, here\u2019s a nice aerial tour.<\/p>\n

7. THE JORDAN SPIETH SADNESS INDEX (JSSI)<\/p>\n

Is the nature of the world such that the players who came into their prime when we were younger, then faded away, remain forever as lurking threats in our minds, if nowhere else? I thought about this recently with Justin Thomas. He\u2019s 22nd in the world, has had a couple solid finishes this year, but he\u2019s done nothing to justify my bone-deep belief that he\u2019s probably going to win a major very, very soon. Nevertheless, the thought is there, implanted in my head, like the flag the astronauts planted on the moon, still waving away even though we don\u2019t go there anymore. Maybe holding onto these memories of greatness, even vicariously through the likes of JT, is some backward way of preserving our youth even as time carries us further and further away from those sweet days.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the JSSI is a 45 out of 10 this week.<\/p>\n

8. ONE NORMIE PICK, ONE WEIRD PICK<\/p>\n

Normie pick is Cam Young for the repeat, and for the weird pick, I\u2019ll go Mac Meissner, who finished second here last year, is fighting for his playoff life at 71st, and finished T-26 last week. If he pulls it off, it will put him in league other notable Meissners, like acting teacher Sanford Meissner, figure skating champ Kimmie Meissner, Eagles founding bassist Randy Meisner, the guy who played Slugworth in Willy Wonka, a girl I had a crush on in high school but never had the courage to talk to, and, unfortunately, a prominent Nazi named Otto.<\/p>\n

9. THE ROGUE GOLF TAKE: I MUST CHIME IN ON CHARLEY<\/p>\n

Do we need another Charley Hull take? No? Too bad, you\u2019re getting it anyway! And here it is: My least favorite thing about the whole ordeal wasn\u2019t the grim nature of the prank, but her defense of it. Specifically, the \u201che thought it was funny!\u201d defense. Oh, did he, Charley? Did he? Or is he just saying that because you\u2019re his boss and if he comes out and says, \u201cactually, you know what? That was terrible!,\u201d he might not work for you much longer. Truth is, we have no idea how he feels\u2014you could be right that he thinks dangling a dream in front of him and then ripping it away is A+ humor\u2014because he really can\u2019t give any answer but the one you want to hear. That\u2019s why you should only pull a prank like that if the other person has the power to end the relationship on the spot. Or hire a hit man.<\/p>\n

[Cue the Internet\u2019s dumbest cretins getting mad at me for being \u201cwoke.\u201d]<\/p>\n

10. THE ROGUE NON-GOLF TAKE: WEED WACKING IS MY NEW DRUG<\/p>\n

I bought a weed wacker last year just before winter, which I had resisted for a long time because you can get most of our yard done with a standard push-mower. However, some rogue weedy spots were proving resistant, so I spent the cash, and what I have discovered this year is basically methamphetamine for a middle-aged man. I spent many years as a high-schooler weed-whacking every day as my summer job at a local golf course, and thus learned to hate it. But as an adult, when you don\u2019t have to do it constantly, it\u2019s so good and powerful. You become the dark lord of grass, dispensing death in great arcing swaths, and none may stand in your way. I\u2019m getting so high on this that in my arrogance I will eventually try to cut down a tree and break it. It\u2019s the best.<\/p>\n

(By the way, the people who call it a \u201cweedeater\u201d are the same people who use the word \u201cCoke\u201d for every kind of soda, and should be sent straight to jail.)<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEN THINGS is a collection of words that runs prior to each week\u2019s PGA Tour event, mostly ABOUT…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[459,685,460],"class_list":["post-46242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cameron-young","tag-article","tag-cameron-young","tag-golf-digest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}