Webb Simpson’s affection for the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, knows no bounds.
This is where he played his first big AJGA event, where he earned his first PGA Tour title in 2011, where his father, Sam, presented him the trophy, and where’s he’s been a veritable ATM, recording eight top-10s, highlighted by four consecutive top-3 finishes. No wonder he and wife Dowd named their third child Wyndham Rose.
“Partly because of this golf tournament and just kind of what it means to me and my family,” said Simpson, who attended Wake Forest just down the road and calls Charlotte home, on Wednesday during his news conference ahead of the tournament. “This feels like another home tournament for me. Growing up an hour and a half down the road. I love this golf course. I feel like my home course growing up, Carolina Country Club has some similarities, undulation, doglegs, got to hit fairways. And us players talk about a golf course that fits our eye or a golf course we feel comfortable on and I’ve always felt that way here.”
Simpson, 36, enters the final week of the Tour’s regular season without the stress of having to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, but with work to do to achieve one of his annual goals. He currently ranks No. 48 in the FedEx Cup standings and he is running out of time to vault into the top 30 and book his place in the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta. A victory this week, which is another box he’s failed to check so far during the “super-season,” would take care of many, if not all concerns, in one fell swoop.
“I really measure the season by Atlanta. If I make it to Atlanta, even if I didn’t win, I feel like good things happened for me to get to the final 30,” Simpson explained. “If I don’t make it to Atlanta and I’m winless, it will be a disappointing season for sure.”
Simpson also will chalk it up as a disappointment if he fails to make the U.S. Ryder Cup team. The three-time member of Team USA (2012, 2014, 2018) currently ranks 13th in the point standings and has unfinished business in that he’s never played for a winning side.
“I’ve been 3-0 at Presidents Cups and 0-3 in Ryder Cups. Sitting at home in ’16, it was a bittersweet feeling, I was so bummed not to be there but I was so happy that we won. I remember watching all the coverage even after the tournament just to see how excited they were. I remember feeling like I would love to have that experience at least one time in my career.”
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