WORLD NO. 16 HIDEKI MATSUYAMA, DANIEL BERGER, BRENDAN STEELE, OLLIE SCHNEIDERJANS, PETER UIHLEIN AMONG LATE COMMITMENTS TO WYNDHAM FIELD;
Reigning U.S. Amateur Champion Doc Redman Accepts Sponsor’s Exemption
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GREENSBORO, N.C. – World No. 16 Hideki Matsuyama, 2017 runner-up Ollie Schneiderjans, Daniel Berger, Brendan Steele, Peter Uihlein and U.S. Amateur champion Doc Redman are late commitments to the Wyndham Championship field, the tournament announced today. The 79th annual Wyndham Championship is next week at Sedgefield Country Club.
Matsuyama, Schneiderjans, Berger, Steele, Uihlein and Redman join 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott, 2017 Masters champion and 2012 Wyndham winner Sergio Garcia, defending champion and 2013 FedExCup champion Henrik Stenson, 2018 PLAYERS Championship and 2011 Wyndham winner Webb Simpson, 2007 Wyndham winner and 2012 FedExCup Champion Brandt Snedeker, 2009 Wyndham winner Ryan Moore, 2016 winner and 2017 PLAYERS Champion Si Woo Kim, 2018 Ryder Cup Captain Jim Furyk, World Golf Hall of Famer Ernie Els, Spanish star Rafa Cabrera Bello, 2011 FedExCup champion Bill Haas, three-time champion Davis Love III, Raleigh’s Chesson Hadley, Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick, PGA TOUR veteran Steve Stricker, East Carolina University alumnus Harold Varner III, 19-year-old phenoms Joaquin Niemann and Norman Xiong, Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas, Japanese golfer Satoshi Kodaira and Major winners Padraig Harrington, Jason Dufner, Graeme McDowell and Stewart Cink as well as 2008 champion Carl Pettersson in the Wyndham Championship field.
Matsuyama will make his fifth Wyndham Championship appearance next week; he did not play last year but played the four previous tournaments. He finished tied for third in 2016 and finished 15th in 2013. Matsuyama is a five-time PGA TOUR winner with eight international victories to his credit; he finished eighth in the 2017 final FedExCup point standings. His best PGA TOUR finishes this year are tied for fourth at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and tied for fifth at the CIMB Classic. He played for the International Team in the Presidents Cup Matches in 2013, ’15 and ’17. A native and resident of Japan, Matsuyama is 16th in the Official Golf World Rankings and 87th in the current FedExCup point standings; one year ago, he climbed to No. 2 in the world.
Berger is a two-time PGA TOUR winner taking the FedEx St. Jude’s Classic in both 2016 and ’17; his best finish this season is tied for sixth at the U.S. Open. The Florida State University alumnus is a Florida native and resident who turned professional in 2013 and joined the PGA TOUR in 2015. He is 95th in the FedExCup point standings and 43rd in the Official World Golf Rankings and will make his second Wyndham Championship start.
Steele is a three-time PGA TOUR winner who won the Safeway Open in 2017 and ’18. In addition to his win this season, the California native and resident finished tied for third at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and tied for 10th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He turned professional in 2005 and joined the PGA TOUR in 2011. Steele is 33rd in the current FedExCup point standings and 60th in the Official World Golf Rankings. He will make his third Wyndham Championship start next week; he finished tied for 11th in 2013.
Schneiderjans was the 2017 Wyndham Championship runner up finishing one stroke behind champion Henrik Stenson. Schneiderjans nearly holed his approach shot for eagle on the 72nd hole to tie Stenson, but the ball rolled just past the cup relegating the Georgia Tech alumnus to a runner-up finish. Next week’s Wyndham Championship will be Schneiderjans’ third appearance. He is 79th in the current FedExCup point standings and 104th in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Uihlein is the 2010 U.S. Amateur champion. He won the AJGA Wyndham Invitational presented by BB&T in 2007 before attending Oklahoma State University. He played the European Challenge Tour in 2012 and moved up to the European Tour the next year where he won the Madeira Islands Open and was named the 2013 Rookie of the Year; he finished 14th in the season-long Race to Dubai.
Uihlein made seven PGA TOUR starts in 2017 and recorded three top-25 finishes. He later returned to the states to compete in the Web.com Tour Finals and won in the first Finals event. He was third in the final priority-ranking order and secured his PGA TOUR card for the 2017-18 season with a first-place finish on the 2017 Web.com Tour Finals money list. He is currently 74th in the FedExCup Point standings and 59th in the Official World Golf Rankings. He will make his first Wyndham Championship start next week.
Redman won the U.S. Amateur in Los Angeles last August with an incredible come-from-behind victory over Doug Ghim who also accepted a sponsor’s exemption into the Wyndham Championship. Redman left Clemson University after two seasons and turned professional earlier this year. Both Redman (2015) and Ghim (2012, ’13) are alumni of the AJGA Wyndham Invitational presented by BB&T.
“This week was a good one for us at the PGA Championship,” tournament director Mark Brazil said. “Adding Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia and Hideki Matsuyama plus some other great players gives us an excellent field for next week. We already had what I would consider a fairly strong field, but this week certainly took us over the top. I’m happy that we were able to get some up and coming young players in the field – especially last year’s runner-up Ollie Schneiderjans and U.S. Amateur champion and North Carolina native Doc Redman. This will be Peter Uilein’s first Wyndham Championship; he won our AJGA event back in 2007, and it’s always great when one of our former AJGA champions plays the Wyndham Championship – he’s an extremely talented player who is ready to break out on the PGA TOUR.”
The Wyndham Championship field includes eight former champions: Henrik Stenson (2017), Si Woo Kim (2016), Davis Love III (1992, 2006, 2015), Sergio Garcia (2012), Webb Simpson (2011), Ryan Moore (2009), Carl Pettersson (2008) and Brandt Snedeker (2007). Also in the field are five FedExCup champions: Billy Horschel (2014), Henrik Stenson (2013), Brandt Snedeker (2012), Bill Haas (2011) and Jim Furyk (2010). The final field for the 2018 Wyndham Championship is below:
Ancer, Abraha
Appleby, Stuart
Armour, Ryan
Atkins, Matt
Baddeley, Aaron
Bae, Sangmoon
Barber, Blayne
Barnes, Ricky
Berger, Daniel
Bertsch, Shane
Blair, Zac
Blanks, Kris
Blaum, Ryan
Blixt, Jonas
Bohn, Jason
Bozzelli, Dominic
Brown, Scott
Bryan, Wesley
Burgoon, Bronson
Byrd, Jonathan
Cabrera Bello, Rafa
Campbell, Chad
Cejka, Alex
Cink, Stewart
Conners, Corey
Crane, Ben
de Jonge, Brendon
DÃaz, Roberto
Dou, Zecheng
Dufner, Jason
Duncan, Tyler
Els, Ernie
English, Harris
Every, Matt
Fathauer, Derek
Fitzpatrick, Matthew
Flores, Martin
Frost, Charles
Furyk, Jim
Gainey, Tommy
Garcia, Sergio
Garnett, Brice
Garrigus, Robert
Gay, Brian
Ghim, Doug
GÃmez, Fabia¡n
Gooch, Talor
Goosen, Retief
Gribble, Cody
Griffin, Lanto
Haas, Bill
Hadley, Chesson
Harkins, Brandon
Harrington, Padraig
Hearn, David
Henley, Russell
Henry, J.J.
Herron, Tim
Hoge, Tom
Horschel, Billy
Howell III, Charles
Hughes, Mackenzie
Huh, John
Hurley III, Billy
Jaeger, Stephan
Jones, Matt
Kang, Sung
Kim, Si Woo
Kim, Whee
Kirk, Chris
Kodaira, Satoshi
Kokrak, Jason
Laird, Martin
Lashley, Nate
Lee, Danny
Lindheim, Nicholas
Lingmerth, David
Love III, Davis
Lovelady, Tom
Lovemark, Jamie
Lowry, Shane
Mahan, Hunter
Malnati, Peter
Marino, Steve
Matsuyama, Hideki
McCarthy, Denny
McDowell, Graeme
McGirt, William
McLachlin, Parker
McNeill, George
Merrick, John
Meyer, Dylan
Mitchell, Keith
Moore, Ryan
Mullinax, Trey
Murray, Grayson
Niemann, Joaquin
O’Hair, Sean
Oda, John
Oppenheim, Rob
Pampling, Rod
Pan, C.T.
Percy, Cameron
Pettersson, Carl
Piercy, Scott
Piller, Martin
Points, D.A.
Poston, J.T.
Power, Seamus
Randolph, Jonathan
Redman, Doc
Rodgers, Patrick
Romero, Andres
Ryder, Sam
Sabbatini, Rory
Saunders, Sam
Schenk, Adam
Schneiderjans, Ollie
Scott, Adam
Shindler, Conrad
Silverman, Ben
Simpson, Webb
Snedeker, Brandt
Stallings, Scott
Steele, Brendan
Stefani, Shawn
Stegmaier, Brett
Stenson, Henrik
Streb, Robert
Stricker, Steve
Stroud, Chris
Stuard, Brian
Summerhays, Daniel
Suri, Julian
Swafford, Hudson
Taylor, Nick
Taylor, Vaughn
Thompson, Kyle
Thompson, Michael
Tracy, Ethan
Tringale, Cameron
Tway, Kevin
Uihlein, Peter
Van Aswegen, Tyrone
Varner III, Harold
Vegas, Jhonattan
Wagner, Johnson
Watney, Nick
Werenski, Richy
Wheatcroft, Steve
Xiong, Norman
Yun, Andrew
Zalatoris, Will
Zhang, Xinjun
About the Wyndham Championship:
Contested annually on the Donald Ross-designed course at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., the Wyndham Championship was founded in 1938 and is the sixth-oldest event on the PGA TOUR excluding the Majors. Tickets are available at http://www.wyndhamchampionship.com or through the tournament office at (336) 379-1570. The tournament thanks title sponsor Wyndham Rewards, presenting sponsor BB&T and Premier Partners, Cadillac, Harris Teeter, Lincoln Financial, McConnell Golf, Sunbrella® and VF Corporation for their continued support. Additional tournament information and sponsorship information are available at www.wyndhamchampionship.com. For more information about Wyndham Rewards, please visit www.wyndhamrewards.com. Stay connected with the Wyndham Championship through its social media channels, including the Wyndham Championship Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram.
About Wyndham Rewards:
Named a best travel rewards program for the past three consecutive years by U.S. News and World Report, Wyndham Rewards® is the world’s most generous loyalty program offering members a simple earning structure of a guaranteed 1,000 points for every qualified stay, along with a flat, free night redemption rate of just 15,000 points per room per night – the first of its kind for a major rewards program. Wyndham Rewards members can enjoy the benefits of the program at nearly 9,000 Wyndham Hotels & Resorts properties, as well as thousands of homes and condos in partnership with Wyndham Destinations. Join for free today at www.WyndhamRewards.com You’ve earned this.®
About Wyndham Hotels & Resorts:
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: WH) is the largest hotel franchising Company in the world, with nearly 9,000 hotels across more than 80 countries on six continents. Through its network of approximately 790,000 rooms appealing to the everyday traveler, Wyndham commands a leading presence in both the economy and midscale segments of the lodging industry. The Company operates a portfolio of 20 hotel brands, including Super 8®, Days Inn®, Ramada®, Microtel Inn & Suites®, La Quinta®, Wingate®, AmericInn®, Hawthorn Suites®, The Trademark Collection® and Wyndham®. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is also a leading provider of hotel management services, with more than 400 properties under management. The Company’s award-winning Wyndham Rewards® loyalty program offers more than 56 million enrolled members the opportunity to redeem points at thousands of hotels, condominiums and holiday homes globally. For more information, visit www.WyndhamHotels.com.
About Wyndham Destinations:
Wyndham Destinations (NYSE: WYND) believes in putting the world on vacation. Our global presence in 110 countries at more than 220 vacation ownership resorts and 4,300+ affiliated exchange properties distinguishes Wyndham Destinations as the world’s largest vacation ownership and exchange company, with North America’s largest professionally managed rental business. Each year our team of 25,000 associates delivers great vacations to millions of families as they make memories of a lifetime. Learn more at www.WyndhamDestinations.com. Our world is your destination.