Wyndham Championship 2025 FRL Tips: Aaron Rai can lead the way on Day 1

The PGA Tour has made its way to North Carolina this week and action gets underway at 06:50 local time on Thursday morning. If you are a punter who enjoys a punt on the First Round Leader market then you have to bet early as one of Jamie's selections comes from the opening group.

Our resident golf tipster has picked out three to consider backing each-way, check out his Wyndham Championship 2025 FRL Tips with us here at Betfred Insights below...

*If you haven't read Jamie's full Wyndham Championship 2025 Betting Tips in his full tournament preview. You can do so behind the link. 

The Wyndham Championship begins in Greensboro, North Carolina tomorrow and with conditions predicted to be largely calm, we should see some low scoring at a receptive Sedgefield Country Club. 

There has been rain in the area in the build up to the event and there is forecast to be further thunderstorms overnight. However, it will have cleared before play begins and the early tee times will start their week in pleasant, benign conditions, with wind barely reaching 5mph throughout the morning. 

Much of the afternoon will be similarly calm, with occasional gusting winds hitting highs 9mph. That being said, it is scheduled to be more humid, which carries the risk of thunderstorms at around 14:00.  

The potential for storms causes a level of uncertainty for tomorrow and with little in terms of wind between the two waves, it's not a first-round leader market to get heavily invested in.  

Morning tee times usually hold sway here – with seven of the last 11 players to have held a share of the lead on day one teeing off early. Therefore, I'll focus my attention on that section of the draw. 

*You can get up to date and live Wyndham Championship 2025 Odds over on betfred.com.

Aaron Rai 

Start time: 07:34 

First up is defending champion Aaron Rai. He's among the best all-round performers in this field in 2025 and has been scoring well in the opening rounds. We saw how low he can go at Sedgefield Country Club last year and arriving after hitting the ball better than most in The Open, I expect him to be start quickly. 

Rai has had a positive season on the PGA Tour, recording eight top-25 finishes and hitting the top 40 at each major. He ranks 5th in this field from tee-to-green for the season, and ranked 6th in ball-striking on his most recent start in The Open – owing to his precision both in approach and with the driver. 

He's had several low rounds of late, including shooting a seven-under 63 in the third round of the Travelers Championship – a similarly short and strategic par-70 course. Meanwhile, he often finds it over the first 18 holes, ranking 20th in this field in first-round performance over the previous three months. 

Rai did little of note on his first two visits to Sedgefield CC, finishing 71st in 2022 and missing the cut in 2023. However, there's no doubt he's an ideal fit for the course and he proved this last year, firing rounds of 65-65-68-64 to finish as a two-shot winner. He looks in the mood to make a strong start in defence of his title tomorrow. 

Christiaan Bezuidenhout 

Start time: 07:56 

In need of a good week to make it into the FedExCup Playoffs, Christiaan Bezuidenhout will be desperate to get off to a fast start on Thursday. He recorded a first-round lead at The Open just two starts ago and as a player who has multiple low rounds at the Wyndham Championship, he can take advantage of tomorrow morning's scorable conditions. 

Bezuidenhout has been in great form of late, recording four top-25 finishes in his last eight starts. This includes an impressive 12th-place finish in the US Open, and after a slow start last week, he shots rounds of 66, 67, and 65 to finish 20th in the 3M Open. 

The South African excelled on the greens and solid in approach there. Indeed, it's these two areas in which he's shone most in the last three months, ranking 25th in approach and 35th in putting. Although his season-long first-round stats aren't too impressive, he did open with a four-under 67 to share the first-round lead at The Open just two weeks ago. 

Bezuidenhout has played Sedgefield CC four times and made each cut, recording a best of 22nd last year. He started strongly in 2022, firing a four-under 66 to sit 14th after round one and having also shot a 63 here last year – among various other rounds in the 60s – there's evidence enough that he can make the glut of birdies required on Thursday.  

Start time: 06:50 

Victor Perez has been starting excellently in recent months and putts better than anyone over the first 18 holes. He showed promise at Sedgefield CC on debut last year and as another player in need of a big week in North Carolina to advance to next week's St Jude Championship, he'll be raring to go from the first group out. 

Perez has been in good form the last three months, missing just two cuts in 10 starts and recording three top-20 finishes: 9th in the Canadian Open, 13th in the Myrtle Beach Classic, and 19th in the US Open. He's shown particular promise with his irons over that period, ranking 17th in approach in this field and is also top-40 in putting. 

Those results have often been engineered by a sound start, ranking 6th in the field in round-one performance since the beginning of May. He opened with a six-under 64 in the Scottish Open to tie the first-round lead two starts ago, and he again began well last week, with a six-under 65 enough to sit 11th after day one of the 3M Open. 

Perez debuted in the Wyndham Championship last season, shooting four rounds in the 60s to finish a solid 33rd. He started with a four-under 66 there – his best round of the week – and I'm expecting him to improve on that on Thursday. 

You can find all Jamie's latest Golf Betting Tips over on our dedicated golf Insights hub.