Another star-studded PGA Tour event comes our way this week, with 10 top-20 players having entered in this year’s installment of the Wells Fargo Championship.
The Quail Hollow Club is one of the most highly-regarded courses on the Tour, so much so that it’ll also be the site for next year’s coveted major, the PGA Championship. But for now, let’s take look at the most note-worthy entrants set to tee off in Charlotte.
And if you’re in need of more in-depth analysis for the Wells Fargo Championship, head on over to our sleeper and long shot picks features right after this.
For every tournament that Rory McIlroy has started of late, it seems that he’s always a top contender for all of those past events. Out of all the tournaments that the World No. 3 can be considered as the unanimous runaway favorite to win it all, though, it would have to be this week’s Wells Fargo Championship.
McIlroy is the event’s defending champ, all the while shattering Quail Hollow’s 72-hole record by five strokes (267) in the process last year. Furthermore, he’s also the only two-time winner at Quail Hollow, with five top-10 finishes over his last six appearances.
To cap it all off, the Irishman is even entering Thursday’s opening tee with three top 10s – a couple of them were even top-5 finishes – in his last four starts this season. With a glitzy history on the course and fantastic momentum heading into the tournament, McIlroy is no doubt the one golfer that most if not all experts expect to emerge victorious from Charlotte.
Rickie Fowler
McIlroy isn’t the only returning champion this week, as 27-year-old Rickie Fowler won the Wells Fargo Championship back in 2012 by way of a three-man playoff that saw him go up against D.A. Points and Wee-Mac himself. Apart from that thrilling victory, Fowler’s also made the cut in all five of his starts at Quail Hollow and bagged three top-20 finishes at that.
A poor showing at The Masters is a major cause of concern, but Fowler’s stellar numbers this season are more than enough to back up his superb form in general. He’s currently ranked third this season in scoring average, second in total strokes gained, and fifth in both birdie average and greens-in-regulation percentage. With stats like those, how could you still not bank on a win for the World No. 5 this week?
Sleepers
Daniel Berger
From one golfer hailing from Jupiter in Fowler to another we go, this time with Daniel Berger. The PGA’s reigning Rookie of the Year shares that same distinction with Fowler, who also won the award five years before the 23-year-old.
Berger followed-up his remarkable 2015 debut with a sputtering start this season, but has strung together four top-15 finishes over his last five starts already, namely a solid T5 finish at the Shell Houston Open and a T10 at Augusta. Now that it appears as if Berger has righted his ship, he’s now in great shape to match his fellow Floridian in wins at Quail Hollow.
Kevin Chappell
Looking for a sleeper candidate with more experience on this week’s course and with a mean streak to boot? Have a crack at Kevin Chappell instead, then. The Fresno native has three top-10 finishes over his last four starts, counting his fantastic solo runner-up finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
As for the Wells Fargo Championship, making four of five cuts at the tournament isn’t necessarily appealing at first glance. But when you consider that Chappell has posted back-to-back top 20s on the course in his last two appearances, you can’t help but be enticed at the 29-year-old’s prospects of finally ending his six-year winless drought as a pro this week.
Long Shot
Phil Mickelson
We feel pretty bad for knocking down good ol’ Phil Mickelson to the rather dreaded long shot status this week. Lefty’s actually a fixture of sorts at Quail Hollow and a pretty solid one at that, as he’s made an impressive 12-consecutive starts on the course with eight top-10 finishes. He ended up tied for fourth last year, and came in second back in 2010, too.
The problem with Mickelson, however, is that his age looks to have crept up on him once more. After a relatively strong start to the season, the 45-year-old has failed to make the cut of the past couple of events. By the way, one of those tournaments happens to be The Masters.
Mickelson has not had a top-10 finish in four starts since the first week of March, so it comes as no surprise that expectations for one of golf’s all-time greats are pretty low right now. Throw in the fact that Lefty has not won a PGA title in about three years, and you’ll definitely want to side with one of the PGA’s younger stars this week instead.
Writer’s Prediction
Fowler notches his first win of 2016 by fending off McIlroy in yet another intense final-round battle at Quail Hollow.
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