The whole populace of Charlotte could still be coming to grips with the recent ouster of their Charlotte Hornets in the NBA Playoffs, which compound the misery of the Carolina Panthers’ Super Bowl loss. But hey, how about a throng of the world’s best golfers visiting the city for the Wells Fargo Championship to cheer the city up? With that said, let’s look at three sleepers we believe could pull the rug underneath the big dogs such as Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott and take home the $1,278,000 top prize.
2016 Wells Fargo Championship Sleeper Picks and Predictions
Where: Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte
When: May 5-8, 2016
Lines: view all Wells Fargo Championship lines
Brooks Koepka
After getting cut in last month’s Shell Houston Open, Koepka became one of the most frequently mentioned sleepers for the Masters Tournament. While he finished T25 in Augusta and got cut in the succeeding Valero Texas Open, we’ll go ahead and declare Koepka as among our sleepers for the upcoming Wells Fargo Championship. After all, one of the best ways to get overlooked is by having a couple of unspectacular outings in the lead up to an event.
So far this PGA season, Koepka has three top 10 finishes, which includes a T3 during last January’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions.
Jim Furyk
Speaking of being overlooked, let’s talk a bit about Furyk. Furyk hasn’t competed since September of last year because of wrist problems—which he addressed by undergoing surgery in February—but will now test his talent for the first time this season at the Wells Fargo Championship.
Disappearing for months and not even playing sure are great ways to get ignored by bettors but let’s not forget that the 24-year pro has won this event back in 2006 and was a runner-up twice (2005, 2014). His most recent win came in the 2015 RBC Heritage, when he defeated Kevin Kisner in a playoff.
J.B. Holmes
Holmes made quite a surge in The Masters, finishing T5. He followed that up with a decent T13 in the Valero Texas Open. For those keeping count, Holmes now has three top 10 finishes and seven inside the top 25 but hasn’t won yet thus far this season. In other words, he’s ripe for a win and that elusive victory may come this week at Wells Fargo, a tournament he has actually won before. Holmes shot a 14-under-par in 2014 to edge the aforementioned Jim Furyk for the title.
