After two great weeks of golf full of star-studded fields at the WGC-Match Play and the Players Championship, the PGA Tour moves to Charlotte's Quail Hollow Country Club this week for the Wells Fargo Championship. To no surprise, world No. 1 Rory McIlroy is the heavy Bovada favorite.
You won't see Players Championship winner Rickie Fowler, Masters winners Jordan Spieth or Tiger Woods this week among some big names. But McIlroy, world No. 3 Henrik Stenson and No. 5 Jim Furyk join defending champ J.B. Holmes in a lineup that features 11 of the Top 25 players in this week’s rankings. This event is seen as a U.S. Open tune-up for many golfers as the tight fairways and difficult greens usually give them a fair indicator of where their games are heading into the season's second major.
The Wells Fargo Championship is a relative newcomer to the PGA Tour -- this week's edition is the 13th since it debuted in 2003. But Charlotte is a favorite Tour stop of many players with a handful living in the area. Plus Wells Fargo is a major sponsor of the Tour. Quail Hollow has served as a the sole host through the tournament's brief history. It's been the stage for the breakthrough victories of Anthony Kim (2008), McIlroy (2010), Fowler (2012) and Derek Ernst (2013),
Last year, Holmes capped a storybook comeback, holding off Furyk by a shot to win for the first time since brain surgery briefly forced him to the sideline. Holmes by three with three holes to play, before two bogeys along the “Green Mile” raised the drama and cost him a chance at the tournament scoring record. Holmes’ closing bogey finished off a 1-under-par 71, sealing his first victory since the 2008 Waste Management Phoenix Open. For Holmes, victory came 2 ½ years after surgery to correct Chiara malformations at the base of his brain. He also endured elbow problems and a broken ankle on the comeback trail.
Rory McIlroy (7/2): McIlroy followed his match-play win with a top-10 at the Players despite front-nine struggles, and his record at Quail Hollow is impeccable: three straight top-10 finishes to go along with his breakthrough win in 2010.
Henrik Stenson (18/1): First appearance since third straight missed cut in 2013. Ranks second in both strokes-gained stats and adjusted scoring. Sixth in bogey avoidance.
Jim Furyk (18/1): Furyk has a pair of runner-up finishes (2005, 2014) to go along with his victory here in 2006. He has finished outside the top 30 just once since 2005 at this event.
Phil Mickelson (20/1): Lefty missed the cut at the Players but hasn't finished worse than T-26 at this event since 2007, notching a trio of top-three finishes across that span. He has broken par in 33 of his 44 career rounds on the difficult layout.
Hideki Matsuyama (22/1): Co-led the Players Championship after 18 holes and finished T17 for his sixth straight top 25. Third in ball-striking; 10th in adjusted scoring. He finished T-38 last year in his Quail Hollow debut.
Bill Haas (25/1): : The Charlotte native barely missed out on the playoff at the Players, but he heads home to an event where he finished fourth in both 2006 and 2011.
Here are the first-round tee times:
7 a.m.: No. 1, John Huh, Bo Van Pelt, Zac Blair; No. 10, Robert Garrigus, Brice Garnett, S.J. Park
7:10 a.m.: No. 1, Spencer Levin, David Lingmerth, William McGirt, No. 10, Pat Perez; Blake Adams, John Peterson
7:20 a.m.: No. 1, Sean O'Hair, Eric Axley, Robert Karlsson; No. 10, Jonathan Byrd, Troy Merritt, Colt Knost
7:30 a.m.: No. 1, Ryan Moore, Gary Woodland, Lucas Glover; No. 10, Alex Cejka, Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh
7:40 a.m.: No. 1, Brian Harman, Mark Wilson, Mike Weir; No. 10, Matt Jones, Jonas Blixt, Martin Laird
7:50 a.m.: No. 1, Padraig Harrington, Kevin Streelman, Scott Brown; No. 10, Bill Haas, Webb Simpson, Louis Oosthuizen
8 a.m.: No. 1, James Hahn, K.J. Choi, Charl Schwartzel; No. 10, Jim Furyk, J.B. Holmes, Phil Mickelson
8:10 a.m.: No. 1, Nick Taylor, Hideki Matsuyama, Rory Sabbatini; No. 10, Robert Streb, Hunter Mahan, Ernie Els
8:20 a.m.: No. 1, Bill Lunde, Tim Wilkinson, Andrew Svoboda; No. 10, Andres Romero, Jeff Overton, Shawn Stefani
8:30 a.m.: No. 1, Alex Prugh, Daniel Berger, Adam Hadwin; No. 10, Brendan Steele, Daniel Summerhays, Scott Langley
8:40 a.m.: No. 1, J.J. Henry, Brendon de Jonge, Brian Stuard; No. 10, Danny Lee, Luke Guthrie, Jason Kokrak
8:50 a.m.: No. 1, Cameron Percy, Steven Alker, Corey Conners; No. 10, Whee Kim, Mark Hubbard, Kelvin Day
9 a.m.: No. 1, Max Homa, Roger Sloan, Travis Howe; No. 10, Scott Pinckney, Carlos Sainz Jr., Rick Lewallen.
12:20 p.m.: No. 1, Jhonattan Vegas, Nicholas Thompson, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano; No. 10, David Hearn, Ricky Barnes, Justin Thomas
12:30 p.m.: No. 1, Trevor Immelman, Brian Davis, Andres Gonzales; No. 10, Charlie Beljan, Aaron Baddeley, Martin Flores.
12:40 p.m.: No. 1, Greg Owen, Kyle Reifers, Steve Wheatcroft; No. 10, Freddie Jacobson, Russell Knox, Michael Putnam
12:50 p.m.: No. 1, Geoff Ogilvy, Ken Duke, Michael Thompson; No. 10, Sangmoon Bae, Camilo Villegas, Derek Ernst
1 p.m.: No. 1, John Merrick, David Toms, Stewart Cink; No. 10, Angel Cabrera, Chesson Hadley, Nick Watney
1:10 p.m. No. 1, Adam Scott, Henrik Stenson, Kevin Kisner; No. 10, Boo Weekley, D.A. Points, Scott Piercy, 1:10 p.m.
1:20 p.m.: No. 1, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed, Ben Martin; No. 10, Steven Bowditch, Scott Stallings, Charles Howell III
1:30 p.m.: No. 1, Jason Bohn, Tom Gillis, Tony Finau; No. 10, Heath Slocum, Chad Campbell, Chris Stroud
1:40 p.m.: No. 1, Robert Allenby, Ryo Ishikawa, Jarrod Lyle; No. 10, Jason Gore, Billy Hurley III, Jim Renner
1:50 p.m.: No. 1, Johnson Wagner, Will MacKenzie, Carlos Ortiz; No. 10, George McNeill, Chad Collins, Jon Curran,
2 p.m.: No. 1, Carl Pettersson, Morgan Hoffmann, Blayne Barber; No. 10, Kevin Chappell, Erik Compton, Derek Fathauer
2:10 p.m.: No. 1, Jonathan Randolph, Tom Hoge, Scott Gutschewski; No. 10, Fabian Gomez, Oscar Fraustro, Andres Echavarria
2:20 p.m.: No. 1, Sam Saunders, Andrew Putnam, Patrick Rodgers; No. 10, Jim Herman, Byron Smith, Matt Thompson
Category : Betting Picks
Tag : pga tour. golf odds , rory mcilroy , wells fargo championship
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