Who to back at the Wells Fargo Championship
All eyes will be on Tiger Woods, but there are plenty of big names teeing it up this week at Quail Hollow.
The course record holder, Rory McIlroy, makes his first start since The Masters, as does Justin Thomas, who returns to the scene of last year’s PGA Championship win.
Quite rightly, those two have been priced up as the favourites, but with the market being so top-heavy, there are plenty of each-way opportunities at big prices. We”ll start with those…
Wells Fargo Championship: Keel’s each-way tips
I understand that this is a strong field, but I’m a bit baffled as to why Bryson DeChambeau has been priced up at 60/1.
He finished 2nd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where only the finest putting performance of McIlroy’s career got in his way.
He then put in a solid 38th at Augusta, but last time out at Harbour Town he again returned to hot form to shoot a final-round 66 to finish 3rd.
Clearly he’s in brilliant shape and we already know that he can win on tour after his performance at the John Deere Classic last year.
That second win looks to be around the corner; at the prices, we have to take a chance that this will be the week.
Kevin Streelman is a proven PGA Tour winner and a player that is in terrific form. He has two top-10s in his last two starts at the Valero Texas Open and RBC Heritage, and when on song, he’s a greens in regulation machine.
He has four missed cuts here at Quail Hollow, but three of his last four starts here have yielded big results; 9th in 2015, 14th in 2014 and 6th in 2013. Clearly Streelman has started to figure out this golf course, and with him being in such good form, he certainly has a chance of contending among the plethora of big names.
Something stood out when Chesson Hadley was interviewed last week at the Zurich Classic. He started talking about how the team format was good experience for the Ryder Cup. I chuckled a little bit to start with, but then I realised that he was being serious.
I wouldn’t give him much chance to make the USA team this year, but clearly he has big belief in his game, and to be fair to him, he’s backed it up so far this year.
Indeed, he’s only missed two cuts this year, and hasn’t finished outside of the top-20 in his last four starts.
He also has a terrific record in North Carolina, the home of his very first Web.com win at the Rex Hospital Open in 2013. If that doesn’t tempt you, he’s played here at Quail Hollow three times, missing the cut on debut, but finishing 20th in 2015 and 11th in 2016. If he keeps that trajectory going, he’ll contend here at a good price of 66/1.
That’s Keel’s each-way bets, now head over to the next page to see his top tip for Quail Hollow…
Tom Irwin
Tom is a lifetime golfer, now over 30 years playing the game. 2023 marks 10 years in golf publishing and he is still holding down a + handicap at Alwoodley in Leeds. He has played over 600 golf courses, and has been a member of at least four including his first love Louth, in Lincolnshire. Tom likes unbranded clothing, natural fibres, and pencil bags. Seacroft in Lincolnshire is where it starts and ends.
