2021 Wells Fargo Championship: Tournament preview and picks

The PGA returns to the iconic Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, this week for the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship.

The Wells Fargo Championship makes its return to the PGA calendar this week for the first time since 2019 when Max Homa secured his first PGA victory. Quail Hollow was missed in 2020 as the tour was still a month away from its resumption during the COVID-19 pause.

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Much like last week at Copperhead, Quail Hollow Club traditionally ranks amongst the more difficult course’s that tour professionals will see each year. In 2019 the iconic location ranked as the fifth most difficult on the schedule as it played more than a stroke over PAR on average.

Many of the World’s most elite golfers will be making last-minute preparations in North Carolina this week with the year’s second Major, the 103rd PGA Championship, just two weeks away now. This is reflected in the strength of this week’s 156 man field at the Wells Fargo Championship with 6 of the top 10 ranked players in the World per the Official World Golf Ranking set to take part.

Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, and Webb Simpson all headline this week’s enticing field.

Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow

Quail Hollow is one of the more remarkable course’s on tour and it provides a complete test of a player’s game. The course hosted the PGA Championship in 2017 when Justin Thomas won his first Major, and it will play host to next year’s Presidents Cup as well.

The course was designed by famed golfing architect George Cobb in the 1960s before undergoing numerous renovations over the years by Tom Fazio, with the most recent update taking place in 2016.

The PAR 71 design measures out at over 7,500 yards in length as it plays out across the surrounding parkland landscape. Water comes into play across six of the back nines holes and players will be faced with another difficult three-hole stretch this week known as ”the green mile” that encompasses Quail Hollow’s closing holes 16-18.

In 2014 all 18 greens underwent changes and were switched from Bentgrass to the Bermuda blend players will see this week.

Past Wells Fargo Championship Winners

2019: Max Homa (-15)

2018: Jason Day (-12)

2017: Brian Harman (-10) *Not held at Quail Hollow

2016: James Hahn (-9)

2015: Rory Mcllroy (-21)

2014: J.B. Holmes (-14)

The Favorites at the Wells Fargo Championship

The odds used in this article can be found online at Draftkings sportsbook and are current at the time of the article. Make sure to check what is available locally to you for the best and updated odds.

(Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /

Justin Thomas +900 opens as the slight favorite once again this week. The 2017 PGA Championship winner has a terrific record around Quail Hollow and looks to have his game in great shape heading into this week. Thomas finished 13th last week despite leading the field from tee to green, and once more it was the flat stick that let him down.

Jon Rahm +1000 comes in right behind Thomas this week and even with a limited history at this event is a force to be reckoned with this week. The Spaniard comes into this week’s Wells Fargo Championship on the back of four top 10 finishes in his last five starts.

A group of five players closes out the top-tier next with Bryson DeChambeau +1500 leading the way. DeChambeau will be making his first start this week following another disappointing Masters appearance in his last event and he is followed closely by, Xander Schauffele +1800, Rory Mcllroy +1900, Viktor Hovland +2000, and Webb Simpson +2000, near the top of the board.

Mcllroy is tempting at the longer odds this week, and he does have a fantastic history at this event that includes no worse than a 22nd place finish in any start here since 2012. However, his game has been so erratic in 2021 so far it makes it difficult to back him over other names in this range.

Mid-Tier

The search for a second Tony Finau +2800 win continues and he opens over Patrick Cantlay +3000, Patrick Reed +3000, and Will Zalatoris +3000, at the top of the Mid-Tier range this week.

Both Patrick Reed and Will Zalatoris stand out this week, and Reed has two top 10 finishes at Quail Hollow in his last three starts. Zalatoris returns after a couple of weeks off and will be making his Wells Fargo Championship debut this week.

Corey Conners +3300, Abraham Ancer +3500, Joaquin Niemann +3500, and Cameron Tringale +3500 can also be found in this range before Max Homa +4000, and Sungjae Im +4500 close out the Mid-Tier.

Conners and Sungjae took a bit of a step back last week while Ancer, Niemann, Tringale, and Homa all finished inside of the top 10 at Copperhead. The 2019 Wells Fargo Champion is hard to ignore this week even after a disappointing Sunday round, Homa has a 17th and 6th place finish in his last two starts now, albeit, with one of those finishes coming at the team event in New Orleans.

Wells Fargo Championship Picks

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Bryson DeChambeau +1500

DeChambeau disappointed at Augusta National once again in his last start, but prior to that, he had a win and a third-place finish at THE PLAYERS in his two previous starts. Bryson was 4th in his last start at Quail Hollow in 2018 and it is a course that should perfectly suit his game.

Over the past 24 rounds the 2020 U.S. Open winner rates out first in the field in strokes gained tee to green, first in strokes gained ball striking, first in strokes gained off the tee, and first in proximity numbers from 200 plus yards out, all of which feature heavily at Quail Hollow.

Bryson looks to represent pretty good value at the top of the board this week and is the first addition to the card for the Wells Fargo Championship.

(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

Will Zalatoris +3000

Zalatoris continues to look for that meaningful breakthrough victory that is surely just around the corner. Will has finished Top 25 or better in every event but two so far in 2021 and he has displayed a tendency to excel on difficult courses already in his young career with a 6th at last year’s U.S. Open, 10th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 21st at THE PLAYERS, and 2nd at the Masters several week’s ago.

He also rates out inside of the top 20 in strokes gained tee to green, strokes gained approach, strokes gained ball striking, and driving distance, across his last four starts.

(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /

Joaquin Niemann +3500

Niemann has continued to show that what was once a weak part of his game has now become a strength as the Chilean has now gained strokes putting in each of his last three starts and seven of his last ten. Joaquin uncharacteristically lost strokes off the tee last week at the Valspar on his way to an 8th place finish in what was his first top 10 finish since January.

Niemann has a track record of playing difficult courses well and that was on display when he finished 3rd at last year’s difficult BMW Championship during the FedEx Cup playoffs. The Chilean ranks inside of the top ten in both strokes gained off the tee and driving distance across his last 24 rounds, further indicating how uncharacteristic his struggles last week in that department were.

The fact that he gained in every other statistical category on his way to another top 10 finish on a difficult course perhaps signifies that his game is peaking at just the right time for this week’s Wells Fargo Championship.

Harold Varner III +9000 will be the final addition to the card for the Wells Fargo Championship. The North Carolina native has indicated how much a win here would mean for him personally and even though Varner’s best finish at Quail Hollow is just a 24th place finish back in 2016, that could be as a result of how much pressure he does put on himself to win this event.

Next. 2021 Wells Fargo Championship: Top 10 power rankings at Quail Hollow. dark

He does however come into this week on the back of a 2nd place finish a couple of week’s ago at the RBC Heritage and has finished inside of the top 25 in three of his last five starts, so I’ll take a chance on the hometown hero at long odd’s to wrap up the card this week.

Wells Fargo Championship Card

Bryson DeChambeau +1500

Will Zalatoris +3000

Joaquin Niemann +3500

Harold Varner III +9000

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