Rory McIlroy broke a winless drought at last year’s Wells Fargo Championship. He will attempt to successfully defend a title on the PGA Tour for the first time this week – albeit it at a different venue.
With the Quail Hollow Club playing host to the Presidents Cup laster this year, the Wells Fargo is making a one-year stop at TPC Potomac at Avenel. Field Level Media’s golf experts break down the event along with providing odds and their best bets for the event beginning Thursday.
WELLS FARGO CHAMPIONSHIP
Potomac, Md., May 5-8
Course: TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm (Par 70, 7,160 yards)
Purse: $9M (Winner: $1.62M)
Defending Champions: Rory McIlroy
FedExCup Leader: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
PGA Tour Live: Daily feeds on ESPN+
Social Media: @WellsFargoGolf (Twitter)
NOTES
–TPC Potomac has played host to 21 previous PGA Tour events, the most recent being the Quicken Loans National in 2018 won by Francesco Molinari.
–McIlroy, a 20-time winner on the PGA Tour, is seeking his first successful title defense. This is the only event he has won more than twice in his career (2010, 2015, 2021).
–Morgan Hoffmann has two starts remaining on a medical extension and needs to earn 238.42 FedEx Cup points to retain his full status on tour. Hoffman was diagnosed in 2017 with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.
–Sponsors exemptions include Ben Martin, who finished runner-up at the Corales Puntacana Championship in March, and Howard University star Gregory Odom Jr.
–Rickie Fowler is one of two players to finish 12th or better in both years the Quicken Loans National was held at TPC Potomac. However, he has fallen to 146th in the world rankings after missing five of his past eight cuts.
BEST BETS
–McIlroy (+900 at BetMGM) is teeing it up for the first time since closing with a 64 at the Masters. He has never competed on tour at TPC Potomac. McIlroy opened at +800 but his odds lengthened a bit despite drawing 8.2 percent of the winning tickets and 13.1 percent of the handle. He has also been backed by 29 percent of the handle at +850 by DraftKings – more than three times the amount of any other player in the field.
–Corey Conners (+2000) has four top-12s in his past six starts, including a solo third at the Match Play. He leads the sportsbook with 10.0 percent of the tickets and 13.8 percent of the handle.
–Tony Finau (+2200) is coming off a T2 in Mexico, his first top-10 finish of the season.
–Abraham Ancer (+3000) finished runner-up last year and shares the course record at TPC Potomac. He finished T4 at the 2018 Quicken Loans National and has seen his odds shorten after opening at +3300.
–Tyrrell Hatton (+3300), who finished T2 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this year, leads the tour in strokes gained putting this season (1.123 per round).
–Sepp Straka (+5000), who earned his first tour win earlier this season at the Honda Classic, makes his first start as a top-50 ranked player. Straka opened at +6600 and has been supported by only 1.4 percent of the handle.
–Cameron Young (+4000) saw his odds shorten from +5000 with the public backing him with 5.8 percent of the bets and 6.4 percent of the handle, both third-most at the book.