Wells Fargo Championship: Six players to watch in the PGA Tour’s stop at Quail Hollow

The player who almost certainly would be favored to win this week’s $20 million Wells Fargo Championship can’t win it.

Scottie Scheffler, who seemingly has toyed with the competition on the PGA Tour this season on route to the world’s No. 1 ranking, won’t be in Charlotte.

He’s with his wife, Meredith, awaiting the birth of the couple’s first child.

But when the field of 69 players tees off Thursday, weather permitting, nearly every other player at the top of the world rankings will be at the Quail Hollow Club,

Typically, many top players skip events the week before one of golf’s majors, but the presence of the PGA Championship in Louisville on the schedule for next week hasn’t deterred leading players from being in Charlotte.

A beefed-up purse and the PGA’s Signature Event status has ensured that.

The only other leading player not in the field is young Swedish standout Ludvig Aberg, the world’s No. 6-ranked player. Aberg pulled out of the field Tuesday, citing a knee injury.

Picking a winner from the field of 69 pros is a daunting task, but the tournament’s history and the makeup of the Quail Hollow Club provide some clues.

Rory McIlroy has won the event three times. Max Homa has won twice. And a handful of players regularly finish among the leaders.

“This course suits longer hitters,” said Shane Lowry, who teamed with McIlroy to win the Zurich New Orleans Open last month.

That points to players like McIlroy, defending Wells Fargo champion Wyndham Clark, Justin Thomas, Tony Finau and Gary Woodland.

A winner at Quail Hollow also must be good with long approach shots, since eight of the par-4 holes are 450 yards or longer.

Of course, it always helps to be good around the green.

So, here are six players to watch at this week’s Wells Fargo Championship:

Rory McIlroy

OK, this one is obvious. McIlroy won in 2010, 2015 and 2021 and played well last month in New Orleans. He’s ranked No. 2 in the world and is the betting favorite this week.

He ranks third in driving distance and is first overall in driving, who you factor in accuracy. Quail Hollow Club is a course that rewards distance and accuracy.

McIlroy also has finished in the top 10 seven of his past nine tournaments.

Wyndham Clark

We already have McIlroy and Homa as repeat winners of the event. Why not Clark, who blistered Quail Hollow a year ago with a tournament-record 265 and a four-shot victory.

Clark went on to win the U.S. Open a few weeks later and is ranked No. 3 in the world. He is second in the FedEx Cup standings and in 10 tournaments this year, he has one victory, two second’s, and four top-10 finishes.

He is a long-hitter, is fifth in scoring average, and obviously likes the course in Charlotte. Clark has not played since the RBC Heritage Classic three weeks ago.

Xander Schauffele

Schauffele shot an outstanding 269 in last year’s tournament, which would have won the event in all but two previous years. But his score was four strokes behind Wyndham Clark.

Schauffele, ranked fourth in the world, has finished in the top 10 seven times this season and tied for second in the Players Championship. He ranks fourth in scoring average, is a long-hitter, and plays well around the greens.

He also compiled a 3-1 record for the U.S. team in the 2022 President’s Cup, played at Quail Hollow.

Collin Morikawa

Morikawa would like to make amends for 2023, when he missed the cut at the Wells Fargo Championship. His game has been much stronger this spring, including a tied for third in the Masters and a ninth-place finish in the RBC Heritage Classic.

Winner of the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 U.S. Open, Morikawa would like a strong performance this week, to carry him into next week’s PGA Championship.

Morikawa ranks among the PGA’s best in approach shots of 150 to 200 yards. With those eight long par-4 holes (and the par-5’s), doing well with the mid and long irons is a valuable asset when playing at Quail Hollow.

Max Homa

Any list of potential winners must include Homa. One of his two Wells Fargo championships came in 2022, when the tournament was moved to TPC Potomac while Quail Hollow was being readied for the President’s Cup.

But Homa won the event in 2019 when it was in Charlotte. He went 4-0 for the U.S. team at Quail Hollow in the President’s Cup. And he tied for eighth place a year ago.

This season, he tied for third in the Masters and is ranked 10th in the world.

Hideki Matsuyama

Matsuyama has skipped the Wells Fargo Championship a few times in recent years but has a strong record in Charlotte. He is 6-for-6 in making the cut, and he finished fifth in the 2017 PGA Chanmpionship, played at Quail Hollow.

Ranked 15th in the world, Matsuyama is playing for the first time since the Masters. According to several reports, he took some time off to work on his iron game.

While not one of the tour’s leading hitters, Matsuyama makes his mark around the greens. He is ranked No. 1 on the PGA in the “Around the Green” category.