Rory McIlroy Is The Favorite To Win The Wells Fargo Championship At Quail Hollow

In 2022, Quail Hollow Club played host to the Presidents Cup, won by the United States 17.5-12.5. As a result, the Wells Fargo Championship took place at TPC Potomac in Maryland, marking the first time in the history of the event it was held outside the state of North Carolina. This year, the event returns to its true home at the famed Charlotte course. The ninth of 17 Designated PGA Tour events in the 2022-23 season, the Wells Fargo offers a $20M purse and, to the winner, 500 FedExCup points. With so much at stake, 20 of the top 25 and 40 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) are in the field, including 2022 champion, Max Homa, who seeks to become the first-ever golfer to repeat at the Wells Fargo Championship. Given the current odds being offered by sportsbooks, only five golfers have at least a five percent chance to win.

The Wells Fargo Championship

Of the six PGA Tour events Rory McIlroy has played in 2023, he has been the favorite or co-favorite in two – the WM Phoenix Open and The Players Championship – and has never had worse than the third-best pre-event odds to win. In the four events in which McIlroy was not the favorite, the 33-year-old Northern Irishman’s odds to win were only worse than Jon Rahm’s and/or Scottie Scheffler’s. With neither Rahm nor Scheffler in the field this week, McIlroy, who returns to action for the first time since missing the cut at the Masters, is once again the favorite at +750. In his last four PGA Tour starts, it has been boom or bust for McIlroy, as he has registered a T2 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and a third-place finish at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play to go along with missed cuts at Augusta and The Players Championship. However, the OWGR No. 3 is one of only two golfers to win this event multiple times and the only golfer in history with three career wins at the Wells Fargo Championship (2010, 2015 and 2021). A win this week would make McIlroy just the fifth men’s golfer to win multiple times on Tour this season and would be the perfect way to celebrate his 34th birthday (May 4) and improve his position in the FedExCup standings (currently No. 11).

As mentioned earlier, there are currently four men’s golfers with multiple wins on Tour this season: World No. 1 Jon Rahm (4), World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler (2), Max Homa (2) and Tony Finau (2), who joined the list with his victory at the Mexico Open at Vidanta last week. The 33-year-old American also won at the Cadence Bank Houston Open in November. So far this calendar year, in 11 PGA Tour event played, Finau has three top 10s and has finished no worse than T31. He ranks first on Tour in strokes gained approach to green (1.148), scrambling from the fringe (100%) and putting from 3’ (100%) and ranks in the top 10 in total strokes gained (2.258), scoring average (68.91), birdie average (4.85) and putting average (1.702). The win in Mexico improved his OWGR from No. 16 to No. 11 and his position in the FedExCup standings from No. 11 to No. 4. And while his best finish at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow is only T16 back in 2015, with four wins since July, Finau (+1700) could be considered the most in-form golfer in the field this week.

Rory McIlroy is the betting favorite this week with Patrick Cantlay (+1400), Xander Schauffele (+1600), Tony Finau, and Jordan Spieth (+1900) rounding out the group assigned at least a five percent chance to win. But defending champion Max Homa (+2400) is in the next tier of contenders.

There are only two men’s golfers who have won the Wells Fargo Championship multiple times: three-time winner, Rory McIlroy, and defending champion, Max Homa, who also won in 2019. While he might not yet possess quite the same name recognition as McIlroy, his results speak for themselves, and the six-time PGA Tour winner is establishing himself as a strong contender on Tour. In 13 starts this season, the 32-year-old American has six top 10s, including victories at the Fortinet Championship in September and the Famers Insurance Open in January, and a runner-up showing at The Genesis Invitational in February. He ranks No. 7 in the OWGR and No. 3 in the FedExCup standings. However, since consecutive top 10s at The Players Championship and the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in March, Homa has recorded a T43 finish at the Masters and missed cuts at the RBC Heritage and Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Nevertheless, he still ranks in the top 10 on Tour in total strokes gained (1.932), strokes gained approach to green (.815), strokes gained putting (.644) and putting average (1.698). With a win this week, Homa would join McIlroy as the only three-time winner in Wells Fargo event history and would become the first men’s golfer ever to win the event in consecutive years.