Rory McIlroy Favored as Defending Champion

2022 Wells Fargo Championship Odds

Odds via PointsBet.

The buildup for the PGA Championship truly begins this week with the Wells Fargo Championship.

This year, the Wells Fargo gets a new venue, as it moves from Quail Hollow in Charlotte up north to TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in Maryland. Fans might remember TPC Potomac as the host of the now defunct Quicken Loans National from 2017-18.

Last year in Charlotte, McIlroy ended an 18-month draught (for him) with his one-stroke win over Abraham Ancer. The last time we saw the Northern Irishman was at the Masters, where he used a final-round 64 to finish second behind Scottie Scheffler. McIlroy has made seven starts in the 2021-22 FedEx Cup season, with one win (CJ CUP) and five top-10 finishes under his belt.

Also in the field are the likes of Abraham Ancer and Tony Finau, who have made the trip up from the Mexico Open. McIlroy has a few Ryder Cup teammates playing this week in Matt Fitzpatrick, Sergio Garcia and Tyrrell Hatton.

While Ancer finished T42 in Mexico, Finau finished with a flourishing 63 in the final round to finish one stroke behind winner Jon Rahm. After a rough start to 2022 that saw him miss three out of four cuts at one point, Finau has finished in the top 35 in three straight and is showing flashes of potential moving forward.

Corey Conners is near the top of the board and will no doubt be a popular pick this week. The Canadian has been in stellar form since the start of March, finishing in the top 35 in all six of his starts in that span. His last two results were a T6 at the Masters and a T12 at the RBC Heritage, which also features a course that rewards ball-strikers like Conners.

The purse this week in Potomac is $9 million, which is the most in a PGA TOUR event (that means not including the Masters) since the WGC-Dell Match Play.

Past Winners

We’ll have to look at two events for this section.

Francesco Molinari won the last Quicken Loans National at TPC Potomac back in 2018, dominating the event at 21-under for an eight-stroke win. The year before saw Kyle Stanley beat Charles Howell III in a playoff after the pair finished at 7-under.

At the Wells Fargo, some recognizable names have won at Quail Hollow.

This tournament was canceled in 2020 due to COVID. The two previous years saw Max Homa (’19) and Jason Day (’18) come out victorious. Rickie Fowler and James Hahn, both of whom are in the field this week, also won at Quail Hollow.

McIlroy has the best history at this tournament, though. He has three wins at Quail Hollow, back when it was the Quail Hollow Championship in 2010 and then two at the Wells Fargo (’15 and ’21).

Course Breakdown

This year’s Wells Fargo Championship has been moved a little north from Charlotte to Maryland at TPC Potomoc. The change in venue is because Quail Hollow has a big assignment later this fall: the Presidents Cup.

Whoever wins this week is going to have had a good one with the irons.

TPC Potomac is a par 70 that will play right around 7,100 yards. There are only two par 5s on the course — Nos. 2 and 10 — and a potentially drivable par 4 at No. 14.

Strokes Gained: Approach, as it is most weeks, will be hugely important this week. Last week, driving distance was important with the wide-open fairways at the Mexico Open. This week, more precision will be required.