Wells Fargo Championship 2023
Overview
Dates: May 4, 2023 to May 7, 2023
Location: North Carolina, USA
Course: Quail Hollow Club
Course Par: 71
Course Length: 7538 yards
Prize Purse: $20000000
After a relatively weak field for the Mexico Open, which went largely with the form book, although unfortunately not quite in the order we wanted, the next of the Tour’s elevated events is upon us as the Wells Fargo returns to its usual home at Quail Hollow, having been relocated last year due to the Presidents Cup. The fact that this was the second relocation in recent times means that there’s less course form than usual to work with, but that hasn’t stopped us finding six picks that we expect to give us a run for our money.
Results
After a difficult April, this month started with a bang for followers of Form Golfer as Wyndham Clark showed in no uncertain terms that he has what it takes to close out, in the process landing a huge 60/1 winner for us. He was hugely impressive all week, but when Xander Schauffele poked his nose in front briefly on Sunday, it was the way Clark battled back to ultimately win with a degree of comfort that really stood out. Now that he’s proven to himself that he can get it done under maximum pressure, there’s a good chance he can continue his ascent up the rankings and it wouldn’t be a big surprise if he were to win again this season.
It was a mixed week for our other picks. Jordan Spieth was particularly disappointing, but turned out to have been suffering with illness, so his poor display is easily forgiven. Cameron Young made an alarming number of mistakes and its hard to know what to make of his performance at a venue that really should have suited. Luke List was always a long shot and performed as such. Emiliano Grillo and Taylor Moore both played solidly enough, finishing in the top 30, but neither really looked like breaking into the top 10 over the weekend. But happily Clark’s heroics were sufficient to put another 80 points or so profit into the bank for us and leave us running at almost 40% return on investment for the season to date.
Preview
Quail Hollow is a stern examination of all aspects of the game, with the winning score unlikely to be much, if at all, into double digits under par. At over 7500 yards and a par of 71, gaining ground off the tee and on approach is likely to be essential, with only three players in the last three editions having made the top 10 without making ground off the tee and only one on approach. In the absence of Rahm and Scheffler, Rory McIlroy predictably goes off favourite, but makes very little appeal at the prices given the recent cooling in his form. He could bounce back at any time but 8/1 just isn’t big enough to be of interest.
Outrights
| Player | Points | Type | UK Odds | Places | Outright US Odds |
| Jordan Spieth | 3.5 | each way | 18/1 | 8 | +2000 |
| Cameron Young | 3 | each way | 20/1 | 8 | +2000 |
| Wyndham Clark | 1.5 | each way | 60/1 | 12 | +7500 |
| Taylor Moore | 1.5 | each way | 66/1 | 8 | +8000 |
| Emiliano Grillo | 1 | each way | 125/1 | 8 | +12500 |
| Luke List | 1 | each way | 200/1 | 8 | +25000 |
Jordan Spieth (3.5pts each way, 18/1, 8 places) looks to be getting back to something like his best form and makes the most appeal of the market leaders here. Having seemingly bedded in his swing changes now, he’s been racking up a string of consistent results with top 5s in the Valspar, Masters and RBC Heritage in his last four outings. He has his driver under control now, he’s third in the field on approach in the last three months and if he can avoid some of the putting frailties he’s shown occasionally from inside ten feet, he simply has to go close this week.
Cameron Young (3pts each way, 20/1, 8 places) gains virtually all of his ground tee-to-green, which should stand him in good stead at Quail Hollow. We will need him to have a slightly better week than usual on and around the greens in order to win, but he seems sure to make fewer long game mistakes than most, which should be enough to get him very close to the lead. He’s another very solid option to have in our staking plan.
We’ll dig a bit deeper for our other plays, starting with Wyndham Clark (1.5pts each way, 60/1, 12 places). It’s no secret that he’s been trending for a while now, with a bunch of decent finishes to his name. So much so that he’s inside the top 15 in this field for total strokes gained in the last three months. It’s also no secret that he’s been a little vulnerable on Sundays, which makes him a far more appealing proposition at a big price this week than he was at less than a quarter of that price in Mexico.
Taylor Moore (1.5pts each way, 66/1, 8 places) did us a huge favour in getting over the line in the Valspar, holding off Jordan Spieth and Adam Schenk up the stretch and showing real bottle in doing so. This victory didn’t come out of the blue and a decent showing at the Masters was swiftly followed up with two more good finishes. He still feels a little under valued in the market, so we’ll take the chance that he can bag us some further profits.
Our final two plays are very speculative but at huge prices there is reason to believe that either Emiliano Grillo (1pt each way, 125/1, 8 places) or Luke List (1pt each way, 200/1, 8 places) can outperform expectations. Grillo had gone very quiet but is hugely talented on his day. His recent form is eyecatching to say the least, with his last five starts reading MC/T70/T53/T7/T5 – the very definition of a positive trend. The clincher for his chance this week is two top 15s at Quail Hollow. Luke List has become hugely disappointing since claiming his first Tour win at the Farmers in 2022. His putting remains a consistent problem for him but his long game remains in good health and up there with the very best on tour. Like Grillo, he has a good record at Quail, with two top 10s. It’s not by any means probable, but if he even breaks even for the week on the greens he could just sneak another top 10 and the price means it’s worth having a small interest to find out.
Of the others, Patrick Cantlay made a good bit of appeal, should be suited to this week’s test and perhaps should be closer to McIlroy in the market based on recent form. And at a huge price, Ben Taylor showed a return to form in Mexico after a quiet period and has shown several times this season that he’s capable of high finishes when on top of his game – there would certainly be worse options for a top 10/20/30 finish at decent odds.
After a difficult April, this month started with a bang for followers of Form Golfer as Wyndham Clark showed in no uncertain terms that he has what it takes to close out, in the process landing a huge 60/1 winner for us. He was hugely impressive all week, but when Xander Schauffele poked his nose in front briefly on Sunday, it was the way Clark battled back to ultimately win with a degree of comfort that really stood out. Now that he’s proven to himself that he can get it done under maximum pressure, there’s a good chance he can continue his ascent up the rankings and it wouldn’t be a big surprise if he were to win again this season.
It was a mixed week for our other picks. Jordan Spieth was particularly disappointing, but turned out to have been suffering with illness, so his poor display is easily forgiven. Cameron Young made an alarming number of mistakes and its hard to know what to make of his performance at a venue that really should have suited. Luke List was always a long shot and performed as such. Emiliano Grillo and Taylor Moore both played solidly enough, finishing in the top 30, but neither really looked like breaking into the top 10 over the weekend. But happily Clark’s heroics were sufficient to put another 80 points or so profit into the bank for us and leave us running at almost 40% return on investment for the season to date.