The PGA Tour will travel to NASCAR Country this week for the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina. The elevated events have been pretty good at providing some stacked fields, but this elevated tournament will be missing some of the stars. 22 of the top-30 golfers in the World Golf Rankings will play the Wells Fargo Championship, but Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffeler, Hideki Matsuyama, Billy Horschel, Tom Hoge, Justin Rose and Russell Henley are going to sit this one out. There are still plenty of talented golfers to choose from to build some good DFS lineups this week.
Here is the recent form and course history for each golfer this week: History and Form
COURSE BREAKDOWN
Quail Hallow will be the course this week. It is one of the best courses on the PGA Tour. It hosted the President’s Cup last year and the PGA Championship in 2017. Quail Hallow has seen a lot of modifications for the major events, but this week it will play as 7,521-yard par 71. That is really long for a regular PGA Tour event.
Players will need to bomb it off the tee but more importantly they must be accurate. The rough can become difficult and the golfers must be on the correct side of the fairway to setup approach shots into these difficult greens. There is water on six holes that can come into play this week. I value distance and accuracy about the same for this tournament. The golfers who can bomb down the fairways and keep it straight will be the ones you will want in your lineup.
Click here to see the course: Quail Hollow Club
KEY STATS FOR THE WELLS FARGO
– Shots Gained Off-the-Tee
– Accuracy Off-the-Tee
– Strokes Gained Approach (175-yards +)
– Strokes Gained Putting (Bermuda)
– Scrambling
TOP 30 GOLFERS
WELLS FARGO STRATEGY
My strategy for Cash Contests will be the same as the strategy for Tournaments Contests. I will really like the golfers priced between $9.4K – $7.8K. I will still have a few shares of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, but I am going to build balanced lineups use Max Homa, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Victor Hovland, Sungjae Im, Jason Day, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Cameron Young, Sahith Theegala, Keith Mitchell, Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley. I expect all of these golfers to score well and dominate the top-20 this week.
Rory McIlroy is a heavy favorite to win this week. This is his best course, so he should play well, right? He was supposed to be one of the favorites at THE PLAYERS and then he missed the cut. Surely, he would not miss the cut at the Masters, right? Well, he missed the cut there too. McIlory has not made cut in two months. The PGA Tour fined him for missing the RBC Heritage. McIlory said he had some mental issues he had to work through. This is too much bad mojo for me to pay the highest salary in DFS this week. If he burns me, so be it. But I will play the golfers in good form, without mental problems.
CORE GOLFERS FOR WELLS FARGO
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST LINEUP
VIKTOR HOVLAND ($9,200): I will use the balanced lineup approach for the Cash Contest this week and start with Hovland. His 59th place finish at the RBC Heritage was not great, but that is a small course. Hovland excels on the “big boy” courses and that explains his 7th-place finish at the Masters, 3rd-place finish at THE PLAYERS and 10th-place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He ranks No. 6 in the key stats and No. 1 in the comparable courses. Hovland will be the chalk, so I like him more for Cash Contests this week.
RICKIE FOWLER ($8,800): I had a hard time deciding if I should use Jason Day, Justin Thomas or Rickie Fowler in this spot. I wanted Day, but I did not want to go lower than $7,600 with my cheapest golfer. I also do not trust JT, so Fowler is the pick. Quail Hallow is the best course for Fowler. He won in 2012 and he has four finishes in the top-10. Fowler hasn’t missed a cut since last October and he finished six of his last seven tournaments in the top-20. He should be a safe play for Cash Contest lineups.
CAMERON YOUNG ($8,700): Pairing Viktor Hovland with Cameron Young in Cash Contests this week seems like the right way to build a lineup. Just like Hovland; Young ranks in the top-five in the key stats and he ranks No. 2 (behind Hovland) in comparable courses. He is too cheap this week, so his ownership is going to be high. I would not be surprised if Young won at Quail Hollow.
KEITH MITCHELL ($7,800): There is a lot to like about Mitchell this week. The only thing I do not like about him is his high ownership, but it doesn’t matter much in Cash Contests. He finished 8th and 3rd in his last two trips to Quail Hollow. Mitchell missed the cut at the RBC Heritage, just like Viktor Hovland. But just like Hovland, Mitchell excels on big courses. I like Mitchell for a top-15 finish this week.
WYNDHAM CLARK ($7,800): If I am playing Keith Mitchell, I should play Wyndham Clark too. They are basically the same type of golfer. Both bomb it off the tee and both play well on long courses. Clark ranks No. 11 in the key stats and No. 10 in comparable courses this week. He hasn’t missed a cut since early October. Clark should be a safe golfer who should score well in the Wells Fargo Championship.
GARY WOODLAND ($7,600): Can we trust Woodland this week? I have been burned by him many times in DFS, but the stats suggest he should be a great play for $7,600. Woodland has good course history with 4th-place finish in 2015 and 5th-place finish in 2021. He has now made five cuts in a row and he ranks 17th in the key stats. Having Woodland as my cheapest golfer in the Cash Contest, should make this a safe lineup to reach the pay-line Sunday.
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
SUNGJAE IM ($9,100): I doubt many people will be playing Sungjae this week. Most people will use Viktor Hovland or save same salary and use Jason Day or Cameron Young. I will take a low owned Sungjae. He ranks No. 3 in Shots Gained Off-the-Tee, No. 5 in Shots Gained Tee-to-Green and No. 9 in the key stats. Sungjae also enters the Wells Fargo Championship after a 7th-place finish in the RBC Heritage, 16th place finish at the Masters and 6th-place finish at THE PLAYERS. His ball-striking is just too good to pass up at very low ownership.
JASON DAY ($9,000): I will eat the chalk and play Day this week. I doubt his ownership will be too crazy, because there are a lot of good golfers priced right around Day this week. Day had seven consecutive finishes in the top-10, heading into the Masters. He won at this course in 2018 and he ranks No. 5 in the comparable courses. Day ranks No. 3 in the key stats this week, so I have to play him even at a bit higher ownership.
JUSTIN THOMAS ($8,900): I cannot remember the last time we were able to play JT at an $8K price. I know his form has been all over the place, but he has come to Quail Hollow before in poor form and played well. JT has not been as bad as you think. He ranks No. 7 in Shots Gained Tee-to-Green, No. 8 in Shots Gained Approach (175-yards+) and No. 13 in the key stats. The crazy thing about the price for JT is that I still think his ownership will be lower than it should be this week. Having JT as my 3rd golfer in my lineup sounds pretty good to me.
SAHITH THEEGALA ($8,200): Theegala enters the Wells Fargo Championship in good form. He has made every cut since last September (13 in a row). A lot of those finishes were in the top-10. Theegala does not have any course history, but most of the tournaments he has played in this year he has seen for the first time. Theegala is a steady golfer who should be a lock to make the cut with top-10 upside this week.
TAYLOR MOORE ($7,600): I listen to a lot of podcasts to see what the Fantasy Golf industry is thinking before each tournament. I heard something this week that I found interesting. Taylor Moore has been in the most winning No. 1 lineups in DraftKings contests in 2023. That means his play exceeds his low salary. Moore ranks No. 7 in the key stats. I should have been playing Moore a lot this year, but it is better late than never. I will take a chance with this young golfer this week.
BEN MARTIN ($7,100): Martin has made the cut in 15 of his 19 tournaments this year, with six finishes in the top-25. Quail Hollow is the home course for Martin, so he should play well this week. He ranks 32nd in the key stats and he has not missed a cut since January (8 tournaments in a row). I just need Martin to make the cut. I think he can do that this week.
Here are my lineups for Multi-Entry Tournament Contest: (FantasyRacingTips Lineups)
FANDUEL CASH CONTEST LINEUP
FANDUEL TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
PGATOUR.COM FANTASY PICKS
* This is the seventh tournament of Segment 3. We still have another “elevated event” when the PGA Tour travels to Ohio for the Memorial and another stacked field at the PGA Championship. We need to save some of our top golfers for those tournaments too.
FANTASY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP ONE & DONE PICK: VIKTOR HOVLAND (WELLS FARGO)
Players in Fantasy Golf Championship One & Done so far: Tony Finau (Win), Sungjae Im (7TH), Jordan Spieth (4th), Si Woo Kim (39th), Tyrrell Hatton (60th), Adam Hadwin (MC), Rory McIlroy (MC), Will Zalatoris (53rd), Matt Kuchar (MC), Tony Finau (20), Xander Schauffele (10th), Seamus Power (15th), Max Homa (1st), Brian Harman (MC), and Corey Conners (12th)
SEASON LONG ONE & DONE PICK: CAMERON YOUNG (WELLS FARGO)
Players Used This Season in One & Done: Tony Finau (Win), Keith Mitchell (6th), Tom Kim (MC), Brooks Koepka (2nd), Matt Kuchar (3rd), Wyndham Clark (6th), Adam Hadwin (MC), Rory McIlroy (MC), Will Zallatoris (53rd), Sungjae Im (42nd), Max Homa (2), Xander Schauffele (10th), Jordan Spieth (63rd), Jon Rahm (7th), Taylor Montgomery (5th), Russell Henley (32nd), Seamus Power (25th), Brian Harman (2nd), Maverick McNealy (27th), Emiliano Grillo (42nd), Nick Hardy (28th), Terrell Hatton (13TH) Christian Bezuidenhout (29th), Cameron Davis (37th), Denny McCarthy (39th), Brendon Steele (CUT)
BEST BETS FOR WELLS FARGO
VIKTOR HOVLAND (18-1)
CAMERON YOUNG (18-1)
JASON DAY (25-1)
MAX HOMA (28-1)
KEITH MITCHELL (65-1)
Good Luck This Week!!!!
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