Wells Fargo Championship
To virtually no surprise world number one Jon Rahm found himself in contention yet again. However this week last week Tony Finau stole the show. With only three bogeys over his four rounds, Finau shot 24 under par and bested Rahm by three shots. This marks Tony’s sixth career win and let me tell him he’s not slowing down any time soon. Tony is a favorite of mine, he started from the bottom, he was a grinder on all kinds of mini tours, and made his way through the ranks of professional golf and I have a lot of respect for that it takes a special person to grind like that and get to where you dream of being. Fast forward all this time he has created a hall of fame career and has made generational money for his family. The one thing that has eluded Tony along with many others is a major championship. Although he hasn’t won a major yet, Tony has all the tools to win a major and it's only a matter of time and with the major season on the horizon, he’s trending in the right direction. Speaking of majors, there are issues arising with players being snubbed due to OWGR.
The biggest snub would have to be Taloor Gooch. Gooch has now won back to back LIV events in incredible fashion, but due to LIV not receiving points he has actually dropped in the rankings. This is where the problem lies, he is winning golf tournaments, not top 5’s or top 15’s, he’s winning them. Regardless of what you think of LIV the majors consist of the best players world wide and if you ask me Gooch is playing some really good and he deserves to be there. The major in question is the U.S. Open. He has not received an exemption into this year's event, however, he still does have the option to qualify via sectionals. In the future, the governing bodies of golf and OWGR need to figure out a way to reward great golf regardless of the tour you are playing on, because at the end of the day, the only thing that matters in majors is having the best possible fields. Before we make it to the second major of the year, we have two really solid events leading up.
This week is a great stop on the tour, as they head to Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina for The Wells Fargo Championship. This is a relatively strong event every year regardless however this year The Wells Fargo Championship is an elevated event as well so the field will be extremely strong despite not having Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler in the field. This is actually a smart move for them to not play this week. Now it was decided months ago that they wouldn’t be playing in this specific elevated event. These two have already played in the required amount up to this point so they can afford to skip this week and take some much needed time off before the major championships start rolling in. With that being said Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Matt Fitzpatrick, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Collin Morikowa, and Jordan Spieth. Regardless of the world one and two not being in this event there is a ton of firepower. More specifically I think people should look towards Matthew Fitzpatrick. It’s no secret this guy has a game, he’s already got one win this season in an elevated event and has reached sixth in the world. He also has three top threes thus far and half a dozen top 25’s as well. The difference maker for Fitzpatrick is his putting. When he won the RBC heritage this year he was 100% from inside from seven feet. This is how you win golf tournaments, making those seven footers down the stretch is how you close out golf tournaments. Look for Fitzy to make a solid run this week. Another guy you can’t forget about is Max Homa. Yes, Max is struggling as of late but he is a multiple winner of this event, he loves this golf course and despite his struggle, he could do something special this week. For Max to play well this week he needs to keep it in play off the tee. If he can do that this week Max will find a lot of success at this course. (Mike)
Like Mike, I do think Fitzpatrick will play exceptionally well and is a great pick for this week, but I think he will fall just short at The Wells Fargo again. My pick to win this week is Viktor Hovland. He has played well at Quail Hollow in the past and is due for a win one of these weeks. I also think Rory is going to be right near the top as this is a course he seems to always do well at. However, he has not played well recently and that is making me shy away from picking him to win this week.
A dark horse I have for this week is Keegan Bradley. His career seems to be revitalized completely. A few years ago he looked to be on his way off the Tour, but now he is a top 25 machine. There is not a whole ton of flair to his game, but he is a well rounded player and his extended run on the PGA Tour is a testament to that. Although it was at TPC Potomac last year where he finished T2, I like his chances to contend this week at Quail Hollow.
One other thought I have had this week. This stretch on The Tour the last few weeks has been abysmal from a viewer’s perspective. Boring courses, boring fields, and not great finishes have all been to blame. Elevated events help fix this to some degree, but any hype the PGA season had following The Master’s and The RBC is certainly gone after the last few weeks. Hopefully, this week can spark a good run into the PGA, but the Tour continues to do itself no favors with the courses it picks. (Tyler)