By: @Ryan_Humphries on Twitter & LineStar Chat

Tournament & Field 🏆

The PGA Tour returns to the iconic Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, NC to tee it up for the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship. We’re officially two weeks away from the next Major, the 2023 PGA Championship; that means golfers will be looking to keep their game in form or improve it, so we’ll see a strong field compete this week. The field includes 20 of the top 25 ranked golfers in the world as well as 56 of the top 100. This is a full-field event with 156 golfers and the traditional 36-hole cut rule applies – the top 65 players (including ties) will move on to compete over the weekend.

The Course Preview ⛳

Quail Hollow Club

Par 71 | 7,538 Yards

Greens: Bermuda

Course Difficulty Last 5 Years Played: 5th, 8th, 5th, 9th, 20th

Cut Line Last 5 Years Played: +2, +1, +3, +1, E

This event switched venues last season while Quail Hollow prepared to host the 2022 Presidents Cup but it returns to the PGA Tour circuit to host the Wells Fargo Championship in 2023. Quail Hollow underwent a significant renovation in 2017 when it played host to the PGA Championship. It was converted from a Par 72 to a Par 71 and some length was added to the point where it now plays at nearly 7,600 yards. This makes it one of the longest courses on the PGA circuit. This also makes course history a little murky since we’ve only seen golfers compete on the post-renovated course a few times since this tournament was canceled in 2020 and changed venues in 2022. Nonetheless, expect Quail Hollow to provide a very difficult challenge for golfers competing this week.

The tree-lined fairways at Quail Hollow are average in width but they can be hard to hit with the driver. There aren’t very many fairway bunkers or water hazards looming, so missing off of the tee isn’t necessarily a death sentence but the thick two-inch rough won’t be very easy to play out of either. Still, we can expect most golfers to pound the driver in an effort to battle against Quail Hollow's length. Due to the length of the newer layout, a long driver and strength off the tee can be a major plus this week so I’m not against the idea of leaning towards bombers here.

Aside from hitting it long, every golfer will need to do most of their scoring on the course’s three Par 5s – that is a necessity. Players who succeed on the 11 Par 4s by staying close to par on those holes, with the occasional birdie here and there, will be the ones who climb the leaderboard. These greens also run sneaky fast, they are multi-tiered and heavily undulated. Even when faced with shorter approach lengths, there is no guarantee that a decent shot will stick on these greens, so gaining strokes around the green will play a key role in succeeding as well. Over half of approach shots will be coming from 175+ yards out, even for golfers with lengthy drivers, so we should certainly be looking for some premiere long iron players. A tough week of golf lies ahead for some of the world’s best players so this should be a fun one to watch and build lineups for! Best of luck!

Weather & Tee Times ⛅

(Click the image above to view the most up-to-date forecast)

⚖️Weather Verdict: It’s another week where we can keep things simple and worry-free here. The weather will be very cooperative, particularly over the first two rounds. Sustained winds will stay in the single digits on Thursday and Friday with gusts rarely exceeding 10+ mph. Much of the same on the weekend, outside of a few occasional 15+ mph gusts. Saturday brings forth the chance of rain around midday but, outside of a potential brief stoppage, play will not be affected much. No wave advantage this week.

Wells Fargo Championship Tee Times

Key Stats to Consider 📊

1. Strokes Gained: Approach | 20%

2. Driving Distance | 15%

3. Par 4 Average | 15%

4. Par 5 Birdie or Better Percentage | 10%

5. Strokes Gained: Off the Tee | 10%

6. Strokes Gained: Putting (Bermuda) | 10%

7. Strokes Gained: Around the Greens | 10%

8. Long Iron Accuracy -- Proximity from 175+ Yards | 10%

PGA Tour Stats Page

Wells Fargo Championship Model Standouts 🏅

Below are the top 20 ranked golfers in both my overall model and my key stats model. Below that are the top 20 leaders in average fantasy points over the last five and last ten starts. The players ranked on these lists do not necessarily mean they are the top golfers I’m targeting for this week's event, but many of these guys should no doubt be favorable DFS options.

Overall Model Rank: A golfer’s ranking (within the current field) in my personal DFS model, which weighs all of the key stats listed above in this newsletter, as well as things like course history, recent form, recent average fantasy scoring results, and odds to win.

Key Stat Rank: Provides a golfer’s overall rank (in relation to the field) in my "key stats only" model, which considers only the key stats listed above in this newsletter with the specified percentage weights allocated towards each statistic.

Wells Fargo Championship DFS Cheat Sheet 📑

Click the Cheat Sheet above for the direct image link

Alternative Cheat Sheet Direct Image Link

Cheat Sheet QR Code:

That will do it for our PGA preview! Best of luck this week and, once again, feel free to hit me up in the LineStar chat or on Twitter @Ryan_Humphries with any questions.