Next on the PGA Tour calendar is the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow (par 71, 7,538 yards, Poa trivialis greens) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Outside of 2022, 2020 and 2017, every Wells Fargo Championship has been played at Quail Hollow. Most of the best players on the PGA Tour will compete for this week’s $20 million purse, as the tournament is one of this season’s designated events. After the first 36 holes, a normal top-65 cut will take place. Below are some of the top PGA DFS picks for the Wells Fargo Championship, utilizing Stokastic’s Top Golfers Tool to find the best leverage plays for GPPs, including Rickie Fowler.
PGA DFS Picks & Leverage: The Wells Fargo Championship
In preparation for the 2017 PGA Championship, Tom Fazio lengthened Quail Hollow by reconstructing many holes, converting it from a par-72 course to a par 71. Since then, long hitters have had the upper hand at Quail Hollow, with three of the past five victors at this course ranking top 10 in driving distance during their wins.
Golfers must fare well on 450-500-yard par 4’s to succeed at Quail Hollow, with six of the course’s 11 par 4’s landing in this range following Fazio’s renovation. Three of the past five champions at this par 71 have finished the event top 5 in efficiency on these 450-500-yard par 4’s, with Justin Thomas notably leading his field in the category when he won the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.
Leverage scores are a product of comparing a player’s ownership versus their salary-weighted odds to finish in the top 6 of the tournament.
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Rickie Fowler
Stokastic PGA Optimizer Leverage Ranks: DraftKings 8th; FanDuel 75th
Specifically on DraftKings, where Stokastic projects him for single-digit ownership, Rickie Fowler is a sharp target this week. After an up-and-down campaign last year, he has bounced back in a big way this season, missing only one cut in 13 starts and carding nine top-20 finishes.
Coming into this week, Fowler has finished no worse than 17th at four consecutive tournaments and ranks top 30 in strokes gained on approach, strokes gained tee-to-green, birdie-or-better percentage, bogeys avoided, par-four efficiency and driving distance over his last 50 rounds.
Fowler has been outstanding at Quail Hollow throughout his career. He owns a 10-for-11 record in terms of made cuts and five top-5 finishes, including a win 2012, and shouldn’t disappoint in his return to the famous track this week.
Hayden Buckley
Stokastic PGA Optimizer Leverage Ranks: DraftKings 19th; FanDuel 59th
After missing four cuts in a row, Hayden Buckley’s game has been resurrected. Buckley has finished 10th at the Valero, fifth at the RBC Heritage and 26th at the team-based Zurich Classic in his last three starts. During those two individual starts, Buckley gained strokes in every major category except around the greens and shot under par in six of his eight rounds. Impressively, this run of golf has vaulted Buckley up 35 spots in the world golf rankings to a career-best No. 75.
Buckley has never competed at Quail Hollow before, but he is a great match for the lengthy par 71, ranking second in strokes gained off the tee and sixth in 450- to 500-yard par-4 efficiency over his last 50 rounds.
A third consecutive top-10 finish is in the realm of possibilities for Buckley, and he is an elite sleeper pick this week with Stokastic projecting him for single-digit ownership on both DraftKings and FanDuel.
Akshay Bhatia
Stokastic PGA Optimizer Leverage Ranks: DraftKings 65th; FanDuel 25th
With Stokastic forecasting him to be around 5% owned on both DraftKings and FanDuel, Akshay Bhatia is another Quail Hollow debutant worth attacking in GPPs. In his first full-time season on the PGA Tour, Bhatia has made 7 of 10 cuts and produced three top-25 finishes, including a fourth at the Mexico Open last week.
At the Mexico Open, Bhatia ranked top 7 in strokes gained tee-to-green, strokes gained on approach and strokes gained from putting. Notably, the 5.5 strokes Bhatia gained with his flat stick marked a new career best, which he credited to his new strategy of using the AimPoint putting method to read the greens.
If Bhatia can remain hot with his putter this week, he has the potential to add another top-25 finish to his season resume at Quail Hollow.
Jimmy Walker
Stokastic PGA Optimizer Leverage Ranks: DraftKings 51st; FanDuel 54th
Priced near the minimum on both DraftKings and FanDuel, Walker is worth taking a flier on in GPPs. He is on the heels of three straight top-25 finishes at individual stroke play events, while collectively gaining strokes with his irons and putter during all three of these starts.
Walker also finished top 20 in driving distance at all three of these tournaments and shot under par in nine of his 12 solo rounds during this time. Thanks to this impressive stretch, Walker has moved up 121 spots in the world golf rankings to No. 319, which is the highest he has ranked since November 2021.
Walker’s game is clearly on the upswing, and, at the minimum, he should advance to the weekend at Quail Hollow this week, where he has made five of his last seven cuts. For both DraftKings and FanDuel, Stokastic is projecting for essentially no ownership.
