Welcome to PGA Tour Brunch Coverage - Wells Fargo Championship

The Wells Fargo Championship and its substantial prize purse always draws a strong field. This year the field includes four of Top-5 players in Official World Golf Ranking: Justin Thomas (2), Jon Rahm (3), Xander Schauffele (4), and Bryson DeChambeau (5).

Defending champion Max Homa is coming off his T-6 at last week’s Valspar Championship. Homa must note, no player has successfully defended his title at Wells Fargo.

The tournament’s 2010 and 2015 winner, Rory McIlroy, will make his first start since the Masters when he missed the cut.

A native of nearby Gastonia, North Carolina, Harold Varner III will make his sixth Wells Fargo Championship appearance. Varner III claimed his career-best T-2 at last month’s RBC Heritage at Hilton Head.

The PGA Tour announced Tuesday that 12-1 shot Brandon Todd withdrew from the tournament after a COVID+ test. He was replaced by J.J. Spaun.

The Wells Fargo Championship is the 32nd of 50 events in the 2020-21 PGA Tour season. Due to COVID-19, the Wells Fargo Championship was not contested in 2020.

Tournament Tee Times begin Thursday at 6:50am (EDT) through 2:22pm (EDT).

Weather: Thursday’s forecast calls for partly cloudy skies and 62-degrees with 9 mph winds and only a 10% chance of rain. Friday and Saturday should be mostly sunny, 58-64-degrees, with a 10% chance of rain Friday and 0% on Saturday. Long-term forecast for Sunday is for partly cloudy skies, 74-degrees and 14 mph winds.

PGATourBrunch will be posting before 6:50am (EDT) early tee times Thursday and Friday.

Next Week: AT&T Byron Nelson (McKinney, Texas)

Field Updates:

Charles Howell III (out) / Grayson Murray (in)

Davis Love III (out) / D.J. Trahan (in)

Jim Herman (out) / Sebastian Cappelen (in)

Camilo Villegas (out) / Justin Suh (in)

Brendon Todd (out) / J.J. Spaun (in)

The Field - (link)

THIS WEEK on the PGA TOUR: Wells Fargo Championship

COURSE: Quail Hollow Country Club (Charlotte, NC)

ARCHITECT: George Cobb

YARDS/PAR: 7,521 yards/Par 71

PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $8,100,000/$1,458,000

DEFENDING Champion (March 2019) - Max Homa - (2019 Leaderboard)

PAST RESULTS: (link)

PAST CHAMPIONS: (link)

FEDEx CUP Points Available/Winner: 2,989/500

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @WellsFargoGolf

OFFICIAL SITE: (Wells Fargo Championship) - (Official Tournament Site)

TV COVERAGE: Thursday, May 6 and Friday, May 7: 2:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT) on Golf Channel. On Saturday, May 8 and Sunday, May 9 - Golf Channel’s TV coverage will air from 1:00pm to 3:00pm (EDT), then CBS takes over coverage from 3:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT).

STREAMING: PGA Tour Live will offer streaming coverage of Featured Groups on Thursday and Friday from 7:00am to 6:00pm (EDT). On Saturday and Sunday, PGA Live Featured Groups runs from 8:00am to 3:00pm (EDT) with Featured Holes streaming from 3:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT).

PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: Streaming Radio coverage on Thursday and Friday from 12:00pm Noon to 6:00pm (EDT); then Saturday and Sunday, 1:00pm to 6:00pm (EDT) on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92) or online on PGATour.com.

How to Watch: (PGATourCom)

2021 Wells Fargo Championship - Odds & Predictions:

A L👀K at the O👀S and A PREDICTION OR TWO:

(Odds via William Hill)

Justin Thomas 10-1

Jon Rahm 12-1

Bryson DeChambeau 16-1

Rory McIlroy 18-1

Xander Schauffele 18-1

Viktor Hovland 20-1

Webb Simpson 25-1

Tony Finau 28-1

Patrick Cantlay 28-1

Patrick Reed 30-1

Will Zalatoris 30-1

Corey Conners 30-1

Sungjae Im 33-1

Joaquin Niemann 35-1

Cameron Tringale 35-1

Abraham Ancer 35-1

Max Homa 35-1

Brian Harman 40-1

Jason Day 40-1

Russell Henley 45-1

Shane Lowry 45-1

Tommy Fleetwood 45-1

Keegan Bradley 50-1

Bubba Watson 50-1

Stewart Cink 55-1

Rickie Fowler 60-1

Emiliano Grillo 66-1

Harold Varner 66-1

Harris English 66-1

Matt Wallace 66-1

Lucas Glover 70-1

Kevin Streelman 80-1

Brendan Steele 80-1

Gary Woodland 90-1

Matt Jones 90-1

Joel Dahmen 100-1

Maverick McNealy 100-1

Francesco Molinari 100-1

Cameron Davis 100-1

Talor Gooch 100-1

Keith Mitchell 100-1

Sebastian Munoz 125-1

Adam Hadwin 125-1

Ian Poulter 125-1

Ryan Moore 125-1

Denny McCarthy 125-1

Carlos Ortiz 125-1

Matthew NeSmith 125-1

Erik Van Rooyen 125-1

Russell Knox 125-1

Charl Schwartzel 125-1

Aaron Wise 125-1

Luke List 125-1

Phil Mickelson 125-1

Lanto Griffin 125-1

Nick Taylor 150-1

Kyle Stanley 150-1

Sepp Straka 150-1

Camilo Villegas 150-1

J.T. Poston 150-1

MacKenzie Hughes 150-1

Harry Higgs 150-1

Zach Johnson 150-1

James Hahn 150-1

Patton Kizzire 150-1

Jhonattan Vegas 150-1

Michael Thompson 150-1

Tom Hoge 150-1

John Huh 150-1

Tom Lewis 175-1

Scott Stallings 175-1

Vaughn Taylor 175-1

Pat Perez 175-1

Richy Werenski 175-1

Rory Sabbatini 175-1

Troy Merritt 200-1

Henrik Norlander 200-1

Byeong Hun An 200-1

Jason Dufner 200-1

Chez Reavie 200-1

Kyoung-Hoon Lee 200-1

Nate Lashley 200-1

Chase Seiffert 200-1

Wyndham Clark 200-1

Adam Schenk 200-1

Sam Ryder 200-1

Doc Redman 200-1

Adam Long 200-1

Patrick Rodgers 250-1

Roger Sloan 250-1

Brice Garnett 250-1

Rafa Cabrera Bello 250-1

Chesson Hadley 250-1

C.T. Pan 250-1

J.B. Holmes 250-1

Danny Lee 250-1

Tyler McCumber 250-1

Andrew Putnam 250-1

Brian Stuard 300-1

Bronson Burgoon 300-1

Cameron Percy 300-1

Akshay Bhatia 300-1

Bo Hoag 300-1

Robert Streb 300-1

Mark Hubbard 300-1

Vincent Whaley 300-1

Ben Martin 300-1

Brandon Hagy 300-1

Will Gordon 300-1

Ryan Armour 300-1

Kris Ventura 325-1

Jamie Lovemark 350-1

Ted Potter 350-1

Scott Piercy 350-1

Tyler Duncan 350-1

Joseph Bramlett 350-1

Peter Malnati 350-1

Scott Brown 350-1

Bo Van Pelt 400-1

Sean O'Hair 400-1

Scott Harrington 400-1

Seung-yul Noh 400-1

Michael Gligic 400-1

Beau Hossler 400-1

Jim Herman 400-1

Jimmy Walker 400-1

Hank Lebioda 400-1

Sung-Hoon Kang 400-1

Austin Cook 400-1

Kevin Tway 500-1

Hunter Mahan 500-1

Bill Haas 500-1

Kramer Hickok 500-1

Johnson Wagner 500-1

Grayson Murray 500-1

Jonas Blixt 500-1

Rob Oppenheim 500-1

Xinjun Zhang 500-1

David Hearn 500-1

Robby Shelton 500-1

K.J. Choi 500-1

Luke Donald 500-1

Ryan Brehm 500-1

D.J. Trahan 500-1

Kelly Kraft 500-1

Satoshi Kodaira 500-1

Rafael Campos 500-1

Martin Trainer 1000-1

Cory Schneider 1000-1

Michael Kim 1000-1

D.A. Points 1000-1

TL’s Wedge for an Edge: The PGA Tour Fantasy game is back in action this week, and I’ll be choosing four players to consider as Starters, along with two bench players. The starters will be: Viktor Hovland, Abraham Ancer, Webb Simpson and Bryson DeChambeau. On the bench: Charl Schwartzel and local Gastonia fave Harold Varner III. Brian Harman is also under consideration.

For PGA Tour One and Done? I’ll be going with the big guns of Bryson DeChambeau.

Note: Two weeks back, we successfully picked Cameron Smith (and Marc Leishman) for a VERY NICE payday at the Zurich Classic two-man match play championship.

What They’re Saying:

Max Homa No Longer an Underdog (CBS Sports HQ)

Wells Fargo Preview (Yahoo Sports)

Power Rankings for Wells Fargo (PGATourCom)

Dark Horses for Quail Hollow (ProGolfNow)

#SportsBiz, Sporting Gambling and Golf Industry News

Draft Kings Preview for Wells Fargo Champ (PGATourCom)

Wells Fargo Predictions (CBSSportsHQ)

Power Rankings for Fantasy Golf (Golf Week/USA Today)

Expert Picks (PGATourCom)

Wells Fargo Champ Odds (Covers)

Who’s Hot Looking Ahead to PGA Championship (ESPN)

Is Premier Golf League Still in Play? (GolfWeek)

On This Day in Golf History:

May 5, 2002 - KJ Choi became the first South Korean winner on the PGA Tour when he shot a final round five under (67) at the Compaq Classic in New Orleans. Choi won by four strokes. Courtesy of Randy Walker), Author of On This Day in Golf History, available via Amazon.com and by clicking HERE

Parting Putt:

Highlights from the Valspar last weekend: