Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, & Predictions – 2015 Wells Fargo Championship

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the 2015 Wells Fargo Championship

The 2015 Wells Fargo Championship Preview

Look out golf fans because the biggest names on the PGA TOUR are officially on a tear!

In the past seven events played on TOUR, the winner’s circle has seen the names of Walker, Holmes, Spieth, Furyk, Rose, McIlroy, and now Fowler. Speaking of Rickie, the rising star will not be in the field this week despite Quail Hollow being the site of his first PGA TOUR victory.  The break will give him another few days to celebrate his monumental comeback win at the 2015 PLAYERS last weekend.

Rory McIlroy will however be back in action this week which should kick off a nice stretch of events on U.S. soil for the World No. 1 golfer.  Coming off of his WGC-Cadillac Match Play win and a decent showing at the PLAYERS, Rory now returns to the site of his first TOUR victory.  It’s also worth mentioning that McIlroy has three other top-10 finishes at Quail Hollow, including his playoff loss to Fowler in 2012.

Last year we opted for Holmes and there is a chance he may find a way on our roster this week.  Holmes will join five other past champions from this event to try and become the first multiple Wells Fargo Champion victor.  With a lot of quality names in the field this week, picking your fantasy line-up will be a challenge unless you have the right sleepers to help give you a boost.

Last Week’s Fantasy Results

Congratulations to Rickie Fowler for capturing his second PGA TOUR win just days after Golf.com put out a survey poll showing him as the most overrated golfer in the world—that’s one way to silence your critics!  Regrettably, we didn’t opt for Rickie last week but still ended up with 5 made cuts and kept our weekly tournament earnings over the $1 million per week mark.

With 23 events in the books, we now have 6 winners picked year-to-date with only 28 missed cuts out of 161 players picked (that includes sleepers).

On a side note, we picked J.B. Holmes to win the 2014 Wells Fargo Championship last year and he did just that.  Let’s see if we can continue to dominate the fantasy predictions space by going back-to-back years for this event.

The Field

As we mentioned in the preview, Rory McIlroy will be headlining this event as the top ranked player in the field and will be joined by ten other players ranked inside the Top 25.  Those names include No. 3 Henrik Stenson and No. 5 Jim Furyk.

Although this is Stenson’s first visit to Quail Hollow, we may still take a hard look at him seeing as how new courses don’t tend to faze him.  Although he’s been playing solid golf in the early part of the season, the Swedish pro and 2013 FedExCup winner is still trying to capture his first PGA TOUR win since the big title in Atlanta two years ago.

Other notables in the field this week include Phil Mickelson, Webb Simpson (a hometown native), Patrick Reed, Adam Scott, and Ernie Els.

The Course

Quail Hollow Club measures in at a daunting 7,562 yards and plays as a long par 72.  This track first opened its doors in 1962 and is arguably one of the tougher tracks on the circuit today.

Tom Fazio came in recently for a much needed facelift during which he reworked the greens and added yardage before the PGA TOUR returned in 2003.

The course has served as the location for Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler’s first career victories and will play home to the 2017 PGA Championship and 2021 Presidents Cup.

The final three holes are known to most as the “Green Mile” and are considered to be one of the toughest closing stretches in golf.

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Quail Hollow Dec 9 from The Green Mile at Quail on Vimeo.

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Weather Forecast for Charlotte, NC

The weather forecast calls for a warm and muggy week in Charlotte with a chance of rain on Friday and Sunday.  Temperatures will be in the low to mid-80s all week and the three days leading into Round 1 will be dry, hot, and sunny.

Look for a dry, fast track for Thursday’s starting round and very light wind all week.

Wells Fargo Championship 2014 Results

J.B. Holmes took the top prize last year in amazing comeback fashion after holding off Jim Furyk by just one shot.  Holmes was sidelined with brain surgery not long before the win and it was with this victory that truly made him a household name on TOUR.

J.B. led by three strokes with three holes to play, but made two bogeys on the final 3-hole stretch which cost him a chance at the tournament scoring record—but we’re pretty sure he doesn’t mind.

The victory at Quail Hollow certainly catapulted him to become widely respected as one of the best players on TOUR and now he comes into this week already with one win under his belt this season.

Here’s what happened last year in case you missed it:

No Title

In the final round of the 2014 Wells Fargo Championship, J.B. Holmes’ masterful performance leads to third win on the PGA TOUR. . SUBSCRIBE to PGA TOUR now: http://pgat.us/vBxcZSh Welcome to the official YouTube channel of the PGA TOUR. Here you can find everything you need to stay up to date with the world’s foremost golf tour..

This Week’s Broadcast Schedule

• Television Broadcasts 
  • Thursday – Friday 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm EST (Golf Channel)
  • Saturday – Sunday 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EST (Golf Channel)
  • Saturday – Sunday  3:00 pm – 6:00 pm EST (CBS)
• Radio Broadcasts (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.COM)
  • Thursday – Friday 1:00 pm – 7:00 pm EST
  • Saturday – Sunday  1:00pm – 6:00 pm EST
• Mobile Broadcasts
  • Simultaneous coverage on The Golf Live Extra App for iPhone and Android.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf this Week

It seems like there are more and more places to play fantasy golf popping up each week.  That said, aside from the usual spots, here are a few leagues we think represent good opportunities this week.

• PGA $100K BIRDIE [$100,000 GUARANTEED]: We’re digging this event again this week since it was great to hear all the feedback from some of our Premium Members who cashed during the PLAYERS.  It’s only $3 to enter and the contest pays out to 7,850th place.  Plus the top prize here this week is $10,000!
• VICTIV $10,000 Pro: The buy-in isn’t cheap at $100 per but the field will be small and payouts go to the top 29 spots.

Reminder: DraftKings has officially opened the doors for their next Major event.  Given all the success of last major’s $2.2 million Masters contest, DraftKings is upping the ante for the U.S. Open with an even bigger prize pool set at $2.5 million dollars.  Grab an entry here and hop in an early satellite league to win your way in to the big event before it’s too late!

This Week’s Wells Fargo Championship Fantasy Notes

This week as an added bonus to our usual predictions we’re going to offer our Premium Members a few sample DraftKings lineups to help assist them in making their picks.

Obviously its impossible to stick all of the best players on your roster because you’ll dry up your salary cap after the 4th player picked.  The smart play is to utilize our picks to build your team around.  Here’s the basic concept behind a winning formula:

#1 Your Horse Pick: The player with the best chance to win, at the present moment, for the respected course at this point on TOUR.

#2, 3, & 4 Your Mid-Game: These will be your mid-tier weapons usually priced in the $7-9K range on DraftKings and mostly require some in-depth research on our part to determine which of those players are the best in their respected Tier this week.

#5 & 6 Your sleepers: These picks, although priced in the $6-7K range, are the real reason players win the big bucks in most any league.  We’ve seen many of our sleeper picks end up in the Top 10 which is the key to separating from the pack.

Building a winning fantasy roster on DraftKings is like having only six clubs in your bag.  You want your go-to club, a few mid irons, and your short game sticks.

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Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the Wells Fargo Championship

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With our picks, this could be you!

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Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the Wells Fargo Championship

• Rory McIlroy (Golficity Odds 3/2  FPPG: 72.3 Salary: $14,000): We’ve now finally and officially hopped on the McIlroy train for the first time this season and we think he’s going to enter into a real “Rory Phase” heading into the summer.  Rors won this event back in 2010 which marked his first win on the PGA TOUR.  He also has three other Top 10s at the Wells Fargo Championship and has the ideal golf game to win at Quail Hollow.  The key to success with Rory is getting hot and staying hot, and he followed up his win at the WGC Match Play with a solid T8 at THE PLAYERS.  We’ll roll the dice on this guy at Quail Hollow any day.
• Jim Furyk (Golficity Odds 8/1  FPPG: 65.8 Salary: $10,800): It seems as if Furyk essentially built this course!  The all-time earnings leader at Quail Hollow already has a win this season which has some golf fans thinking he won’t win again for another five years.  We’re taking a completely different stand this week and going with Jimmy over Stenson in this slot.  His recent success at Quail Hollow includes a runner-up last year where he led the field in scrambling and par-3 scoring.  This could be a breakout season for Furyk as he is undoubtedly not done yet.
• Hideki Matsuyama (Golficity Odds 14/1  FPPG: 79.5 Salary: $10,600): Matsuyama is certainly due for another win or Top 3 finish at the very least.  After co-leading THE PLAYERS after 18 holes, Hideki fell off to a T17 to notch his sixth straight top 25.  His stats prove him to be a powerhouse on Tour and he definitely has the game to fit Quail Hollow.  Key stats this week: Matsuyama is 3rd in ball-striking, strokes gained tee-to-green, and total driving.
• Patrick Reed (Golficity Odds 22/1  FPPG: 80.2 Salary: $9,100): We keep sticking with Reed and why not.  After all, Patrick keeps producing some quality fantasy points week after week.  In his last two visits to Quail Hollow, Reed has finished T32 but we’re convinced he has the edge on this course having made cuts and competed here (and is a proven winner).  Patrick has showed us some solid stats this season both on Tour and in fantasy golf leagues.  He’s also would the best low $9k ranked player this week in our opinion.
• Justin Thomas (Golficity Odds 28/1  FPPG: 67.8 Salary: $8,600):  A streaky player, Thomas was hot early on and cooled off before beginning to heat up again.  We debated between Thomas and Adam Scott for this spot since both have the same salary price this week.  But Thomas played in his first PLAYERS’ last weekend and set a record with 10 birdies in the third round.  He is still the lead candidate for Rookie of the Year and definitely in-line for a victory this season.  His key stats this week include the fact that he ranks second in par-5 scoring and has three consecutive top 25s (PLAYERS T24, Zurich T12, RBC T11).

Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the Wells Fargo Championship

• Daniel Berger (Golficity Odds 50/1  FPPG: 64.7 Salary: $8,500): The 22-year old is having an amazing season thus far with nine Top 25 finishes including a P2 at the Honda Classic.  You may have to choose between him or Thomas being that their salaries are so close, but you may even have a chance to play him AND Thomas and perhaps lose Reed to free up some more cash.  Berger is ranked 24th on TOUR in strokes gained tee-to-green and 5th in scoring average making him a solid sleeper selection this week.

Salary Cap League Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the Wells Fargo Championship

• Jason Kokrak (Golficity Odds 75/1  FPPG: 62.9 Salary: $7,100): We frequently go to Kokrak in fantasy usually because he is consistent and he always comes in with a cheap price tag.  Jason hits the ball a mile and knows how to find GIRs.  He currently ranks T8 in par-5 scoring and has some success here in recent years (T23 2014).  Kokrak also has Top 20s in four of last six starts and you can’t ignore those numbers, especially at $7,100!

Here are a couple sample lineups you may want to consider if you’re playing DraftKings this week.  We realize it’s difficult fitting guys like Rory on a roster with other high priced players.  Maybe these examples will help in a situation where you either use Rory or don’t use Rory.

DraftKings Lineup with Rory as Your Horse.

DraftKings Lineup without Rory as Your Horse.

Good luck this week!

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Fantasy Golf Predictions YTD Stats

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”13.04%” bar_text=”21 out of 161 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent=”26.08%” bar_text=”42 out of 161 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”26.08%” bar_text=”6 out of 23 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”34.78%” bar_text=”8 out of 23 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”82.08%” bar_text=”133 out of 161 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Major Winners Picked” percent=”100%” bar_text=”1 out of 1 event” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

Remember to visit the The Clubhouse and our private Facebook group to discuss this week’s picks for the 2015 Wells Fargo Championship with other Premium Members.

Want even more fantasy golf picks for this week’s Wells Fargo Championship?  If so, be sure to check out our Tuesday Sleeper Report here.

Cover Photo by Ed McDonald on Flickr